THE  EXPOSITOR'S  BIBLE 


EDITED  BY  THE  REV. 

W.  ROBERTSON  NICOLL,  M.A.,  LLD. 
Editor  of  "  The  Expositor ' ' 


AUTHORIZED  EDITION,  COMPLETE 

AND   UNABRIDGED 

BOUND   IN  TWENTY-FIVE  VOLUMES 


NEW  YORK 

A.  C.  ARMSTRONG   AND    SON 

3  and  5  West  Eighteenth  Street 

London  :  Hodder  and  Stoughton 

1903 


^C/T 


:355 


THE    BOOK 
THE    TWELVE    PROPHETS 

COMMONLY  CALLED  THE  MINOR 


GEORGE   ADAM    SMITH,    D.D.,    LL.D. 

rROFESSOR  OF   HEBREW  AND  OLD  TESTAMENT  EXEGESIS 
FREE    CHURCH   COLLEGE,   GLASGOW 


/N   TWO    VOLUMES 


VOL.    L— AMOS,    HOSEA   AND    MICAH 

H'lTH  AN  INTRODUCTION  AND  A  SKETCH  OF  PROPHECY 
IN  EARLY  ISRAEL 


NEW  YORK 

A.  C.  ARMSTRONG  AND  SON 

3  and  5  West  Eighteenth  Street 

London:  Hodder  and  Stoughton 

1903 


TO 


HENKV     DRUMMOND 


PREFACE 

THE  Prophets,  to  whom  this  and  a  following  volume 
are  dedicated,  have,  to  our  loss,  been  haunted 
for  centuries  by  a  peddling  and  an  ambiguous  title. 
Their  Twelve  Books  are  in  size  smaller  than  those  of 
the  great  Three  which  precede  them,  and  doubtless 
none  of  their  chapters  soar  so  high  as  the  brilliant 
summits  to  which  we  are  swept  by  Isaiah  and  the 
Prophet  of  the  Exile.  But  in  every  other  respect  they 
are  undeserving  of  the  niggardly  name  of  "Minor." 
Two  of  them,  Amos  and  Hosea,  were  the  first  of 
all  prophecy— rising  clifF-like,  with  a  sheer  and 
magnificent  originality,  to  a  height  and  a  mass 
sufficient  to  set  after  them  the  trend  and  slope  of  the 
whole  prophetic  range.  The  Twelve  together  cover 
the  extent  of  that  range,  and  illustrate  the  development 
of  prophecy  at  almost  every  stage  from  the  eighth  cen- 
tury to  the  fourth.  Yet  even  more  than  in  the  case  of 
Isaiah  or  Jeremiah,  the  Church  has  been  content  to  use 
a  passage  here  and  a  passage  there,  leaving  the  rest 
of  the  books  to  absolute  neglect  or  the  almost  equal 
oblivion  of  routine-reading.  Among  the  causes  of  this 
disuse  have  been  the  more  than  usually  corrupt  state 


viii  PREFACE 

of  the  text ;  the  consequent  disorder  and  in  parts 
unintelUgibleness  of  all  the  versions ;  the  ignorance 
of  the  various  historical  circumstances  out  of  which 
the  books  arose  ;  the  absence  of  successful  efforts  to 
determine  the  periods  and  strophes,  the  dramatic 
dialogues  (with  the  names  of  the  speakers),  the  lyric 
effusions  and  the  passages  of  argument,  of  all  of  which 
the  books  are  composed. 

The  following  exposition  is  an  attempt  to  assist  the 
bettering  of  all  this.  As  the  Twelve  Prophets  illustrate 
among  them  the  whole  history  of  written  prophecy,  1 
have  thought  it  useful  to  prefix  a  historical  sketch  of 
the  Prophet  in  early  Israel,  or  as  far  as  the  appearance 
of  Amos.  The  Twelve  are  then  taken  in  chronological 
order.  Under  each  of  them  a  chapter  is  given  of 
historical  and  critical  introduction  to  his  book;  then 
some  account  of  the  prophet  himself  as  a  man  and 
a  seer ;  then  a  complete  translation  of  the  vaa-ious 
prophecies  handed  down  under  his  name,  with  textual 
footnotes,  and  an  exposition  and  application  to  the 
present  da^'  in  harmony  with  the  aim  of  the  series  to 
which  these  volumes  belong ;  finally,  a  discussion  of 
the  main  doctrines  the  prophet  has  taught,  if  it  has 
not  been  found  possible  to  deal  with  these  in  the  course 
of  the  exposition. 

An  exact  critical  study  of  the  Twelve  Prophets  is 
rendered  necessary  by  the  state  of  the  entire  text. 
The  present  volume  is  based  on  a  thorough  examina- 
tion of  this  in  the  light  of  the  ancient  versions  and  of 


PREFACE  fx 

modern  criticism.  The  emendations  which  I  have 
proposed  are  few  and  insignificant,  but  I  have 
examined  and  discussed  in  footnotes  all  that  have  been 
suggested,  and  in  many  cases  my  translation  will  be 
found  to  differ  widely  from  that  of  the  Revised  Version. 
To  questions  of  integrity  and  authenticity  more  space 
is  devoted  than  may  seem  to  many  to  be  necessary. 
But  it  is  certain  that  the  criticism  of  the  prophetic  books 
has  now  entered  on  a  period  of  the  same  analysis  and 
discrimination  which  is  almost  exhausted  in  the  case  of 
the  Pentateuch.  Some  hints  were  given  of  this  in  a 
previous  volume  on  Isaiah,  chapters  xl. — Ixvi.,  which 
are  evidently  a  composite  work.  Among  the  books  now 
before  us,  the  same  fact  has  long  been  clear  in  the  case 
of  Obadiah  and  Zechariah,  and  also  since  Ewald's  time 
with  regard  to  Micah.  But  Duhm's  Theology  of  the 
Prophets,  which  appeared  in  1875,  suggested  interpola- 
tions in  Amos.  Wellhausen  (in  1873)  and  Stade  (from 
1883  onwards)  carried  the  discussion  further  both  on 
those,  and  others,  of  the  Twelve ;  while  a  recent  work 
by  Andrde  on  Haggai  proves  that  many  similar 
questions  may  still  be  raised  and  have  to  be  debated. 
The  general  fact  must  be  admitted  that  hardly  one  book 
has  escaped  later  additions — additions  of  an  entirely 
justifiable  nature,  which  supplement  the  point  of  view 
of  a  single  prophet  with  the  richer  experience  or  the 
riper  hopes  of  a  later  day,  and  thus  afford  to  ourselves 
a  more  catholic  presentment  of  the  doctrines  of 
prophecy  and  the  Divine  purposes  for  mankind.  This 
general    Jact,    I    say,    must    be    admitted.      But    the 


z  PREFACE 

questions  of  detail  are  still  in  process  of  solution. 
It  is  obvious  that  settled  results  can  be  reached  (as 
to  some  extent  they  have  been  already  reached  in  the 
criticism  of  the  Pentateuch)  only  after  years  of  re- 
search and  debate  by  all  schools  of  critics.  Meantime 
it  is  the  duty  of  each  of  us  to  offer  his  own  conclusions, 
with  regard  to  every  separate  passage,  on  the  under- 
standing that,  however  final  they  may  at  present  seem 
to  him,  the  end  is  not  yet.  In  previous  criticism 
the  defects,  of  which  work  in  the  same  field  has 
made  me  aware,  are  four  :  i.  A  too  rigid  belief  in 
the  exact  parallelism  and  symmetry  of  the  prophetic 
style,  which  I  feel  has  led,  for  instance,  Wellhausen, 
to  whom  we  otherwise  owe  so  much  on  the  Twelve 
Prophets,  into  many  unnecessary  emendations  of  the 
text,  or,  where  some  amendment  is  necessary,  to 
absolutely  unprovable  changes.  2.  In  passages  be- 
tween which  no  connection  exists,  the  forgetfulness 
of  the  principle  that  this  fact  may  often  be  explained 
as  justly  by  the  hypothesis  of  the  omission  of  some 
words,  as  by  the  favourite  theory  of  the  later  intrusion 
of  portions  of  the  extant  text.  3.  Forgetfulness  of  the 
possibility,  which  in  some  cases  amounts  almost  to 
certainty,  of  the  incorporation,  among  the  authentic 
words  of  a  prophet,  of  passages  of  earlier  as  well  as 
of  later  date.  And,  4,  depreciation  of  the  spiritual 
insight  and  foresight  of  pre-exilic  writers.  These,  I 
am  persuaded,  are  defects  in  previous  criticism  of  the 
prophets.  Probably  my  own  criticism  will  reveal  many 
more.     In  the  beginnings  of  such  analysis  as  we  are 


PREFACE  xi 

engaged  on,  we  must  be  prepared  for  not  a  little 
arbitrariness  and  want  of  proportion  ;  these  are  often 
necessary  for  insight  and  fresh  points  of  view,  but 
they  are  as  easily  eliminated  by  the  progress  of  dis- 
cussion. 

All  criticism  however,  is  preliminary  to  the  real 
work  which  the  immortal  prophets  demand  from 
scholars  and  preachers  in  our  age.  In  a  review 
of  a  previous  volume,  I  was  blamed  for  applying  a 
prophecy  of  Isaiah  to  a  problem  of  our  own  day. 
This  was  called  "  prostitutis^g  prophecy."  The  prosti- 
tution of  the  prophets  is  their  confinement  to  aca- 
demic uses.  One  cannot  conceive  an  ending,  at  once 
more  pathetic  and  more  ridiculous,  to  those  great 
streams  of  living  water,  than  to  allow  them  to  run  out 
in  the  sands  of  criticism  and  exegesis,  however  golden 
these  sands  may  be.  The  prophets  spoke  for  a  practical 
purpose  ;  they  aimed  at  the  hearts  of  men ;  and  every- 
thing that  scholarship  can  do  for  their  writings  has 
surely  for  its  final  aim  the  illustration  of  their  witness 
to  the  ways  of  God  with  men,  and  its  application  to 
living  questions  and  duties  and  hopes.  Besides,  there- 
fore, seeking  to  tell  the  story  of  that  wonderful  stage 
in  the  history  of  the  human  spirit — surely  next  in 
wonder  to  the  story  of  Christ  Himself — I  have  not 
feared  at  every  suitable  point  to  apply  its  truths  to 
our  lives  to-day.  The  civilisation  in  which  prophecy 
flourished  was  in  its  essentials  marvellously  like  our 
own.     To  mark  only  one  point,  the  rise  of  prophecy 


xii  PREFACE 

in  Israel  came  fast  upon  the  passage  of  the  nation  from 
an  agricultural  to  a  commercial  basis  of  society,  and 
upon  the  appearance  of  the  very  thing  which  gives 
its  name  to  civilisation — city-life,  with  its  unchanging 
sins,  problems  and  ideals. 

A  recent  Dutch  critic,  whose  exact  scholarship  is 
known  to  all  readers  of  Stade's  Journal  of  Old  Testa- 
ment Science,  has  said  of  Amos  and  Hosea  :  "  These 
prophecies  have  a  word  of  God,  as  for  all  times,  so 
also  especially  for  our  own.  Before  all  it  is  relevant 
to  '  the  social  question  '  of  our  day,  to  the  relation 
of  religion  and  morality.  .  .  .  Often  it  has  been  hard 
for  me  to  refrain  from  expressly  pointing  out  the 
agreement  between  Then  and  To-day."*  This  feeling 
will  be  shared  by  all  students  of  prophecy  whose 
minds  and  consciences  are  quick ;  and  I  welcome  the 
liberal  plan  of  the  series  in  which  this  volume  appears, 
because,  while  giving  room  for  the  adequate  discussion 
of  critical  and  historical  questions,  its  chief  design  is 
to  show  the  eternal  validity  of  the  Books  of  the  Bible 
as  the  Word  of  God,  and  their  meaning  for  ourselves 
to-day. 

Previous  works  on  the  Minor  Prophets  are  almost 
innumerable.  Those  to  which  I  owe  most  will  be 
found  indicated  in  the  footnotes.  The  translation  has 
been  executed  upon   the  purpose,  not  to  sacrifice  the 


•  J.  J.  P.  Valeton,  jun.,  Antos  en  Hosea,  1894  :  quoted  by  Budde  in 
the  Theologischt  Liieraiurzeitutig,  September,  1894. 


PREFACE  xiii 

literal  meaning  or  exact  emphasis  of  the  original  to  the 
frequent  possibility  of  greater  elegance.  It  reproduces 
every  word,  with  the  occasional  exception  of  a  copula. 
With  some  hesitation  I  have  retained  the  traditional 
spelling  of  the  Divine  Name,  Jehovah,  instead  of  the 
more  correct  Jahve  or  Yahweh ;  but  where  the  rhythm 
of  certain  familiar  passages  was  disturbed  by  it,  I  have 
followed  the  English  versions  and  Wiitten  Lord.  The 
reader  will  keep  in  mind  that  a  line  may  be  destroyed 
by  substituting  our  pronunciation  of  proper  names  for 
the  more  musical  accents  of  the  original.  Thus,  for 
instance,  we  obliterate  the  music  of  **  Isra'el "  by 
making  it  two  syllables  and  putting  the  accent  on  the 
first :  it  has  three  syllables  with  the  accent  on  the  last. 
We  crush  Yerushalayim  into  Jerusalem ;  we  shred 
off  Asshur  into  Assyria,  and  dub  Misraim  Egypt. 
Hebrew  has  too  few  of  the  combinations  which  sound 
most  musical  to  our  ears,  to  afford  the  suppression 
of  any  one  of  them. 


CONTENTS   OF   VOL.    I. 

rAGE 

Preface vii 

Chronological  Table i 

INTR  OD  UCriON 

CHAP. 

I.    THE   BOOK   OF   THE   TWELVE 3 

H.   THE   PROPHET    IN    EARLY   ISRAEL   .  .  «  .11 

1.  From  the  Earliest  Times  till  Samuel. 

2.  From  Samuel  to  Elisha. 

III.  THE    EIGHTH   CENTURY   IN    ISRAEL  .  .  .      31 

IV.  THE   INFLUENCE  OF   ASSYRIA   UPON    PROPHECY         .      44 

AMOS 

V.  THE  BOOK  OF  AMOS   .     .     t     •     •     .61 

VI.  THE  MAN  AND  THE  PROPHET    .     .     .     •   73 

1.  The  Man  AND  His  Discipline  (i.  I ;  iii.  3-8  ;  vii.  14,  15).  < 

2.  The  Word  and  its  Origins  (i.  2 ;  iii.  3-8 ;  and pussi'in). 

3.  The  Prophet  and  His  Ministry  (vii. ;  viii.  1-4). 

VlI.    ATROCITIES   AND   ATROCITIES  .  .  .  .121 

Amos  i.  1 — ii. 


«f!  CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

VIII.    CIVILISATION    AND   JUDGMENT         .  .  ,  I41 

Amos  iii. — iv.  3. 

IX.    THE    FALSE    PEACE    OF    RITUAL       .  •  ,  •    15^ 

Amos  iv.  4 — vi, 

1.  For  Worship,  Chastisement  (iv,  4-13). 

2.  For  Worship,  Justice  (v.). 

3.  "At  Ease  in  Zion  "  (vi.). 

4.  A  Fragment  from  the  Plague  (vi.  9,  10)^ 

X.    DOOM   OR   DISCIPLINE? 181 

Amos  viii.  4 — ix. 

1.  Earthquake,  Eclipse  and  Famine  (viii.  4-14). 

2.  Nemesis  (ix.  1-6). 

3.  The  Voices  of  Another  Dawn  (ix.  7-15). 

XI.    COMMON-SENSE    AND   THE   REIGN    OF    LAW      .  .    I96 

Amos  iii.  3-8;  iv.  6-13;  v.  8,  9;  vi.  12;  viii.  8;  ix.  5,  6. 

HOSEA 

XIL    THE   BOOK   OF   HOSEA 211 

XIH.   THE   PROBLEM   THAT   AMOS   LEFT  .  .  .227 

XIV.    THE   STORY   OF  THE   PRODIGAL   WIFE  ,  .232 

Hosea  i. — iii. 

XV.   THE  THICK   NIGHT   OF   ISRAEL       .  .  .  -253 

Hosea  iv. — xiv. 

XVI.    A   PEOPLE   IN   DECAY:     1.    MORALLY         .  .  .255 

Hosea  iv. — vii.  7. 

1.  The  Lord's  Quarrel  with  Israel  (iv.). 

5.  Priests  and  Princes  Fail  (v.  1-14). 

3.  Repentance  Fails  (v.  15 — vii.  2). 

4.  Wickedness  in  High  Places  (vii,  3-7). 


CONTEIVIS  xvii 

CI'AP.  *'AGE 

XVll.    A    PEOPLE   IN    DIXAY  :      II.    POLITICALLY  .  .    269 

Hose  A  vii.  8  —  x. 

1.  The  Confusion  of  the  Nation  (vii.  8 — viii.  3). 

2.  Artificial   Kings   and   Artificial  Gods  (viii. 

4-13)- 

3.  The  Effects  of  Exile  (ix.   1-9). 

4.  "The    Corruption   that   is    through   Lust" 

(ix.  10-17). 

5.  Once  More:    Puppet-Kings  and  Puppet-Gods 

(X.) 

XVIII.    THE    FATHERHOOD   AND   HUMANITY   OF  GOD         .    290 
Hosea  xi. 

XIX.    THE   FINAL   ARGUMENT       .  •  •  •  .    299 

Hosea  xii. — xiv.  i. 

1.  The  People  and  Their  Father  Jacob  (xii.). 

2.  The  Last  Judgment  (xiii. — xiv.   l). 

XX.    "l   WILL   BE   AS   THE   DEW "         ....    308 
HosKA  xiv.  2-IO. 

XXL    THE   KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOD  •  t  •  .    318 

Hosea  passim. 

XXn.  REPENTANCE 3^ 

Hosea  passim. 

XXIIL    THE   SIN   AGAINST   LOVE 346 

Hosea  L — iii, ;  iv.  1 1  fif. ;  ix.  10  ff. ;  xL  8  L 


MICAH 

XXIV.    THE   BOOK  OF  MICAH  .  .  ,  ,  .357 

XXV.  MICAH  THE   MORASTHITE  .  .  •  *  .   375 

MiCAH    i. 


CONTENTS 


CUAr.  PAGE 

XXVI.    THE   PROPHET   OF   THE   POOR     ....   386 
MiCAH  ii.,  iii. 

XXVII.    ON   time's    HORIZON 4OC 

MicAH  iv,  1-7. 

XXVIII.   THE    KING   TO   COME 40" 

MicAH  iv.  8 — V. 

XXIX.    THE   REASONABLENESS   OF   TRUE    RELIGION  .   4I9 

MiCAH  vi.  1-8. 

XXX.    THE   SIN    OF   THE   SCANT    MEASURE  .  ,  .426 

r/IicAH  vi.  9 — vii.  6. 

XXXI.    OUR    MOTHER    OF   SORROWS        ....    435 
MiCAH  vii.  7-20. 

Index  of  Passages  and  Texts        .        .        .  439 


CHRONOLOGY    OF    THE    DOUBLE    KLNGDOM    OF    ISRAEL, 


940 — 639    B.C 


,uo.H,      ;        ,»«.        1 

PROMTS. 

*«v.„. 

w. 

Disrijption    of   the 

Kingdom. 

Eehoboam. 

Jeroboam  L 

Eiiablishmcnt  of  calf  images 
in  N.  Israel 

•m'- 

AMjam. 

930  e. 

Asa. 

9.8  «. 

Kadab. 

915'- 

Baafiba. 

891 1. 

Zimrt.    Omil 

876<: 

Revolt  of  Meaba  of  Moab  :  the 

874,. 

jebOBhapiiat. 

... 

ElUab. 

Moabite  Stone  (eirca  860). 

853  «■ 

First   i^oiuacl   of  Israel     . 
Abaziab. 

r  ■  ■  ■ 

and  Syria  with  Assyria  at  the 

Battle  of  lilarbar. 

854 

85a.. 

Joram. 
Invades  Moab  with  Judah 
and  Edom. 

850 

1  Campaigns  in  all  these  three 

years  by   Shalinaneaer  H.    o( 
Hadadezer  of  Damascus. 

fSso 

JeboratD. 

>     Assyria  against  Dadldrl  or 

S849 

Ahazlab. 

... 

}  Revolt   of   tdom   from  Judah 
(aKingsviii.  aoff.). 

K6 

t^,. 

Athallah. 

Jebo. 

EUBha. 

Tribute  from  JebU. 

843 

WarofHaaaei'with 

Assyrii 

Vk 

::: 

1      ■■■ 

\\'ar  of  Haaael  with 

Assyria. 

8*39 

836^. 

Joaflb, 

)  Hazael  suL-dues  Gilead  (Amos 
V     1.  3) ;  attacks  Oath,   but   is 

(83t> 

8ur. 

Jeboabas. 

•^8.4 

)      bought  off  from  Jerusalem. 

I 

813 

806 

Arpad,  campaign  against,   by 

Accession  of  Ramman  HLrarL 
Assyria. 

8ia 
806 

803 

... 

Damascus,  und<si  Uui,    . 

besieged  and  taken  by  Assyria. 

803 

798 1. 

Joaab. 

/       ■■■ 

Aycaf  ofpeitllciiLO, 

797«- 

Amazlah. 

783<. 

Jeroboam  IL 

Shalmaneser  m. 

783 

778^. 

UzzUb(Azarlab). 

... 

775 

)    T         V                                              1 

... 

Expedition  to  Cedar  Country. 

775 

773 

f  Jeroboam  re-conquers   ] 

Damascus,   campaign   against. 

by  Assyria. 

773 

773 

I      Moab,    Gilead,    and  "i 
)      pan  of  Aram.                ( 

Hadracb.     campaign    against. 

by  Assyria. 

7liS 

A  pestilence. 

76s 

Hadrach,     campaign    against. 

by  Assyria. 

763 

Total    eclipje    of 

the  aun  on  June  tsth,  . 

visible  in  Syria  and  at 

A  pestilence  in  Western  Asia. 

Nineveh. 

763 
759 

759 

... 

755 

... 

Hadrach    suffers   attack    from 

Assyria. 

75S 

754 

AmoB. 

Arpad  suffers  attack  from 

Assyria. 

754 

753 

."! 

Accession  of  AaBur-Nlrail 

753 

745 

Accession  of  Tiglath-Plleser  HI. 

745 

743 

(6  months). 
Shallum([  month). 
Menabem. 

1 

f743 

'■Arpad  besiegL'd,  and  after  two 

or  three  years  taken  by  Assyria. 

743 

... 

743 

74' 

Hoaea 

740 

"The    year    King 

736' 

Uszlahdied." 
Jotbam  sole  ruler. 

73B 

Ueoataem  U    .       .       . 

mentioned  as  tributary  to 

Assyria. 

738 

73T- 

Pekablab. 

736  f. 

Ahax. 

Pekab,  the  Gileadlte. 

735 

Abas  is  attacked   . 

boihbyPekaband  . 

byRestnofUamascus(lsa,  vii). 

—t 

735 

734 

Captivity  of  Gilead,  Galilee, 

by  Assyria  (Isa.  viii,,  U.). 
by  Assyria. 

734 
733 

733 

' 

Damascus  besieged  and  taken 

73a 

Abai  pays  homage 

at   Damascus  to  the   King  of 

Assyria. 

733 

73' 

... 

Tiglatb-Plleaer  becomes  King  of 

73" 

730'. 

HoBbea. 

Babylon  under  the  name  of  Pld. 

737  f. 

Heieldab.' 

Iiulali 

Shalmaneser  IV. 

737 

735 

Siege  of  Samaria  begins. 
Fall  of  Samaria. 

733  or  I 

Sargou  takes  Samaria. 

733  or  I 

jao  or  19 

Samaria  peopled       ■ 

\      ... 

Gara  overthrown  by 

Sargou  as  he  marches  past  Judah 
and  d<  fe.its  Egypt  at  Raphi.i. 

by  subjugated  tribes  deported  from 
Assyria. 

720  or  19 
7"S 

7" 

Asbdod  taken  by      .        .        . 

Sargon. 

709 

SargOQ  takes   Babylon   from 
Uerodacb-BaladaiL 

709 

705 

... 

/MlaitL 

... 

Death  of  Sargon. 
Accession  of  Seimacberlb. 

70s 

War  with  Merodach-Baladan. 

704 

701 

Invasion  of  Judah 
Deliverance  of  Jcrus 

Icra. 

and  of  all  Syria 

Siege    of   Ekron.      Battle     of 

by  Semiacherlb. 

701 

695 '■• 

Manasseb. 

[doD  succeeds. 

Mi 

Sennacherib  murdered.    Aaarhad- 

6S1 

078 

Phcenicia  subdued  by      . 

Asarhaddon. 

678 

676 

Uanaueb 

Assyna. 

676 

67. 

Tyre  taken  by  . 

Aflarhaddon  on  his  march  to  Egypt, 
and  conquest  of  Memphis. 

671 

668 

... 

AsBorbanlpaL 

668 

M6 

Hanasaab 

other  Syrian  kings    . 

tnbuiary  to  Assyria. 

666 

641  <. 

Amon. 

Tyrea.ss.sts       .         .        .         . 
the  Phoenician  .Vvad. 

Assurbanlpal  against      . 

641 

639'. 

JoKlab 

•  This  date  is  rcry  \ 


It  may  have  been  690.  or  according  X 


IN  TROD  UCTION 


VOL.    I. 


dvadoKoi  iK  rod  rbirov  aCiTwv, 
napeKaXeaaf  dk  rbv  'la^ci^ 

Koi  iXvrpuffavTO  avroiis  ev  Trlarei  iXnidoi. 

And  of  the  Twelve  Prophets  may  the  bones 

Flourish  again  from  their  place, 
For  they  comforted  Jacob 

And  redeemed  them  by  the  assurance  of  hope. 

ECCLESIASTICUS  xlix. 


CHAPTER    I 

THE  BOOK   OF   THE   TlVELf^E 

IN  the  order  of  our  English  Bible  the  Minor  Pro- 
phets, as  they  are  usually  called,  form  the  last 
twelve  books  of  the  Old  Testament.  They  are  imme- 
diately preceded  by  Daniel,  and  before  him  by  the  three 
Major  Prophets,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah  (with  Lamentations) 
and  Ezekiel.  Why  all  sixteen  were  thus  gathered 
at  the  end  of  the  other  sacred  books,  we  do  not  know: 
Perhaps,  because  it  was  held  fitting  that  prophecy  should 
occupy  the  last  outposts  of  the  Old  Testament  towards 
the  New. 

In  the  Hebrew  Bible,  however,  the  order  differs,  and 
is  much  more  significant.  The  Prophets^  form  the 
second  division  of  the  threefold  Canon  :  Law,  Prophets 
and  Writings  ;  and  Daniel  is  not  among  them.  The 
Minor  follow  immediately  after  Ezekiel.  Moreover, 
they  are  not  twelve  books,  but  one.  They  are 
gathered  under  the  common  title  Book  of  the  Twelve ; ' 
and  although  each  of  them  has  the  usual  colophon 
detailing  the  number  of  its  own  verses,  there  is  also 

'  Including,  of  course,  the  historical  books,  Joshua  to  2  Kings,  which 
were  known  as  "the  Former  Prophets";  while  what  we  call  the 
prophets  Isaiah  to  Malachi  were  known  as  "  the  Latter." 

'  "Iw'i;  nn  ISD,  the  Aramaic  form  of  the  Hebrew  "lE^T  D''32J',  which 
appears  with  the  other  in  the  colophon  to  the  book.  A  later  contraction 
is  "iD^"in.     This  is  the  form  transliterated  in  Epiphanius  ;  Sadapi.a.'japa. 

3 


THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 


one  colophon  for  all  the  twelve,  placed  at  the  end  of 
Malachi  and  reckoning  the  sum  of  their  verses  from 
the  first  of  Hosea  onwards.  This  unity,  which  there 
is  reason  to  suppose  was  given  to  them  before  their 
reception  into  the  Canon, ^  they  have  never  since 
lost.  However  much  their  place  lias  changed  in  the 
order  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  however 
much  their  own  internal  arrangement  has  differed, 
the  Twelve  have  always  stood  together.  There  has 
been  every  temptation  to  scatter  them  because  of  their 
various  dates.  Yet  they  never  have  been  scattered ;  and 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  have  not  preserved  their 
common  title  in  any  Bible  outside  the  Hebrew,  that  title 
has  lived  on  in  literature  and  common  talk.  Thus  the 
Greek  canon  omits  it ;  but  Greek  Jews  and  Christians 
always  counted  the  books  as  one  volume,^  calling  them 
"  The  Twelve  Prophets,"  or  "  The  Twelve-Prophet " 
Book.'  It  was  the  Latins  who  designated  them  "  The 
Minor  Prophets  "  :  "  on  account  of  their  brevity  as  com- 
pared with  those  who  are  called  the  Major  because  of 
their  ampler  volumes."*  And  this  name  has  passed 
into  most  modern  languages,'  including  our  own.     But 


'  See  Ryle,  Canon  of  the  O.T.,  p.  105. 

*  So  Josephus,  Contra  Apion,  i.  8  {circa  90  a.d.),  reckons  the  pro- 
phetical books  as  thirteen,  of  which  the  Minor  Prophets  could  only 
have  been  counted  as  one — whatever  the  other  twelve  may  have  been. 
Melitoof  Sardis  (c.  170),  quoted  byEusebius  (Hist.  Eccl.,  iv.  26),  speaks 
of  Twv  dwSeKa  iv  /xoyoSt/SXif).  To  Origen  (c.  250  :  apud  Ibid.,  vi.  25) 
they  could  only  have  been  one  out  of  the  twenty-two  he  gives  for  the 
O.T.     Cf.  Jerome  (Prolog.  Gakatiis),  "  Liber  diiodecim  Prophclarum. 

*  01  AdideKa  'npo(prJTai :    Jesus  son  of  Sirach  xlix.   lO ;  T6  5w5c/ca- 

t-p6'p7]T0V. 

*  Augustine,  De  Civ.  Dei,  xviii.  29  :  cf.  Jerome,  Proem,  in  Esaiam. 

*  The  German  usage  generally  preserves  the  numeral,  "Die  zwolf 
kleinen  Propheten." 


THE  BOOK   OF  THE    TIVELVE  $ 

surely  it  is  better  to  revert  to  the  o'-iginal,   canonical 
and  unambiguous  title  of  "  The  Twelve." 

The  collection  and  arrangement  of  "  The  Twelve  " 
are  matters  of  obscurity,  from  which,  however,  three 
or  four  facts  emerge  that  are  tolerably  certain.  The 
inseparableness  of  the  books  is  a  proof  of  the  ancient 
date  of  their  union.  They  must  have  been  put  together 
before  they  were  received  into  the  Canon.  The  Canon 
of  the  Prophets — Joshua  to  Second  Kings  and  Isaiah 
to  Malachi — was  closed  by  200  B.C.  at  the  latest,  and 
perhaps  as  early  as  250 ;  but  if  we  have  (as  seems 
probable)  portions  of  "The  Twelve,"^  which  must  be 
assigned  to  a  little  later  than  300,  this  may  be  held 
to  prove  that  the  whole  collection  cannot  have  long 
preceded  the  fixing  of  the  Canon  of  the  Prophets.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  fact  that  these  latest  pieces  have 
not  been  placed  under  a  title  of  their  own,  but  are 
attached  to  the  Book  of  Zechariah,  is  pretty  sufficient 
evidence  that  they  were  added  after  the  collection  and 
fixture  of  twelve  books — a  round  number  which  there 
would  be  every  disposition  not  to  disturb.  That  would 
give  us  for  the  date  of  the  first  edition  (so  to  speak)  of 
our  Twelve  some  year  before  300 ;  and  for  the  date 
of  the  second  edition  some  year  towards  250.  This  is 
a  question,  however,  which  may  be  reserved  for  final 
decision  after  we  have  examined  the  date  of  the  separate 
books,  and  especially  of  Joel  and  the  second  half  of 
Zechariah.  That  there  was  a  previous  collection,  as 
early  as  the  Exile,  of  the  books  written  before  then,  may 
be  regarded  as  more  than  probable.  But  we  have  no 
means  of  fixing  its  exact  limits.  Why  the  Twelve  were 
all  ultimately  put  together  is  reasonably  suggested  by 


'  See  Vol.  II.  on  Zech.  ix.  fT, 


THE    TWELVE   PROPHETS 


Jewish  writers.  They  are  small,  and,  as  separate  rolls, 
might  have  been  lost.*  It  is  possible  that  the  desire 
of  the  round  number  twelve  is  responsible  for  the 
admission  of  Jonah,  a  book  very  different  in  form 
from  all  the  others;  just  as  we  have  hinted  that  the 
fact  of  there  being  already  twelve  may  account  for  the 
attachment  of  the  late  fragments  to  the  Bookof  Zechariah. 
But  all  this  is  only  to  guess,  where  we  have  no  means 
of  certain  knowledge. 

"  The  Book  of  the  Twelve  "  has  not  always  held  the 
place  which  it  now  occupies  in  the  Hebrew  Canon,  at 
the  end  of  the  Prophets.  The  rabbis  taught  that 
Hosea,  but  for  the  comparative  smallness  of  his  pro- 
phecy, should  have  stood  first  of  all  the  writing  prophets, 
of  whom  they  regarded  him  as  the  oldest.^  And 
doubtless  it  was  for  the  same  chronological  reasons, 
that  early  Christian  catalogues  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
various  editions  of  the  Septuagint,  placed  the  whole  of 
"  The  Twelve  "  in  front  of  Isaiah.^ 

The  internal  arrangement  of  "  The  Twelve  "  in  our 
English  Bible  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  Hebrew  Canon, 
and  was  probably  determined  by  what  the  compilers 
thought  to  be  the  respective  ages  of  the  books.  Thus, 
first  we  have  six,  all  supposed  to  be  of  the  earlier 
Assyrian  period,  before  700 — Hosea,  Joel,  Amos, 
Obadiah,  Jonah  and  Micah ;  then  three  from  the 
late  Assyrian  and  the  Babylonian  periods — Nahum, 
Habbakuk  and   Zephaniah;   and  then  three  from   the 

'   Talmud :  Baba  Bathra,  14a;  cf.  Rashi's  Commentary. 

'   Talmud,  ibid. 

'  So  the  Codices  Vaticanus  and  AlexanJrinus,  but  not  Cod.  Sin.  So 
also  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  (f  386),  Athanasius  (365),  Gregory  Naz.  (f  390), 
and  the  spurious  Canon  of  the  Council  of  Laodicea  {c  400)  and 
Epiphanius  (403).     See  Ryle,  Canon  of  the  O.T.,  215  ff. 


THE  BOOK   OF   THE   TWELVE 


Persian  period  after  the  Exile — Haggai,  Zechariah  and 
Malachi.  The  Septuagint  have  altered  the  order  of 
the  first  six,  arranging  Hosea,  Amos,  Micah,  Joel  and 
Obadiah  according  to  their  size,  and  setting  Jonah  after 
them,  probably  because  of  his  different  form.  The 
remaining  six  are  left  as  in  the  Hebrew. 

Recent  criticism,  however,  has  made  it  clear  that  the 
Biblical  order  of  "  The  Twelve  Prophets  "  is  no  more 
than  a  very  rough  approximation  to  the  order  of  their 
real  dates  ;  and,  as  it  is  obviously  best  for  us  to  follow 
in  their  historical  succession  prophecies,  which  illustrate 
the  whole  history  of  prophecy  from  its  rise  with  Amos 
to  its  fall  with  Malachi  and  his  successors,  I  propose  to 
do  this.  Detailed  proofs  of  the  separate  dates  must  be 
left  to  each  book.  All  that  is  needful  here  is  a  general 
statement  of  the  order. 

Of  the  first  six  prophets  the  dates  of  Amos,  Hosea, 
and  Micah  (but  of  the  latter's  book  in  part  only)  are 
certain.  The  Jews  have  been  able  to  defend  Hosea's 
priority  only  on  fanciful  grounds.^  Whether  or  not  he 
quotes  from  Amos,  his  historical  allusions  are  more 
recent.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  fragments  incor- 
porated by  later  authors,  the  Book  of  Amos  is  thus  the 
earliest  example  of  prophetic  literature,  and  we  take  it 
first.  The  date  we  shall  see  is  about  755.  Hosea 
begins  five  or  ten  years  later,  and  Micah  just  before  722. 
The  three  are  in  every  respect — originality,  comprehen- 
siveness, influence  upon  other  prophets — the  greatest  of 
our  Twelve,  and  will  therefore  be  treated  with  most 
detail,  occupying  the  whole  of  the  first  volume. 

The  rest  of  the  first  six  are  Obadiah,  Joel  and  Jonah. 


'  By  a  forced  interpretation  of  tlie  phrase  in  chap.  i.  2,  IVhett  tht 
Lord  spake  at  the  first  by  Hosea  (R.V.),  Talmud:  Baba  Bathra,  14a. 


THE    IWELVE  PROPHETS 


But  the  Book  of  Obadiah,  although  it  opens  with  an 
early  oracle  against  Edom,  is  in  its  present  form  from 
after  the  Exile.  The  Book  of  Joel  is  of  uncertain  date, 
but,  as  we  shall  see,  the  great  probability  is  that  it  is 
late ;  and  the  Book  of  Jonah  belongs  to  a  form  of 
literature  so  different  from  the  others  that  we  may, 
most  conveniently,  treat  of  it  last. 

This  leaves  us  to  follow  Micah,  at  the  end  of  the 
eighth  century,  with  the  group  Zephaniah,  Nahum  and 
Mabakkuk  from  the  second  half  of  the  seventh  century; 
and  finally  to  take  in  their  order  the  post-exilic  Haggai, 
Zechariah  i. — ix.,  Malachi,  and  the  other  writings  which 
we  feel  obliged  to  place  about  or  even  after  that  date. 

One  other  word  is  needful.  This  assignment  of 
the  various  books  to  different  dates  is  not  to  be  held 
as  implying  that  the  whole  of  a  book  belongs  to  such 
a  date  or  to  the  author  whose  name  it  bears.  We 
shall  find  that  hands  have  been  busy  with  the  texts 
of  the  books  long  after  the  authors  of  these  must  have 
passed  away ;  that  besides  early  fragments  incorporated 
by  later  writers,  prophets  of  Israel's  new  dawn  miti- 
gated the  judgments  and  lightened  the  gloom  of  the 
watchmen  of  her  night ;  that  here  and  there  are  passages 
which  are  evidently  intrusions,  both  because  they  in- 
terrupt the  argument  and  because  they  reflect  a  much 
later  historical  environment  than  their  context.  This, 
of  course,  will  require  discussion  in  each  case,  and 
such  discussion  will  be  given.  The  text  will  be  sub- 
jected to  an  independent  examination.  Some  passages 
hitherto  questioned  we  may  find  to  be  unjustly  so; 
others  not  hitherto  questioned  we  may  see  reason  to 
suspect.  But  in  any  case  we  shall  keep  in  mind,  that 
the  results  of  an  independent  inquiry  are  uncertain ; 
and  that  in  this  new  criticism  of  the  prophets,  which 


THE  BOOK   OF   THE    TWELVE 


is  comparatively  recent,  we  cannot  hope  to  arrive 
for  some  time  at  so  general  a  consensus,  as  is  being 
rapidly  reached  in  the  far  older  and  more  elaborated 
criticism  of  the  Pentateuch.' 


Such  is  the  extent  and  order  of  the  journey  w^hich 
lies  before  us.  If  it  is  not  to  the  very  summits  of 
Israel's  outlook  that  we  climb — Isaiah,  Jeremiah  and 
the  great  Prophet  of  the  Exile — we  are  yet  to  traverse 
the  range  of  prophecy  from  beginning  to  end.  We 
start  with  its  first  abrupt  elevations  in  Amos.  We  are 
carried  by  the  side  of  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  yet  at  a 
lower  altitude,  on  to  the  Exile,  With  the  returned 
Israel  we  pursue  an  almost  immediate  rise  to  vision,  and 
then  by  Malachi  and  others  are  conveyed  down  dwind- 
ling slopes  to  the  very  end.  Beyond  the  land  is  flat. 
Though  Psalms  are  sung  and  brave  deeds  done,  and 
faith  is  strong  and  bright,  there  is  no  height  of  outlook  ; 
there  is  no  more  any  prophet  ^  in  Israel. 

But  our  "  Twelve  "  do  more  than  thus  carry  us  from 
beginning  to  end  of  the  Prophetic  Period.  Of  second 
rank  as  are  most  of  the  heights  of  this  mountain  range, 
they  yet  bring  forth  and  speed  on  their  way  not  a  few 
of  the  streams  of  living  water  which  have  nourished 
later  ages,  and  are  flowing  to-day.  Impetuous  cataracts 
of  righteousness — lei  it  roll  on  like  ivater,  and  justice  as 
an  everlasting  stream ;  the  irrepressible  love  of  God  to 
sinful  men ;  the  perseverance  and  pursuits  of  His 
grace;  His  mercies  that  follow  the  exile  and  the 
outcast ;    His   truth    that  goes    forth    richly   upon  the 

'  For  further  considerations  on  this  point  see  pp.  142,  194,  202  ff., 
223  ff.,  308,  etc.  »  Psalm  Ixxiv.  9. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


heathen  ;  the  hope  of  the  Saviour  of  mankind  ;  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit ;  counsels  of  patience ;  impulses 
of  tenderness  and  of  healing  ;  melodies  innumerable, — 
all  sprang  from  these  lower  hills  of  prophecy,  and 
sprang  so  strongly  that  the  world  hears  and  feels  them 
still. 

And  from  the  heights  of  our  present  pilgrimage  there 
are  also  clear  those  great  visions  of  the  Stars  and  the 
Dawn,  of  the  Sea  and  the  Storm,  concerning  which  it 
is  true,  that  as  long  as  men  live  they  shall  seek  out  the 
places  whence  they  can  be  seen,  and  thank  God  for 
His  prophets. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE  PROPHET  IN  EARLY  ISRAEL 

OUR  "Twelve  Prophets"  will  carry  us,  as  we  have 
seen,  across  the  whole  extent  of  the  Prophetical 
period — the  period  when  prophecy  became  literature, 
assuming  the  form  and  rising  to  the  intensity  of  an 
imperishable  influence  on  the  world.  The  earliest 
of  the  Twelve,  Amos  and  Hosea,  were  the  inaugu- 
rators  of  this  period.  They  were  not  only  the  first 
(so  far  as  we  know)  to  commit  prophecy  to  writing, 
but  we  find  in  them  the  germs  of  all  its  subse- 
quent development.  Yet  Amos  and  Hosea  were  not 
unfathered.  Behind  them  lay  an  older  dispensation, 
and  their  own  was  partly  a  product  of  this,  and 
partly  a  revolt  against  it.  Amos  says  of  himself:  The 
Lord  hath  spoken,  who  can  but  prophesy? — but  again  : 
No  prophet  /,  nor  prophet's  son  !  Who  were  those 
earlier  prophets,  whose  office  Amos  assumed  while 
repudiating  their  spirit — whose  name  he  abjured,  yet 
could  not  escape  from  it  ?  And,  while  we  are  about 
the  matter,  what  do  we  mean  by  "  prophet "  in  general  ? 
In  vulgar  use  the  name  "  prophet "  has  degenerated 
to  the  meaning  of  "one  who  foretells  the  future."  Of 
this  meaning  it  is,  perhaps,  the  first  duty  of  every 
student  of  prophecy  earnestly  and  stubbornly  to  rid 
himself     In  its  native  Greek  tongue  "  prophet "  meant 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


not  "  one  who  speaks  before,"  but  "  one  who  speaks 
for,  or  on  behalf  of,  another."  At  the  Delphic 
oracle  "The  Prophetes"  was  the  title  of  the  official, 
who  received  the  utterances  of  the  frenzied  Pythoness 
and  expounded  them  to  the  people ;  ^  but  Plato  says 
that  this  is  a  misuse  of  the  word,  and  that  the  true 
prophet  is  the  inspired  person  himself,  he  who  is  in 
communication  with  the  Deity  and  who  speaks  directly 
for  the  Deity.^  So  Tiresias,  the  seer,  is  called  by 
Pindar  the  "  prophet "  or  "  interpreter  of  Zeus,"  ^  and 
Plato  even  styles  poets  "the  prophets  of  the  Muses."* 
It  is  in  this  sense  that  we  must  think  of  the  "  pro- 
phet" of  the  Old  Testament.  He  is  a  speaker  for 
God.  The  sharer  of  God's  counsels,  as  Amos  calls 
him,  he  becomes  the  bearer  and  preacher  of  God's 
Word.     Prediction  of  the  future   is  only  a  part,   and 


'  Herodotus,  viii.  36,  37. 

*  Timceus,  71,  72.  The  whole  passage  is  worth  transcribing: — 
"No  man,  when  in  his  senses,  attains  prophetic  truth  and  inspira- 
tion ;  but  when  he  receives  the  inspired  word  either  his  intelligence 
is  enthralled  by  sleep,  or  he  is  demented  by  some  distemper  or 
possession.  And  he  who  would  understand  what  he  remembers  to 
have  been  said,  whether  in  dream  or  when  he  was  awake,  by  the 
prophetic  and  enthusiastic  nature,  or  what  he  has  seen,  must  recover 
his  senses  ;  and  then  he  will  be  able  to  explain  rationally  what  all 
such  words  and  apparitions  mean,  and  what  indications  they  afford, 
to  this  man  or  that,  of  past,  present,  or  future,  good  and  evil.  But, 
while  he  continues  demented,  he  cannot  judge  of  the  visions  which 
he  sees  or  the  words  which  he  utters ;  the  ancient  saying  is  very 
true  that  '  only  a  man  in  his  senses  can  act  or  judge  about  himself 
and  his  own  affairs.'  And  for  this  reason  it  is  customary  to  appoint 
diviners  or  interpreters  as  discerners  of  the  oracles  of  the  gods.  Some 
persons  call  them  prophets ;  they  do  not  know  that  they  are  only 
repeaters  of  dark  sayings  and  visions,  and  are  not  to  be  called 
prophets  at  all,  but  only  interpreters  of  prophecy." — Jowett's  Trans- 
lalion. 
»  Nik.,  i  91,  *  Phcedrus,  262  D. 


THE  PROPHET  IN  EARLY  ISRAEL 


often  a  subordinate  and  accidental  part,  of  an  office 
wiiose  full  function  is  to  declare  the  character  and 
the  will  of  God.  But  the  prophet  does  this  in  no 
systematic  or  abstract  form.  He  brings  his  revelation 
point  by  point,  and  in  connection  with  some  occasion 
in  the  history  of  his  people,  or  some  phase  of  their 
character.  He  is  not  a  philosopher  nor  a  theologian  with 
a  system  of  doctrine  (at  least  before  Ezekiel),  but  the 
messenger  and  herald  of  God  at  some  crisis  in  the  life 
or  conduct  of  His  people.  His  message  is  never  out 
of  touch  with  events.  These  form  either  the  subject- 
matter  or  the  proof  or  the  execution  of  every  oracle 
he  utters.  It  is,  therefore,  God  not  merely  as  Truth, 
but  far  more  as  Providence,  whom  the  prophet  reveals. 
And  although  that  Providence  includes  the  full  destiny 
of  Israel  and  mankind,  the  prophet  brings  the  news  of 
it,  for  the  most  part,  piece  by  piece,  with  reference  to 
some  present  sin  or  duty,  or  some  impending  crisis  or 
calamity.  Yet  he  does  all  this,  not  merely  because  the 
word  needed  for  the  day  has  been  committed  to  him 
by  itself,  and  as  if  he  were  only  its  mechanical  vehicle  ; 
but  because  he  has  come  under  the  overwhelming 
conviction  of  God's  presence  and  of  His  character,  a 
conviction  often  so  strong  that  God's  word  breaks 
through  him  and  God  speaks  in  the  fii'st  person  to  the 
people. 

I.  From  the  Earliest  Times  till  Samuel. 

There  was  no  ancient  people  but  believed  in  the 
power  of  certain  personages  to  consult  the  Deity  and 
to  reveal  His  will.  Every  man  could  sacrifice ;  but 
not  every  man  could  render  in  return  the  oracle  of 
God.     This  pertained  to  select  individuals  or  orders. 


14  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

So  the  prophet  seems  to  have  been  an  older  specialist 
than  the  priest,  though  in  every  tribe  he  frequently 
combined  the  latter's  functions  with  his  own.^ 

The  matters  on  which  ancient  man  consulted  God 
were  as  wide  as  life.  But  naturally  at  first,  in  a  rude 
state  of  society  and  at  a  low  stage  of  mental  develop- 
ment, it  was  in  regard  to  the  material  defence  and 
necessities  of  life,  the  bare  law  and  order,  that  men 
almost  exclusively  sought  the  Divine  will.  And  the 
whole  history  of  prophecy  is  just  the  effort  to  substitute 
for  these  elementary  provisions  a  more  personal 
standard  of  the  moral  law,  and  more  spiritual  ideals 
of  the  Divine  Grace. 

By  the  Semitic  race — to  which  we  may  now  confine 
ourselves,  since  Israel  belonged  to  it — Deity  was 
worshipped,  in  the  main,  as  the  god  of  a  tribe.  Every 
Semitic  tribe  had  its  own  god  ;  it  would  appear  that 
there  was  no  god  without  a  tribe :  ^  the  traces  of 
belief  in  a  supreme  and  abstract  Deity  are  few  and 
ineffectual.  The  tribe  was  the  medium  by  which  the 
god  made  himself  known,  and  became  an  effective 
power  on  earth  :  the  god  was  the  patron  of  the  tribe,  the 
supreme  magistrate  and  the  leader  in  war.  The  piety 
he  demanded  was  little  more  than  lo3^alty  to  ritual ;  the 
morality  he  enforced  was  only  a  matter  of  police.  He 
took  no  cognisance  of  the  character  or  inner  thoughts 
of  the  individual.     But  the  tribe  believed  him  to  stand 


'  It  is  still  a  controversy  whether  the  original  meaning  of  the 
Semitic  root  KHN  is  prophet,  as  in  the  Arabic  KaHiN,  or  priest,  as  in 
the  Hebrew  KoHeN. 

*  Cf.  Jer.  ii.  lo:  For  pass  over  to  the  isles  of  Chittim,  and  see ;  and 
send  unto  Kedar,  atid  consider  diligently ;  and  see  if  there  be  such  a 
thing.  Hath  a  nation  changed  their  gods  ?  From  the  isles  of 
Chittim  unto  Kedar — the  limits  of  the  Semitic  world. 


THE  PROPHET  IN  EARLY  ISRAEL  \$ 

in  very  close  connection  with  all  the  practical  interests 
of  their  common  life.  They  asked  of  him  the  detection 
of  criminals,  the  discovery  of  lost  property,  the  settle- 
ment of  civil  suits,  sometimes  when  the  crops  should 
be  sown,  and  always  when  war  should  be  waged  and 
by  what  tactics. 

The  means  by  which  the  prophet  consulted  the  Deity 
on  these  subjects  were  for  the  most  part  primitive 
and  rude.  They  may  be  summed  up  under  two  kinds  : 
Visions  either  through  falling  into  ecstasy  or  by 
dreaming  in  sleep,  and  Signs  or  Omens.  Both  kinds 
are  instanced  in  Balaam.^  Of  the  signs  some  were 
natural,  like  the  whisper  of  trees,  the  flight  of  birds, 
the  passage  of  clouds,  the  movements  of  stars.  Others 
were  artificial,  like  the  casting  or  drawing  of  lots. 
Others  were  between  these,  like  the  shape  assumed 
by  the  entrails  of  the  sacrificed  animals  when  thrown 
on  the  ground.  Again,  the  prophet  was  often  obliged 
to  do  something  wonderful  in  the  people's  sight,  in 
order  to  convince  them  of  his  authority.  In  Biblical 
language  he  had  to  work  a  miracle  or  give  a  sign. 
One  instance  throws  a  flood  of  light  on  this  habitual 
expectancy  of  the  Semitic  mind.  There  was  once  an 
Arab  chief,  who  wished  to  consult  a  distant  soothsayer 
as  to  the  guilt  of  a  daughter.  But  before  he  would 
trust  the  seer  to  give  him  the  right  answer  to  such 
a  question,  he  made  him  discover  a  grain  of  corn 
which  he  had  concealed  about  his  horse.*  He  required 
the  physical  sign  before  he  would  accept  the  moral 
judgment. 

Now,  to  us  the  crudeness  of  the  means  employed, 

'  '^nrahers-xs.iv.  ^,  falling  but  having  his  eyes  open.    Ver.  I,  tnchattt' 
ttients  ought  to  be  ometts. 

*  Instanced  by  Wellhausen,  Skizeen  u.  Vorarb.,  No,  ▼. 


i6  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  opportunities  of  fraud,  the  inadequacy  of  the  tests 
for  spiritual  ends,  are  very  obvious.  But  do  not  let  us, 
therefore,  miss  the  numerous  moral  opportunities  which 
lay  before  the  prophet  even  at  that  early  stage  of  his 
evolution.  He  was  trusted  to  speak  in  the  name  of 
Deity.  Through  him  men  believed  in  God  and  in  the 
possibility  of  a  revelation.  They  sought  from  him  the 
discrimination  of  evil  from  good.  The  highest  possi- 
bilities of  social  ministry  lay  open  to  him :  the  tribal 
existence  often  hung  on  his  word  for  peace  or  war; 
he  was  the  mouth  of  justice,  the  rebuke  of  evil,  the 
champion  of  the  wronged.  Where  such  opportunities 
were  present,  can  we  imagine  the  Spirit  of  God  to  have 
been  absent — the  Spirit  Who  seeks  men  more  than 
they  seek  Him,  and  as  He  condescends  to  use  their  poor 
language  for  religion  must  also  have  stooped  to  the 
picture  language,  to  the  rude  instruments,  symbols 
and  sacraments,  of  their  early  faith  ? 

In  an  office  of  such  mingled  possibilities  everything 
depended — as  we  shall  find  it  depend  to  the  very  end 
of  prophecy — on  the  moral  insight  and  character  of  the 
prophet  himself,  on  his  conception  of  God  and  whether 
he  was  so  true  to  this  as  to  overcome  his  professional 
temptations  to  fraud  and  avarice,  malice  towards 
individuals,  subservience  to  the  powerful,  or,  worst 
snares  of  all,  the  slothfulness  and  insincerity  of  routine. 
We  see  this  moral  issue  put  very  clearly  in  such  a 
story  as  that  of  Balaam,  or  in  such  a  career  as  that  of 
Mohammed. 

So  much  for  the  Semitic  soothsayer  in  general.  Now 
let  us  turn  to  Israel. 

Among    the    Hebrews   the   man   of   God^    to    use 


THE  PROPHET  IN  EARLY  ISRAEL  17 

his  widest  designation,  is  at  first  called  Seer^  or 
Gazer^  the  word  which  Balaam  uses  of  himself. 
In  consulting  the  Divine  will  he  employs  the  same 
external  means,  he  offers  the  people  for  their  evidence 
the  same  signs,  as  do  the  seers  or  soothsayers  of  other 
Semitic  tribes.  He  gains  influence  by  the  miracles, 
the  wonderful  things,  which  he  does.'  Moses  himself  is 
represented  after  this  fashion.  He  meets  the  magicians 
of  Egypt  on  their  own  level.  His  use  of  rods\  the 
holding  up  of  his  hands  that  Israel  may  prevail  against 
Amaleq  ;  Joshua's  casting  of  lots  to  discover  a  criminal ; 
Samuel's  dream  in  the  sanctuary ;  his  discovery  for  a 
fee  of  the  lost  asses  of  Saul ;  David  and  the  images  in  his 
house,  the  ephod  he  consulted  ;  the  sign  to  go  to  battle 
what  time  thou  hearest  the  sound  of  a  going  in  the  tops  of 
the  mulberry  trees  ;  Solomon's  inducement  of  dreams  by 
sleeping  in  the  sanctuary  at  Gibeah, — these  are  a  few  of 
the  many  proofs,  that  early  prophecy  in  Israel  employed 
not  only  the  methods  but  even  much  of  the  furniture  of 
the  kindred  Semitic  religions.  But  then  those  tools 
and  methods  were  at  the  same  time  accompanied  by 
the  noble  opportunities  of  the  prophetic  office  to  which 
I  have  just  alluded-  -opportunities  of  religious  and 
social  ministry — and,  still  more,  these  opportunities 
were  at  the  disposal  of  moral  influences  which,  it  is  a 
matter  of  history,  were  not  found  in  any  other  Semitic 
religion  than  Israel's.  However  you  will  explain 
it,  that  Divine  Spirit,  which  we  have  felt  unable  to 
conceive  as  absent  from  any  Semitic  prophet  who 
truly  sought  after  God,  that  Light  which  lighteth 
every  man  who  cometh  into  the  world,  was  present 

'  HNT  ^  ntn 

*  Deut.  xiii.  i  fi.  admits  that  heathen  seers  were  able  to  work  miracles 
and  give  signs,  as  well  as  the  prophets  of  Jehovah. 

VOL.    I.  2 


l8  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

to  an  unparalleled  degree  with  the  early  prophets  of 
Israel.  He  came  to  individuals,  and  to  the  nation  as 
a  whole,  in  events  and  in  influences  which  may  be 
summed  up  as  the  impression  of  the  character  of  their 
national  God,  Jehovah  :  to  use  Biblical  language,  as 
JehovaHs  spirit  and  power.  It  is  true  that  in  many 
ways  the  Jehovah  of  early  Israel  reminds  us  of  other 
Semitic  deities.  Like  some  of  them  He  appears  with 
thunder  and  lightning ;  like  all  of  them  He  is  the  God 
of  one  tribe  who  are  His  peculiar  people.  He  bears 
the  same  titles — Melek,  Adon,  Baal  {King,  Lord, 
Possessor).  He  is  propitiated  by  the  same  offerings. 
To  choose  one  striking  instance,  captives  and  spoil  of 
war  are  sacrificed  to  Him  with  the  same  relentlessness, 
and  by  a  process  which  has  even  the  same  names  given 
to  it,  as  in  the  votive  inscriptions  of  Israel's  heathen 
neighbours.^  Yet,  notwithstanding  all  these  elements, 
the  religion  of  Jehovah  from  the  very  first  evinced,  by 
the  confession  of  all  critics,  an  ethical  force  shared  by 
no  other  Semitic  creed.  From  the  first  there  was  in  it 
the  promise  and  the  potency  of  that  sublime  monotheism, 
which  in  the  period  of  our  "  Twelve "  it  afterwards 
reached.^  Its  earliest  effects  of  course  were  chiefly 
political :  it  welded  the  twelve  tribes  into  the  unity  of  a 
nation  ;  it  preserved  them  as  one  amid  the  many  tempta- 
tions to  scatter  along  those  divergent  lines  of  culture 
and  of  faith,  which  the  geography  of  their  country 
placed  so  attractively  before  them.'  It  taught  them  to 
prefer  religious  loyalty  to  material  advantage,  and  so 
inspired  them  with  high  motives  for  self-sacrifice  and 

*  Cf.  Mesha's  account  of  himself  and  Chemosh   on  the  Moabite 
Stone,  with  the  narrative  of  the  taking  of  Ai  in  the  Book  of  Joshua, 

*  Cf.  Kuenen:  Gesammelte  Alhandlungen  (trans,  by  Budde),  p.  461. 

*  So  in  Deborah's  Song. 


THE  PROPHET  IN  EARLY  ISRAEL  19 

every  other  duty  of  patriotism.  But  it  did  even  better 
than  thus  teach  them  to  bear  one  another's  burdens. 
It  inspired  them  to  care  for  one  another's  sins.  The 
last  chapters  of  the  Book  of  Judges  prove  how  strong 
a  national  conscience  there  was  in  early  Israel.  Even 
then  Israel  was  a  moral,  as  well  as  a  political,  unity. 
Gradually  there  grew  up,  but  still  unwritten,  a  body 
of  Torah,  or  revealed  law,  which,  though  its  frame- 
work was  the  common  custom  of  the  Semitic  race,  was 
inspired  by  ideals  of  humanity  and  justice  not  elsewhere 
in  that  race  discernible  by  us. 

When  we  analyse  this  ethical  distinction  of  early 
Israel,  this  indubitable  progress  which  the  nation  were 
making  while  the  rest  of  their  world  was  morally 
stagnant,  we  find  it  to  be  due  to  their  impressions 
of  the  character  of  their  God.  This  character  did  not 
affect  them  as  Righteousness  only.  At  first  it  was  even  a 
more  wonderful  Grace.  Jehovah  had  chosen  them  when 
they  were  no  people,  had  redeemed  them  from  servitude, 
had  brought  them  to  their  land ;  had  borne  with  their 
stubbornness,  and  had  forgiven  their  infidelities.  Such 
a  Character  was  partly  manifest  in  the  great  events  of 
their  history,  and  partly  communicated  itself  to  their 
finest  personalities — as  the  Spirit  of  God  does  com- 
municate with  the  spirit  of  man  made  in  His  image. 
Those  personalities  were  the  early  prophets  from  Moses 
to  Samuel.  They  inspired  the  nation  to  believe  in  God's 
purposes  for  itself;  they  rallied  it  to  war  for  the  common 
faith,  and  war  was  then  the  pitch  of  self-sacrifice; 
they  gave  justice  to  it  in  God's  name,  and  rebuked  its 
sinfulness  without  sparing.  Criticism  has  proved  that 
we  do  not  know  nearly  so  much  about  those  first 
prophets,  as  perhaps  we  thought  we  did.  But  under 
their  God  they  made  Israel     Out  of  their  work  grew 


THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 


the  monotheism  of  their  successors,  whom  we  are 
now  to  study,  and  later  the  Christianity  of  the  New 
Testament.  For  myself  I  cannot  but  believe,  that  in 
the  influence  of  Jehovah  which  Israel  owned  in  those 
early  times,  there  was  the  authentic  revelation  of  a 
real  Being. 

2.  From  Samuel  to  Elisha. 

Of  the  oldest  order  of  Hebrew  prophecy,  Samuel 
was  the  last  representative.  Till  his  time,  we  are  told, 
the  prophet  in  Israel  was  known  as  the  Seer/  but 
now,  with  other  tempers  and  other  habits,  a  new  order 
appears,  whose  name — and  that  means  to  a  certain 
extent  their  spirit — is  to  displace  the  older  name  and 
the  older  spirit. 

When  Samuel  anointed  Saul  he  bade  him,  for  a  sign 
that  he  was  chosen  of  the  Lord,  go  forth  to  meet  a 
company  of  prophets — Nebi'im,  the  singular  is  Nabi' — 
coming  down  from  the  high  place  or  sanctuary  with 
viols,  drums  and  pipes,  and  prophesying.  There,  he 
added,  the  spirit  of  Jehovah  shall  come  upon  thee,  and 
thou  shall  prophesy  with  them,  and  shall  be  turned  into 
another  man.  So  it  happened ;  and  the  people  said  one 
to  another,  What  is  this  that  is  come  to  the  son  of  Kish  ? 
Is  Saul  also  among  the  prophets?^  Another  story, 
probably  from  another  source,  tells  us  that  later,  when 
Saul  sent  troops  of  messengers  to  the  sanctuary  at 
Ramah  to  take  David,  they  saw  the  company  of  prophets 
prophesying  and  Samuel  stafiding  appointed  over  them, 

•  I  Sam.  ix.  9. 

•  I  Sam.  X.  I-16,  xi.  I-Il,  15.  Chap.  x.  17-27,  xi.  12-14,  belong  to 
other  and  later  documents.  Cf.  Robertson  Smith,  Old  Testament 
n  the  ewish  Church,  135  fif. 


THE  PROPHET  IN  EARLY  ISRAEL 


and  the  spirit  of  God  fell  upon  one  after  another  of  the 
troops;  as  upon  Saul  himself  when  he  followed  them 
up.  And  he  stripped  off  his  clothes  also,  and  prophesied 
before  Samuel  in  like  manner,  and  lay  down  naked  all  that 
day  and  all  that  night.  Wherefore  they  say,  Is  Saul  also 
among  the  prophets  ?  ^ 

All  this  is  very  different  from  the  habits  of  the 
Seer,  who  had  hitherto  represented  prophecy.  He 
was  solitary,  but  these  went  about  in  bands.  They 
were  filled  with  an  infectious  enthusiasm,  by  which 
they  excited  each  other  and  all  sensitive  persons  whom 
they  touched.  They  stirred  up  this  enthusiasm  by 
singing,  playing  upon  instruments,  and  dancing :  its 
results  were  frenzy,  the  tearing  of  their  clothes,  and 
prostration.  The  same  phenomena  have  appeared  in 
every  religion — in  Paganism  often,  and  several  times 
within  Christianity.  They  may  be  watched  to-day 
among  the  dervishes  of  Islam,  who  by  singing  (as 
one  has  seen  them  in  Cairo),  by  swaying  of  their 
bodies,  by  repeating  the  Divine  Name,  and  dwelling 
on  the  love  and  ineffable  power  of  God,  work  them- 
selves into  an  excitement  which  ends  in  prostration 
and  often  in  insensibility.^  The  whole  process  is  due  to 
an  overpowering  sense  of  the  Deity — crude  and  unin- 
telligent if  you  will,  but  sincere  and  authentic — which 
seems  to  haunt  the  early  stages  of  all  religions,  and  to 
linger  to  the  end  with  the  stagnant  and  unprogressive. 
The  appearance  of  this  prophecy  in  Israel  has  given 
rise  to  a  controversy  as  to  whether  it  was  purely  a 

'  I  Sam.  xix.  20-24. 

*  What  seemed  most  to  induce  the  frenzy  of  the  dervishes  whom  I 
watched  was  the  fixing  of  their  attention  upon,  the  yearning  of  their 
minds  after,  the  love  of  God.  "  Ya  habeebi  I " — "  O  my  beloved  1 " 
— they  cried. 


22  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

native  product,  or  was  induced  by  infection  from  the 
Canaanite  tribes  around.  Such  questions  are  of  little 
interest  in  face  of  these  facts  :  that  the  ecstasy  sprang 
up  in  Israel  at  a  time  when  the  spirit  of  the  people  was 
stirred  against  the  Philistines,  and  patriotism  and  religion 
were  equally  excited ;  that  it  is  represented  as  due  to 
the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  ;  and  that  the  last  of  the  old  order 
of  Jehovah's  prophets  recognised  its  harmony  with  his 
own  dispensation,  presided  over  it,  and  gave  Israel's 
first  king  as  one  of  his  signs,  that  he  should  come  under 
its  power.  These  things  being  so,  it  is  surprising  that  a 
recent  critic^  should  have  seen  in  the  dancing  prophets 
nothing  but  eccentrics  into  whose  company  it  was 
shame  for  so  good  a  man  as  Saul  to  fall.  He  reaches 
this  conclusion  only  by  supposing  that  the  reflexive 
verb  used  for  their  prophesying — hithnabbe — had  at  this 
time  that  equivalence  to  mere  madness  to  which  it 
was  reduced  by  the  excesses  of  later  generations  of 
prophets.  With  Samuel  we  feel  that  the  word  had 
no  reproach  :  the  Nebi'im  were  recognised  by  him  as 
standing  in  the  prophetical  succession.  They  sprang 
up  in  sympathy  with  a  national  movement.  The  king 
who  joined  himself  to  them  wa-^  the  same  who  sternly 
banished  from  Israel  all  the  baser  forms  of  soothsaying 
and  traffic  with  the  dead.  But,  indeed,  we  need  no 
other  proof  than  this :  the  name  Nebi'im  so  establishes 
itself  in  the  popular  regard  that  it  displaces  the  older 
names  of  Seer  and  Gazer,  and  becomes  the  classical 
term  for  the  whole  body  of  prophets  from  Moses  to 
Malachi. 


'  Cornill,  in  the  first  of  his  lectures  on  Der  Israelitische  Prophettsmus, 
one  of  the  very  best  popular  studies  of  prophecy,  by  a  master  on  the 
subject.     See  p.  73  n. 


THE  PROPHET  IN  EARLY  ISRAEL  23 

There  was  one  very  remarkable  change  effected  by 
this  new  order  of  prophets,  probably  the  very  greatest 
relief  which  prophecy  experienced  in  the  course  of  its 
evolution.  This  was  separation  from  the  ritual  and 
from  the  implements  of  soothsaying.  Samuel  had  been 
both  priest  and  prophet.  But  after  him  the  names  and 
the  duties  were  specialised,  though  the  specialising  was 
incomplete.  While  the  new  Nebi'im  remained  in  con- 
nection with  the  ancient  centres  of  religion,  they  do  not 
appear  to  have  exercised  any  part  of  the  ritual.  The 
priests,  on  the  other  hand,  did  not  confine  thems'=".lves 
to  sacrifice  and  other  forms  of  public  worship,  but 
exercised  many  of  the  so-called  prophetic  functions. 
They  also,  as  Hosea  tells  us,  were  expected  to  give 
Toroth — revelations  of  the  Divine  will  on  points  of 
conduct  and  order.  There  remained  with  them  the 
ancient  forms  of  oracle — the  Ephod,  or  plated  image, 
the  Teraphim,  the  lot,  and  the  Urim  and  Thummim,' 
all  of  these  apparently  still  regarded  as  indispensable 
elements  of  religion.^  From  such  rude  forms  of  ascer- 
taining, the  Divine  Will,  prophecy  in  its  new  order  was 
absolutely  free.  And  it  was  free  of  the  ritual  of  the 
sanctuaries.  As  has  been  justly  remarked,  the  ritual  of 
Israel  always  remained  a  peril  to  the  people,  the  peril 
pi  relapsing  into  Paganism.  Not  only  did  it  materialise 
faith  and  engross  affections  in  the  worshipper  which 
were  meant  for  moral  objects,  but  very  many  of  its 

1  It  is  now  past  doubt  that  these  were  two  sacred  stones  used  for 
decision  in  the  case  of  an  alternative  issue.  This  is  plain  from  the 
amended  reading  of  Saul's  prayer  in  i  Sam.  xiv.  41,  42  (after  the 
LXX.)  :  O  Jehovah  God  of  Israel,  wherefore  hast  Thou  not  answered  Thy 
servant  this  day?  If  the  iniquity  be  in  nte  or  in  Jonathan  my  son,  O 
Jehovah  God  of  Israel,  give  Urim  :  and  if  it  be  in  Thy  people  Israel,  givt^ 
I  pray  Thee,  Thummint. 

*  Hosea  iii.  4.    See  next  chapter,  p.  38, 


24  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

forms  were  actually  the  same  as  those  of  the  other 
Semitic  religions,  and  it  tempted  its  devotees  to  the 
confusion  of  their  God  with  the  gods  of  the  heathen. 
Prophecy  was  now  wholly  independent  of  it,  and  we 
may  see  in  such  independence  the  possibility  of  all  the 
subsequent  career  of  prophecy  along  moral  and  spiritual 
lines.  Amos  absolutely  condemns  the  ritual,  and  Hosea 
brings  the  message  from  God,  /  will  have  mercy  and  not 
sacrifice.  This  is  the  distinctive  glory  of  prophecy  in 
that  era  in  which  we  are  to  study  it.  But  do  not  let 
us  forget  that  it  became  possible  through  the  ecstatic 
Nebi'im  of  Samuel's  time,  and  through  their  separation 
from  the  national  ritual  and  the  material  forms  of 
soothsaying.  It  is  the  way  of  Providence  to  prepare 
for  the  revelation  of  great  moral  truths,  by  the  en- 
franchisement, sometimes  centuries  before,  of  an  order 
or  a  nation  of  men  from  political  or  professional 
interests  which  would  have  rendered  it  impossible  for 
their  descendants  to  appreciate  those  truths  without 
prejudice  or  compromise. 

We  may  conceive  then  of  these  Nebi'im,  these 
prophets,  as  enthusiasts  for  Jehovah  and  for  Israel. 
For  Jehovah — if  to-day  we  see  men  cast  by  the  adora- 
tion of  the  despot-deity  of  Islam  into  transports  so 
excessive  that  they  lose  all  consciousness  of  earthly 
things  and  fall  into  a  trance,  can  we  not  imagine  a  like 
effect  produced  on  the  same  sensitive  natures  of  the 
East  by  the  contemplation  of  such  a  God  as  Jehovah, 
so  mighty  in  earth  and  heaven,  so  faithful  to  His  people, 
so  full  of  grace  ?  Was  not  such  an  ecstasy  of  worship 
most  likely  to  be  born  of  the  individual's  ardent  devotion 
in  the  hour  of  the  nation's  despair  ?  ^  Of  course  there 
would  be  swept  up  by  such  a  movement  all  the  more 

'  Cf.  Deut.  xxviii.  34. 


THE  PROPHET  IN  EARLY  ISRAEL  2$ 

volatile  and  unbalanced  minds  of  the  day — as  these 
always  have  been  swept  up  by  any  powerful  religious 
excitement — but  that  is  not  to  discredit  the  sincerity 
of  the  main  volume  of  the  feeling  nor  its  authenticity 
as  a  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  as  the  impression  of 
the  character  and  power  of  Jehovah. 

But  these  ecstatics  were  also  enthusiasts  for  Israel ; 
and  this  saved  the  movement  from  morbidness.  They 
worshipped  God  neither  out  of  sheer  physical  sym- 
pathy with  nature,  like  the  Phoenician  devotees  of 
Adonis  or  the  Greek  Bacchantes  ;  nor  out  of  terror 
at  the  approaching  end  of  all  things,  like  some  of 
the  ecstatic  sects  of  the  Middle  Ages;  nor  out  of  a 
selfish  passion  for  their  own  salvation,  like  so  many 
a  modern  Christian  fanatic ;  but  in  sympathy  with  their 
nation's  aspirations  for  freedom  and  her  whole  political 
life.  They  were  enthusiasts  for  their  people.  The 
ecstatic  prophet  was  not  confined  to  his  body  nor  to 
nature  for  the  impulses  of  Deity.  Israel  was  his  body, 
his  atmosphere,  his  universe.  Through  it  all  he  felt 
the  thrill  of  Deity.  Confine  religion  to  the  personal, 
it  grows  rancid,  morbid.  Wed  it  to  patriotism,  it  lives 
in  the  open  air  and  its  blood  is  pure.  So  in  days  of 
national  danger  the  Nebi'im  would  be  inspired  hke 
Saul  to  battle  for  their  country's  freedom ;  in  more 
settled  times  they  would  be  lifted  to  the  responsibilities 
of  educating  the  people,  counselling  the  governors,  and 
preserving  the  national  traditions.  This  is  what  actually 
took  place.  After  the  critical  period  of  Saul's  time  has 
passed,  the  prophets  still  remain  enthusiasts ;  but  they 
are  enthusiasts  for  affairs.  They  counsel  and  they 
rebuke  David.-^  They  warn  Rehoboam,  and  they  excite 
Northern  Israel  to  revolt.^  They  overthrow  and  they 
•  2  Sam.  xii.  I  flf.  *  I  Kings  xi.  29 ;  xii.  23. 


36  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

set  up  dynasties.*  They  offer  the  king  advice  on  cam- 
paigns.^ Like  EHjah,  they  take  up  against  the  throne 
the  cause  of  the  oppressed  ;  ^  Hke  Elisha,  they  stand  by 
the  throne  its  most  trusted  counsellors  in  peace  and  war.* 
That  all  this  is  no  new  order  of  prophecy  in  Israel, 
but  the  developed  form  of  the  ecstasy  of  Samuel's 
day,  is  plain  from  the  continuance  of  the  name  Nebi'im 
and  from  these  two  facts  besides  :  that  the  ecstasy  sur- 
vives and  that  the  prophets  still  live  in  communities. 
The  greatest  figures  of  the  period,  Elijah  and  Elisha, 
have  upon  them  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  as  the  influence 
is  now  called :  Elijah  when  he  runs  before  Ahab's 
chariot  across  Esdraelon,  Elisha  when  by  music  he 
induces  upon  himself  the  prophetic  mood.^  Another 
ecstatic  figure  is  the  prophet  who  was  sent  to  anoint 
Jehu ;  he  swept  in  and  he  swept  out  again,  and  the 
soldiers  called  him  that  mad  fellow.^  But  the  roving 
bands  had  settled  down  into  more  or  less  stationary 
communities,  who  partly  lived  by  agriculture  and  partly 
by  the  alms  of  the  people  or  the  endowments  of  the 
crown.'  Their  centres  were  either  the  centres  of  national 
worship,  like  Bethel  and  Gilgal,  or  the  centres  of  govern- 
ment, like  Samaria,  where  the  dynasty  of  Omri  sup- 
ported prophets  both  of  Baal  and  of  Jehovah.^  They 
were  called  prophets,  but  also  sons  of  the  prophets^  the 
latter  name  not  because  their  office  was  hereditary,  but 

'  I  Kings  xiv.  2,  7- 1 1  ;  xix.  15  f.;  2  Kings  ix.  3  flf. 
'  I  Kings  xxii.  5  ff. ;  2  Kings  iii.  II  flf. 

•  I  Kings  xxi.  i  ff. 

•  2  Kings  vi. — viii.,  etc. 

•  I   Kings  xviii.  46;  2  Kings  iii.  15. 

•  2  Kings  ix.  Ii.     Mad  feUoiv,  not  necessarily  a  term  of  reproach. 

'  I  Kings  xviii.  4,  cf.  19;  2  Kings  ii.  3,  5;  iv.  38-44;  v.  2off. ;  vi 
I  ff. ;  viii.  8  f.,  etc. 

•  1  Kings  xviii.  19  ;  xxii.  6. 


THE  PROPHET  IN  EARLY  ISRAEL  27 

by  the  Oriental  fashion  of  designating  every  member 
of  a  guild  as  the  son  of  the  guild.  In  many  cases 
the  son  may  have  succeeded  his  father ;  but  the  ranks 
could  be  recruited  from  outside,  as  we  see  in  the  case 
of  the  young  farmer  Elisha,  whom  Elijah  anointed  at 
the  plough.  They  probably  all  wore  the  mantle  which 
is  distinctive  of  some  of  them,  the  mantle  of  hair,  or 
skin  of  a  beast.^ 

The  risks  of  degeneration,  to  which  this  order  of 
prophecy  was  liable,  arose  both  from  its  ecstatic  temper 
and  from  its  connection  with  public  affairs. 

Religious  ecstasy  is  always  dangerous  to  the  moral 
and  intellectual  interests  of  religion.  The  largest 
prophetic  figures  of  the  period,  though  they  feel  the 
ecstasy,  attain  their  greatness  by  rising  superior  to  it. 
Elijah's  raptures  are  impressive ;  but  nobler  are  his 
defence  of  Naboth  and  his  denunciation  of  Ahab.  And 
so  Elisha's  inducement  of  the  prophetic  mood  by  music 
is  the  least  attractive  element  in  his  career :  his  great- 
ness lies  in  his  combination  of  the  care  of  souls 
with  political  insight  and  vigilance  for  the  national 
interests.  Doubtless  there  were  many  of  the  sons  of 
the  prophets  who  with  smaller  abilities  cultivated  a 
religion  as  rational  and  moral.  But  for  the  herd 
ecstasy  would  be  everything.  It  was  so  easily  induced 
or  imitated  that  much  of  it  cannot  have  been  genuine. 
Even  where  the  feeling  was  at  first  sincere  we  can 
understand  how  readily  it  became  morbid ;  how  fatally 
it  might  fall  into  sympathy  with  that  drunkenness  from 
wine  and  that  sexual  passion  which  Israel  saw  already 
cultivated  as  worship  by  the  surrounding  Canaanites. 
We  must   feel  these  dangers  of  ecstasy  if  we  would 

'  So  Elijah,  2  Kings  i.  8  :  cf.  John  the  Baptist,  Matt,  Hi.  4. 


28  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

understand  why  Amos  cut  himself  off  from  the  Nebi'im, 
and  why  Hosea  laid  such  emphasis  on  the  moral  and 
intellectual  sides  of  religion  ;  My  people  perish  for  lack 
of  knowledge.  Hosea  indeed  considered  the  degeneracy 
of  ecstasy  as  a  judgment :  the  prophet  is  a  fool,  the  man 
of  the  spirit  is  mad — for  the  multitude  of  thine  iniquity} 
A  later  age  derided  the  ecstatics,  and  took  one  of  the 
forms  of  the  verb  to  prophesy  as  equivalent  to  the  verb 
to  be  mad} 

But  temptations  as  gross  beset  the  prophet  from  that 
which  should  have  been  the  discipline'of  his  ecstasy — 
his  connection  with  public  affairs.  Only  some  prophets 
were  brave  rebukers  of  the  king  and  the  people.  The 
herd  which  fed  at  the  royal  table — four  hundred  under 
Ahab — were  flatterers,  who  could  not  tell  the  truth, 
who  said  Peace,  peace,  when  there  was  no  peace.  These 
were  false  prophets.  Yet  it  is  curious  that  the  very 
early  narrative  which  describes  them^  does  not  impute 
their  falsehood  to  any  base  motives  ot  their  own,  but 
to  the  direct  inspiration  of  God,  who  sent  forth  a  lying 
spirit  upon  them.  So  great  was  the  reverence  still  for 
the  man  of  the  spirit !  Rather  than  doubt  his  inspira- 
tion, they  held  his  very  lies  to  be  inspired.  One  does 
not  of  course  mean  that  these  consenting  prophets  were 
conscious  liars ;  but  that  their  dependence  on  the  king, 
their  servile  habits  of  speech,  disabled  them  from  seeing 
the  truth.  Subserviency  to  the  powerful  was  their 
great  temptation.  In  the  story  of  Balaam  we  see 
confessed  the  base  instinct  that  he  who  paid  the  pro- 


'  Hosea  ix.  7. 

'  Jer.  xxix.  26  :  Every  man  that  is  mad,  and  worketh  himself  into 
prophecy  (N33ri?0,  the  same  form  as  is  used  without  moral  reproach 
in  I  Sam.  x.  10  fl'.). 

•  I  Kings  xxii. 


THE  PROPHET  IN  EARLY  ISRAEL  29 

phet  should  have  the  word  of  the  prophet  in  his  favour. 
In  Israel  prophecy  went  through  exactly  the  same 
struggle  between  the  claims  of  its  God  and  the  claims 
of  its  patrons.  Nor  were  those  patrons  always  the 
rich.  The  bulk  of  the  prophets  were  dependent  on  the 
charitable  gifts  of  the  common  people,  and  in  this  we 
may  find  reason  for  that  subjection  of  so  many  of 
them  to  the  vulgar  ideals  of  the  national  destiny,  to  signs 
of  which  we  are  pointed  by  Amos.  The  priest  at  Bethel 
only  reflects  public  opinion  when  he  takes  for  granted 
that  the  prophet  is  a  thoroughly  mercenary  character: 
Seer,  get  thee  gone  to  the  land  of  Judah ;  eat  there  thy 
bread,  and  play  the  prophet  there  !^  No  wonder  Amos 
separates  himself  from  such  hireling  craftsmen  I 


Such  was  the  course  of  prophecy  up  to  Elisha,  and 
the  borders  of  the  eighth  century.  We  have  seen  how 
even  for  the  ancient  prophet,  mere  soothsayer  though 
we  might  regard  him  in  respect  of  the  rude  instruments 
of  his  office,  there  were  present  moral  opportunities 
of  the  highest  kind,  from  which,  if  he  only  proved  true 
to  them,  we  cannot  conceive  the  Spirit  of  God  to  have 
been  absent.  In  early  Israel  we  are  sure  that  the  Spirit 
did  meet  such  strong  and  pure  characters,  from  Moses 
to  Samuel,  creating  by  their  means  the  nation  of  Israel, 
welding  it  to  a  unity,  which  was  not  only  political  but 
moral — and  moral  to  a  degree  not  elsewhere  realised 
in  the  Semitic  world.  We  saw  how  a  new  race  of 
prophets  arose  under  Samuel,  separate  from  the  older 
forms  of  prophecy  by  lot  and  oracle,  separate,  too,  from 
the  ritual  as  a  whole ;  and  therefore  free  for  a  moral 

'  Amos  vii.  I3. 


30  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

and  spiritual  advance  of  which  the  priesthood,  still 
bound  to  images  and  the  ancient  rites,  proved  them- 
selves incapable.  But  this  new  order  of  prophecy, 
besides  its  moral  opportunities,  had  also  its  moral 
perils :  its  ecstasy  was  dangerous,  its  connection  with 
public  affairs  was  dangerous  too.  Again,  the  test  was 
the  personal  character  of  the  prophet  himself.  And 
so  once  more  we  see  raised  above  the  herd  great 
personalities,  who  carry  forward  the  work  of  their 
predecessors.  The  results  are,  besides  the  discipline 
of  the  monarchy  and  the  defence  of  justice  and  the 
poor,  the  firm  establishment  of  Jehovah  as  the  one 
and  only  God  of  Israel,  and  the  impression  on  Israel 
both  of  His  omnipotent  guidance  of  them  in  the  past, 
and  of  a  worldwide  destiny,  still  vague  but  brilliant, 
which  He  had  prepared  for  them  in  the  future. 

This  brings  us  to  Elisha,  and  from  Elisha  there  are 
but  forty  years  to  Amos.  During  those  forty  years, 
however,  there  arose  within  Israel  a  new  civilisation  ; 
beyond  her  there  opened  up  a  new  world  ;  and  with 
Assyria  there  entered  the  resources  of  Providence,  a 
new  power.  It  was  these  three  facts — the  New 
Civilisation,  the  New  World  and  the  New  Power — 
which  made  the  difference  between  Elisha  and  Amos, 
and  raised  prophecy  from  a  national  to  a  universal 
religion. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  EIGHTH  CENTURY  IN  ISRAEL 

THE  long  life  of  Elisha  fell  to  its  rest  on  the 
margin  of  the  eighth  century.*  He  had  seen 
much  evil  upon  Israel.  The  people  were  smitten  in 
all  their  coasts.  None  of  their  territory  across  Jordan 
was  left  to  them ;  and  not  only  Hazael  and  his  Syrians, 
but  bands  of  their  own  former  subjects,  the  Moabites, 
periodically  raided  Western  Palestine,  up  to  the  very 
gates  of  Samaria.*  Such  a  state  of  affairs  determined 
the  activity  of  the  last  of  the  older  prophets.  EUsha 
spent  his  life  in  the  duties  of  the  national  defence,  and 
in  keeping  alive  the  spirit  of  Israel  against  her  foes. 
When  he  died  they  called  him  Israel's  chariot  and  the 
horsemen  thereof,^  so  incessant  had  been  both  his 
military  vigilance  *  and  his  political  insight.*  But 
Elisha  was  able  to  leave  behind  him  the  promise  of 
a  new  day  of  victory.®  It  was  in  the  peace  and  liberty 
of  this  day  that  Israel  rose  a  step  in  civilisation  ;  that 
prophecy,  released  from  the  defence,  became  the  criti- 
cism, of  the  national  life ;  and  that  the  people,  no 
longer  absorbed  in  their  own  borders,  looked  out,  and 

>  He  died  in  798  or  797.  *  vi.  12  ff.,  etc 

•  2  Kings  X.  32,  xiii.  20,  22.  •  viii.,  etc. 

•  2  Kings  xiii.  14.  •  xiii.  17  S, 

3« 


3*  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

for  the  first  time  realised  the  great  world,  of  which 
they  were  only  a  part. 

King  Joash,  whose  arms  the  dying  Elisha  had  blessed, 
won  back  in  the  sixteen  years  of  his  reign  (798 — 783) 
the  cities  which  the  Syrians  had  taken  from  his  father.^ 
His  successor,  Jeroboam  II.,  came  in,  therefore,  with 
a  flowing  tide.  He  was  a  strong  man,  and  he  took 
advantage  of  it.  During  his  long  reign  of  about  forty 
years  (783 — 743)  he  restored  the  border  of  Israel  from 
the  Pass  of  Hamath  between  the  Lebanons  to  the 
Dead  Sea,  and  occupied  at  least  part  of  the  territory 
of  Damascus.^  This  means  that  the  constant  raids  to 
which  Israel  had  been  subjected  now  ceased,  and  that 
by  the  time  of  Amos,  about  755,  a  generation  was 
grown  up  who  had  not  known  defeat,  and  the  most 
of  whom  had  perhaps  no  experience  even  of  war. 

Along  the  same  length  of  years  Uzziah  {circa 
778—740)  had  dealt  similarly  with  Judah.^  He  had 
pushed  south  to  the  Red  Sea,  while  Jeroboam  pushed 
north  to  Hamath ;  and  while  Jeroboam  had  taken  the 
Syrian  towns  he  had  crushed  the  Philistine.  He  had 
reorganised  the  army,  and  invented  new  engines  of 
siege  for  casting  stones.  On  such  of  his  frontiers  as 
were  opposed  to  the  desert  he  had  built  towers  :  there 
is  no  better  means  of  keeping  the  nomads  in  subjection. 

All  this  meant  such  security  across  broad  Israel 
as  had  not  been  known  since  the  glorious  days  of 
Solomon.  Agriculture  must  everywhere  have  revived  : 
Uzziah,  the  Chronicler  tells  us,  loved  husbandry.  But 
we  hear  most  of  Trade  and  Building.  With  quarters 
in  Damascus  and  a  port  on  the  Red  Sea,  with  allies 


*  a  Kings  ziii.  ??-2<;.  *  ziv.  28,  if  not  Damascus  itselH 

s  Kings  XV. :  cf.  2  Chron.  xxvi. 


THE  EIGHTH  CENTURY  IN  ISRAEL  33 

in  the  Phoenician  towns  and  tributaries  in  the  Philistine, 
with  command  of  all  the  main  routes  between  Egypt 
and  the  North  as  between  the  Desert  and  the  Levant, 
Israel,  during  those  forty  years  of  Jeroboam  and  Uzziah, 
must  have  become  a  busy  and  a  wealthy  commercial 
power.  Hosea  calls  the  Northern  Kingdom  a  very 
Canaan^ — Canaanite  being  the  Hebrew  term  for  trader 
— as  we  should  say  a  very  Jew ;  and  Amos  exposes 
all  the  restlessness,  the  greed,  and  the  indifference  to 
the  poor  of  a  community  making  haste  to  be  rich. 
The  first  effect  of  this  was  a  large  increase  of  the 
towns  and  of  town-life.  Every  document  of  the  time — 
up  to  720 — speaks  to  us  of  its  buildings.^  In  ordinary 
building  houses  of  ashlar  seem  to  be  novel  enough 
to  be  mentioned.  Vast  palaces — the  name  of  them  first 
heard  of  in  Israel  under  Omri  and  his  Phoenician  alliance, 
and  then  only  as  that  of  the  king's  citadeP — are  now  built 
by  wealthy  grandees  out  of  money  extorted  from  the 
poor ;  they  can  have  risen  only  since  the  Syrian  wars. 
There  are  summer  houses  in  addition  to  winter  houses ; 
and  it  is  not  only  the  king,  as  in  the  days  of  Ahab, 
who  furnishes  his  buildings  with  ivory.  When  an 
earthquake  comes  and  whole  cities  are  overthrown,  the 
vigour  and  wealth  of  the  people  are  such  that  they 
build  more  strongly  and  lavishly  than  before.*  With 
all  this  we  have  the  characteristic  tempers  and  moods 

'  xii.  7  (Heb.  ver.  8).     Trans.,  As  for  Canaan,  the  balances,  etc. 

*  Amos,  passim.    Hosea  viii.  14,  etc.;  Micah  iii.  12;  Isa.  ix,  10. 

'  }^D^X,  a  word  not  found  in  the  Pentateuch,  Joshua,  Judges, 
or  Samuel,  is  used  in  1  Kings  xvi.  18,  2  Kings  xv.  25,  for  a  citadel 
within  the  palace  of  the  king.  Similarly  in  Isa.  xxv.  2  ;  Pro.  xviii 
19.  But  in  Amos  generally  of  any  large  or  grand  house.  That 
the  name  first  appears  in  the  time  of  Omri's  alliance  with  Tyre, 
points  to  a  Phoenician  origin.  Probably  from  root  D")X,  to  be  high. 
Isa.  ix.  10. 
VOL.    I.  X 


34  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  city-life :  the  fickleness  and  liability  to  panic  which 
are  possible  only  where  men  are  gathered  in  crowds ; 
the  luxury  and  false  art  which  are  engendered  only  by 
artificial  conditions  of  life ;  the  deep  poverty  which 
in  all  cities,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  time, 
lurks  by  the  side  of  the  most  brilliant  wealth,  its  dark 
and  inevitable  shadow. 

In  short,  in  the  half-century  between  Elisha  and 
Amos,  Israel  rose  from  one  to  another  of  the  great  stages 
of  culture.  Till  the  eighth  century  they  had  been  but 
a  kingdom  of  fighting  husbandmen.  Under  Jeroboam 
and  Uzziah  city-life  was  developed,  and  civilisation,  in  the 
proper  sense  of  the  word,  appeared.  Only  once  before 
had  Israel  taken  so  large  a  step :  when  they  crossed 
Jordan,  leaving  the  nomadic  life  for  the  agricultural ;  and 
that  had  been  momentous  for  their  religion.  They 
came  among  new  temptations :  the  use  of  wine,  and  the 
shrines  of  local  gods  who  were  believed  to  have  more 
influence  on  the  fertility  of  the  land  than  Jehovah  who 
had  conquered  it  for  His  people.  But  now  this  further 
step,  from  the  agricultural  stage  to  the  mercantile  and 
civil,  was  equally  fraught  with  danger.  There  was  the 
closer  intercourse  with  foreign  nations  and  their  cults. 
There  were  all  the  temptations  of  rapid  wealth,  all 
the  dangers  of  an  equally  increasing  poverty.  The 
growth  of  comfort  among  the  rulers  meant  the  growth 
of  thoughtlessness.  Cruelty  multiplied  with  refinement. 
The  upper  classes  were  lifted  away  from  feeling  the 
real  woes  of  the  people.  There  was  a  well-fed  and 
sanguine  patriotism,  but  at  the  expense  of  indifference 
to  social  sin  and  want.  Religious  zeal  and  liberality 
increased,  but  they  were  coupled  with  all  the  proud's 
misunderstanding  .of  God  :  an  optimist  faith  without 
moral  insight  or  sympathy. 


THE  EIGHTH  CENTURY  IN  ISRAEL  35 

It  is  all  this  which  makes  the  prophets  of  the  eighth 
century  so  modern,  while  Elisha's  life  is  still  so  ancient. 
With  him  we  are  back  in  the  times  of  our  own  border 
wars — of  Wallace  and  Bruce,  with  their  struggles  for 
the  freedom  of  the  soil.  With  Amos  we  stand  among 
the  conditions  of  our  own  day.  The  City  has  arisen. 
For  the  development  of  the  highest  form  of  prophecy, 
the  universal  and  permanent  form,  there  was  needed 
that  marvellously  unchanging  mould  of  human  life, 
whose  needs  and  sorrows,  whose  sins  and  problems, 
are  to-day  the  same  as  they  were  all  those  thousands 
of  years  ago. 

With  Civilisation  came  Literature.  The  long  peace 
gave  leisure  for  writing;  and  the  just  pride  of  the 
people  in  boundaries  broad  as  Solomon's  own,  deter- 
mined that  this  writing  should  take  the  form  of 
heroic  history.  In  the  parallel  reigns  of  Jeroboam  and 
Uzziah  many  critics  have  placed  the  great  epics  of 
Israel :  the  earlier  documents  of  our  Pentateuch  which 
trace  God's  purposes  to  mankind  by  Israel,  from  the 
creation  of  the  world  to  the  settlement  of  the  Promised 
Land ;  the  histories  which  make  up  our  Books  of 
Judges,  Samuel  and  Kings.  But  whether  all  these 
were  composed  now  or  at  an  earlier  date,  it  is  certain 
that  the  nation  lived  in  the  spirit  of  them,  proud  of 
its  past,  aware  of  its  vocation,  and  confident  that  its 
God,  who  had  created  the  world  and  so  mightily  led 
itself,  would  bring  it  from  victory  by  victory  to  a 
complete  triumph  over  the  heathen.  Israel  of  the 
eighth  century  were  devoted  to  Jehovah ;  and  although 
passion  or  self-interest  might  lead  individuals  or  even 
communities  to  worship  other  gods,  He  had  no  possible 
rival  upon  the  throne  of  the  nation. 

As   they  delighted  to   recount    His  deeds   by  their 


36  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

fathers,  so  they  thronged  the  scenes  of  these  with  sacrifice 
and  festival.  Bethel  and  Beersheba,  Dan  and  Gilgal, 
were  the  principal ;  ^  but  Mizpeh,  the  top  of  Tabor,^  and 
Carmel,^  perhaps  Penuel,*  were  also  conspicuous  among 
the  countless  high  places^  of  the  land.  Of  those  in 
Northern  Israel  Bethel  was  the  chief.  It  enjoyed  the 
proper  site  for  an  ancient  shrine,  which  was  nearly 
always  a  market  as  well — near  a  frontier  and  where 
many  roads  converged ;  where  traders  from  the  East 
could  meet  half-way  with  traders  from  the  West,  the 
wool-growers  of  Moab  and  the  Judaean  desert  with 
the  merchants  of  Phoenicia  and  the  Philistine  coast. 
Here,  on  the  spot  on  which  the  father  of  the  nation  had 
seen  heaven  open,^  a  great  temple  was  now  built,  with 
a  priesthood  endowed  and  directed  by  the  crown,^ 
but  lavishly  supported  also  by  the  tithes  and  free-will 
offerings  of  the  people.®  It  is  a  sanctuary  of  the  king 
and  a  house  of  the  kingdom.^  Jeroboam  had  ordained 
Dan,  at  the  other  end  of  the  kingdom,  to  be  the  fellow 
of  Bethel ;  ^^  but  Dan  was  far  away  from  the  bulk  of 
the  people,  and  in  the  eighth  century  Bethel's  real  rival 


*  I  Kings  xii.  25  fif.,  and  Amos  and  Hosea  passim. 

*  Hosea  v.  i. 

*  1  Kings  xviii.  30  ff. 

*  I  Kings  xii.  25. 

*  Originally  so  called  from  their  elevation  (though  oftener  on  the 
flank  than  on  the  summit  of  a  hill)  ;  but  like  the  name  High  Street 
or  the  Scottish  High  Kirk,  the  term  came  to  be  dissociated  from 
physical  height  and  was  applied  to  any  sanctuary,  even  in  a  hollow, 
like  so  many  of  the  sacred  wells. 

*  The  sanctuary  itself  was  probably  on  the  present  site  of  the  Burj 
Beitin  (with  the  ruins  of  an  early  Christian  Church),  some  tew 
minutes  to  the  south-east  of  the  present  village  of  Beitin,  which  pro- 
bably represents  the  city  of  Bethel  that  was  called  Luz  at  the  first. 

'  I  Kings  xii.  25  ff. ;  Amos  vii. 

*  Amos  iv.  4.  *  Amos  vii.  13.  '•  i  Kings  xii.  25  flF. 


THE  EIGHTH  CENTURY  IN  ISRAEL  37 

was  Gilgal.^  Whether  this  was  the  Gilgal  by  Jericho, 
or  the  other  Gilgal  on  the  Samarian  hills  near  Shiloh, 
is  uncertain.  The  latter  had  been  a  sanctuary  in 
Elijah's  day,  with  a  settlement  of  the  prophets  ;  but 
the  former  must  have  proved  the  greater  attraction 
to  a  people  so  devoted  to  the  sacred  events  of  their 
past.  Was  it  not  the  first  resting-place  of  the  Ark 
after  the  passage  of  Jordan,  the  scene  of  the  re- 
institution  of  circumcision,  of  the  anointing  of  the 
first  king,  of  Judah's  second  submission  to  David  ?  * 
As  there  were  many  Gilgals  in  the  land — literally  crom- 
lechs^ ancient  stone-circles  sacred  to  the  Canaanites  as 
well  as  to  Israel — so  there  were  many  Mizpehs,  Watch- 
towers^  Seers^  stations :  the  one  mentioned  by  Hosea 
was  probably  in  Gilead.'  To  the  southern  Beersheba, 
to  which  Elijah  had  fled  from  Jezebel,  pilgrimages  were 
made  by  northern  Israelites  traversing  Judah.  The 
sanctuary  on  Carmel  was  the  ancient  altar  of  Jehovah 
which  Elijah  had  rebuilt;  but  Carmel  seems  at  this 
time  to  have  lain,  as  it  did  so  often,  in  the  power  of 
the  Phoenicians,  for  it  is  imagined  by  the  prophets  only 
as  a  hiding-place  from  the  face  of  Jehovah.* 

At  all  these  sanctuaries  it  was  Jehovah  and  no  other 


'  Curiously  enough  conceived  by  many  of  the  early  Christian 
Fathers  as  containing  the  second  of  the  calves.  Cyril,  Comm.  in 
Hoseam,  5;  Epiph.,  De  Vitis  Proph.,  237;  Chron.  Pasc,  161. 

*  Josh.  iv.  20  ff.,  V.  2  ff. ;  I  Sam.  xi.  14,  15,  etc. ;  2  Sam.  xix.  15,  40. 
This  Gilgal  by  Jericho  fell  to  N.  Israel  after  the  Disruption  ;  but  there 
is  nothing  in  Amos  or  Hosea  to  tell  us,  whether  it  or  the  Gilgal  near 
Shiloh,  which  seems  to  have  absorbed  the  sanctity  of  the  latter,  is  the 
shrine  which  they  couple  with  Bethel — except  that  they  never  talk 
of  "  going  up  "  to  it.  The  passage  from  Epiphanius  in  previous  note 
speaks  of  the  Gilgal  with  tlie  calf  as  the  "  Gilgal  which  is  in  Shiloh." 

*  Site  uncertain.     See  Hist.  Geog.,  pp.  579,  586. 

*  Amos  ix.  3.     But  cf.  i.  2. 


38  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

who  was  sought :  thy  God,  O  Israel,  which  brought  thee 
up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt}  At  Bethel  and  at  Dan 
He  was  adored  in  the  form  of  a  calf;  probably  at  Gilgal 
also,  for  there  is  a  strong  tradition  to  that  effect ;  *  and 
elsewhere  men  still  consulted  the  other  images  which 
had  been  used  by  Saul  and  by  David,  the  Ephod  and 
the  Teraphim.'  With  these  there  was  the  old  Semitic 
symbol  of  the  Ma^^ebah,  or  upright  stone  on  which 
oil  was  poured.*  All  of  them  had  been  used  in  the 
worship  of  Jehovah  by  the  great  examples  and  leaders 
of  the  past ;  all  of  them  had  been  spared  by  Elijah 
and  Elisha :  it  was  no  wonder  that  the  common  people 
of  the  eighth  century  felt  them  to  be  indispensable 
elements  of  religion,  the  removal  of  which,  like  the 
removal  of  the  monarchy  or  of  sacrifice  itself,  would 
mean  utter  divorce  from  the  nation's  God/ 

One  great  exception  must  be  made.  Compared  with 
the  sanctuaries  we  have  mentioned,  Zion  itself  was 
very  modem.  But  it  contained  the  main  repository 
of  Israel's  religion,  the  Ark,  and  in  connection  with 
the  Ark  the  worship  of  Jehovah  was  not  a  worship  of 


*  2  Kings  xii.  28, 

*  See  above,  p.  37,  n.  I. 

■  The  Ephod,  the  plated  thing;  presumably  a  wooden  image  covered 
either  with  a  skin  of  metal  or  a  cloak  of  metal.  The  Teraphim  were 
images  in  human  shape. 

*  The  menhir  of  modern  Palestine — not  a  hewn  pillar,  but  oblong 
natural  stone  narrowing  a  little  towards  the  top  (cf.  W.  R,  Smith, 
Religion  of  the  Semites,  183-188).  From  Hosea  x.  I,  2,  it  would  appear 
that  the  ma99eboth  of  the  eighth  century  were  artificial.  They  make 
good  ma9?eboth  (A.V.  wrongly  images). 

*  So  indeed  Hosea  iii.  4  implies.  The  Asherah,  the  pole  or  symbolic 
tree  of  Canaanite  worship,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  used  as  a 
part  of  the  ritual  of  Jehovah's  worship.  But,  that  there  was  con- 
stantly a  temptation  so  to  use  it,  is  clear  from  Deut.  zvi.  21,  22 
See  Driver  on  that  passage. 


THE  EIGHTH  CENTURY  IN  ISRAEL  39 

images.  It  is  significant  that  from  this,  the  original 
.sanctuary  of  Israel,  with  the  pure  worship,  the  new 
prophecy  derived  its  first  inspiration.  But  to  that 
we  shall  return  later  with  Amos.^  Apart  from  the  Ark, 
Jerusalem  was  not  free  from  images,  nor  even  from  the 
altars  of  foreign  deities. 

Where  the  externals  of  the  ritual  were  thus  so  much 
the  same  as  those  of  the  Canaanite  cults,  which  were  still 
practised  in  and  around  the  land,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  worship  of  Jehovah  should  be  further  invaded 
by  many  pagan  practices,  nor  that  Jehovah  Himself 
should  be  regarded  with  imaginations  steeped  in  pagan 
ideas  of  the  Godhead.     That  even  the  foulest  tempers 
of  the  Canaanite  ritual,  those  inspired  by  wine  and  the 
sexual   passion,    were    licensed    in    the    sanctuaries  of 
Israel,  both  Amos  and  Hosea  testify.     But  the  worst 
of  the  evil  was  wrought  in  the  popular  conception  of 
God.      Let   us  remember  again  that  Jehovah   had   no 
real  rival  at  this  time  in  the  devotion  of  His  people, 
and  that  their  faith  was  expressed  both  by  the  legal 
forms    of    His    religion    and    by    a    liberality    which 
exceeded  these.     The   tithes  were    paid   to    Him,  and 
paid,  it  would  appear,  with  more  than  legal  frequency.* 
Sabbath  and  New  Moon,  as  days  of  worship  and  rest 
from  business,  were  observed  with  a  Pharisaic  scrupu- 
lousness   for    the    letter   if  not    for   the    spirit.^      The 
prescribed  festivals  were  held,  and  thronged  by  zealous 
devotees  who  rivalled  each  other  in  the  amount  of  their 
free-will  offerings.*     Pilgrimages  were  made  to  Bethel, 
to  Gilgal,  to  far  Beersheba,  and  the  very  way  to  the 
latter  appeared  as  sacred  to  the  Israelite  as  the  way 


'  See  below,  p.  99.  *  Amos  vii.  4 :  cf.  2  Kings  v.  231 

*  Amos  iv.  48°.  *  Amos  iv.  4f. 


40  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

to  Mecca  does  to  a  pious  Moslem  of  to-day.*  Yet,  in 
spite  of  all  this  devotion  to  their  God,  Israel  had  no 
true  ideas  of  Him.  To  quote  Amos,  they  sought  His 
sanctuaries,  but  Him  they  did  not  seek;  in  the  words 
of  Hosea's  frequent  plaint,  they  did  not  knoiv  Htm. 
To  the  mass  of  the  people,  to  their  governors,  their 
priests,  and  the  most  of  their  prophets,  Jehovah  was 
but  the  characteristic  Semitic  deity — patron  of  His 
people,  and  caring  for  them  alone — who  had  helped 
them  in  the  past,  and  was  bound  to  help  them  still — 
very  jealous  as  to  the  correctness  of  His  ritual  and 
the  amount  of  His  sacrifices,  but  indifferent  about  real 
morality.  Nay,  there  Vv'ere  still  darker  streaks  in  their 
views  of  Him.  A  god,  figured  as  an  ox,  could  not 
be  adored  by  a  cattle-breeding  people  without  starting 
in  their  minds  thoughts  too  much  akin  to  the  foul 
tempers  of  the  Canaanite  faiths.  These  things  it  is 
almost  a  shame  to  mention ;  but  without  knowing  that 
they  fermented  in  the  life  of  that  generation,  we  shall 
not  appreciate  the  vehemence  of  Amos  or  of  Hosea. 

Such  a  religion  had  no  discipline  for  the  busy, 
mercenary  life  of  the  day.  Injustice  and  fraud  were 
rife  in  the  very  precincts  of  the  sanctuary.  Magistrates 
and  priests  alike  were  smitten  with  their  generation's 
love  of  money,  and  did  everything  for  reward.  Again 
and  again  do  the  prophets  speak  of  bribery.  Judges 
took  gifts  and  perverted  the  cause  of  the  poor ;  priests 
drank  the  mulcted  wine,  and  slept  on  the  pledged 
garments  of  religious  offenders.  There  was  no  disin- 
terested service  of  God  or  of  the  commonweal.  Mammon 
was  supreme.  The  influence  of  the  commercial  character 
of  the  age  appears  in  another  very  remarkable  result. 

'  See  below,  p.  185. 


THE  EIGHTH  CENTURA   IN  ISRAEL  4: 

An  agricultural  community  is  always  sensitive  to  the 
religion  of  nature.  They  are  awed  by  its  chastisements 
— droughts,  famines  and  earthquakes.  They  feel  its 
majestic  order  in  the  course  of  the  seasons,  the  pro- 
cession of  day  and  night,  the  march  of  the  great  stars 
all  the  host  of  the  Lord  of  hosts.  But  Amos  seems  to 
have  had  to  break  into  passionate  reminders  of  Him  that 
maketh  Orion  and  the  Pleiades,  and  turneth  the  murk 
into  morning.^  Several  physical  calamities  visited  the 
land.  The  locusts  are  bad  in  Palestine  every  sixth 
or  seventh  year :  one  year  before  Amos  began  they 
had  been  very  bad.  There  was  a  monstrous  drought, 
followed  by  a  famine.  There  was  a  long-remembered 
earthquake — the  eaiihquake  in  the  days  of  Uzziah. 
With  Egypt  so  near,  the  home  of  the  plague,  and 
vdth  so  much  war  afoot  in  Northern  Syria,  there  were 
probably  more  pestilences  in  Western  Asia  than  those 
recorded  in  803,  765  and  759.  There  was  a  total 
eclipse  of  the  sun  in  "jQ^.  But  of  all  these,  except 
perhaps  the  pestilence,  a  commercial  people  are  inde- 
pendent as  an  agricultural  are  not.  Israel  speedily 
recovered  from  them,  without  any  moral  improvement. 
Even  when  the  earthquake  came  they  said  in  pride  and 
stoutness  of  heart,  The  bricks  are  fallen  down,  but  we  will 
build  with  hewn  stones ;  the  sycamores  are  cut  down,  but  we 
will  change  to  cedars}  It  was  a  marvellous  generation — 
so  joyous,  so  energetic,  so  patriotic,  so  devout  I  But 
its  strength  was  the  strength  of  cruel  wealth,  its  peace 
the  peace  of  an  immoral  religion. 

I  have  said  that  the  age  is  very  modern,  and  we 
shall  indeed  go  to  its  prophets  feeling  that  they  speak 
to  conditions  of  life  extremely  like  our  own.      But  if 

'  But  whether  these  be  by  Amos  see  Chap.  XL  *  Isa   ix.  lO. 


THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 


we  wish  a  still  closer  analogy  from  our  history,  we 
must  travel  back  to  the  fourteenth  century  in  England 
— Langland's  and  Wyclif  s  century,  which,  like  this  one 
in  Israel,  saw  both  the  first  real  attempts  towards  a 
national  literature,  and  the  first  real  attempts  towards 
a  moral  and  religious  reform.  Then  as  in  Israel  a  long 
and  victorious  reign  was  drawing  to  a  close,  under  the 
threat  of  disaster  when  it  should  have  passed.  Then 
as  in  Israel  there  had  been  droughts,  earthquakes  and 
pestilences  with  no  moral  results  upon  the  nation. 
Then  also  there  was  a  city  life  developing  at  the  expense 
of  country  life.  Then  also  the  wealthy  began  to 
draw  aloof  from  the  people.  Then  also  there  was 
a  national  religion,  zealously  cultivated  and  endowed 
by  the  liberality  of  the  people,  but  superstitious, 
mercenary,  and  corrupted  by  sexual  disorder.  Then 
too  there  were  many  pilgrimages  to  popular  shrines, 
and  the  land  was  strewn  with  mendicant  priests  and 
hireling  preachers.  And  then  too  prophecy  raised  its 
voice,  for  the  first  time  fearless  in  England.  As  we 
study  the  verses  of  Amos  we  shall  find  again  and 
again  the  most  exact  parallels  to  them  in  the  verses  of 
Langland's  Vision  of  Piers  the  Plowman,  which  denounce 
the  same  vices  in  Church  and  State,  and  enforce  the 
same  principles  of  religion  and  morality. 


It  was  when  the  reign  of  Jeroboam  was  at  its  height 
of  assured  victory,  when  the  nation's  prosperity  seemed 
impregnable  after  the  survival  of  those  physical  calamities, 
when  the  worship  and  the  commerce  were  in  full  course 
throughout  the  land,  that  the  first  of  the  new  prophets 
broke  out  against  Israel  in  the  name  of  Jehovah, 
threatening  judgment  alike   upon  the  new  civilisation 


THE  EIGHTH  CENTURY  IN  ISRAEL  43 

of  which  they  were  so  proud  and  the  old  religion  in 
which  they  were  so  confident.  These  prophets  were 
inspired  by  feelings  of  the  purest  morality,  by  the 
passionate  conviction  that  God  could  no  longer  bear 
such  impurity  and  disorder.  But,  as  we  have  seen, 
no  prophet  in  Israel  ever  worked  on  the  basis  of 
principles  only.  He  came  always  in  alliance  with 
events.  These  first  appeared  in  the  shape  of  the  great 
physical  disasters.  But  a  more  powerful  instrument  of 
Providence,  in  the  service  of  judgment,  was  appearing 
on  the  horizon.  This  was  the  Assyrian  Empire. 
So  vast  was  its  influence  on  prophecy  that  we  must 
devote  to  it  a  separate  chapter. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ASSYRIA    UPON  PROPHECY 

BY  far  the  greatest  event  in  the  eighth  century 
before  Christ  was  the  appearance  of  Assyria  in 
Palestine.  To  Israel  since  the  Exodus  and  Conquest, 
nothing  had  happened  capable  of  so  enormous  an 
influence  at  once  upon  their  national  fortunes  and  their 
religious  development.  But  while  the  Exodus  and 
Conquest  had  advanced  the  political  and  spiritual  pro- 
gress of  Israel  in  equal  proportion,  the  effect  of  the 
Assyrian  invasion  was  to  divorce  these  two  interests, 
and  destroy  the  state  while  it  refined  and  confirmed 
the  religion.  After  permitting  the  Northern  Kingdom 
to  reach  an  extent  and  splendour  unrivalled  since 
the  days  of  Solomon,  Assyria  overthrew  it  in  721 
and  left  all  Israel  scarcely  a  third  of  their  former 
magnitude.  But  while  Assyria  proved  so  disastrous 
to  the  state,  her  influence  upon  the  prophecy  of  the 
period  was  little  short  of  creative.  Humanly  speaking, 
this  highest  stage  of  Israel's  religion  could  not  have 
been  achieved  by  the  prophets  except  in  alliance  with 
the  armies  of  that  heathen  empire.  Before  then  we  turn 
to  their  pages  it  may  be  well  for  us  to  make  clear  in 
what  directions  Assyria  performed  this  spiritual  service 
for  Israel.  While  pursuing  this  inquiry  we  may  be 
able  to  find   answers   to   the  scarcely  less   important 

44 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ASSYRIA    UPON  PROPHECY    45 

questions  :  why  the  prophets  were  at  first  doubtful  of 
the  part  Assyria  was  destined  to  play  in  the  providence 
of  the  Almighty  ?  and  why,  when  the  prophets  were 
at  last  convinced  of  the  certainty  of  Israel's  overthrow, 
the  statesmen  of  Israel  and  the  bulk  of  the  people  still 
remained  so  unconcerned  about  her  coming,  or  so 
sanguine  of  their  power  to  resist  her  ?  This  requires, 
to  begin  with,  a  summary  of  the  details  of  the  Assyrian 
advance  upon  Palestine. 

In  the  far  past  Palestine  had  often  been  the  hunting- 
ground  of  the  Assyrian  kings.  But  after  iioo  B.C., 
and  for  nearly  two  centuries  and  a  half,  her  states 
were  left  to  themselves.  Then  Assyria  resumed  the 
task  of  breaking  down  that  disbelief  in  her  power 
with  which  her  long  withdrawal  seems  to  have  inspired 
their  politics.  In  870  Assurnasirpal  reached  the 
Levant,  and  took  tribute  from  Tyre  and  Sidon.  Omri 
was  reigning  in  Samaria,  and  must  have  come  into 
close  relations  with  the  Assyrians,  for  during  more 
than  a  century  and  a  half  after  his  death  they  still 
called  the  land  of  Israel  by  his  name.^  In  854 
Salmanassar  II.  defeated  at  Karkar  the  combined 
forces  of  Ahab  and  Benhadad,  In  850,  849  and  846 
he  conducted  campaigns  against  Damascus.  In  842 
he  received  tribute  from  Jehu,^  and  in  839  again  fought 
Damascus  under  Hazael.  After  this  there  passed  a 
whole  generation  during  which  Assyria  came  no  farther 
south  than  Arpad,  some  sixty  miles  north  of  Damascus ; 
and  Hazael  employed  the  respite  in  those  campaigns 
which  proved  so  disastrous  for  Israel,  by  robbing  her 
of    the    provinces   across    Jordan,    and    ravaging   the 

'  "  The  house  of  Omri  " :  so  even  in  Sargon's  time,  722 — 705. 
'  The  Black  Obelisk  of  Salmanassar  in  the  British  Museum,  on 
which  the  messengers  of  Jehu  are  portrayed 


46  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

country  about  Samaria.^  In  803  Assyria  returned, 
and  accomplished  the  siege  and  capture  of  Damascus. 
The  first  consequence  to  Israel  was  that  restoration 
of  her  hopes  under  Joash,  at  which  the  aged  Elisha 
was  still  spared  to  assist,^  and  which  reached  its  fulfil- 
ment in  the  recovery  of  all  Eastern  Palestine  by 
Jeroboam  II.'  Jeroboam's  own  relations  to  Assyria 
have  not  been  recorded  either  by  the  Bible  or  by  the 
Assyrian  monuments.  It  is  hard  to  think  that  he  paid 
no  tribute  to  the  "  king  of  kings."  At  all  events  it 
is  certain  that,  while  Assyria  again  overthrew  the 
Arameans  of  Damascus  in  773  and  their  neighbours 
of  Hadrach  in  772  and  765,  Jeroboam  was  himself 
invading  Aramean  land,  and  the  Book  of  Kings  even 
attributes  to  him  an  extension  of  territory,  or  at  least 
of  political  influence,  up  to  the  northern  mouth  of  the 
great  pass  between  the  Lebanons.*  For  the  next  twenty 
years  Assyria  only  once  came  as  far  as  Lebanon — to 
Hadrach  in  759 — and  it  may  have  been  this  long 
quiescence  which  enabled  the  rulers  and  people  of  Israel 
to  forget,  if  indeed  their  religion  and  sanguine  patriotism 
had  ever  allowed  them  to  realise,  how  much  the  con- 
quests and  splendour  of  Jeroboam's  reign  were  due,  not 
to  themselves,  but  to  the  heathen  power  which  had 
maimed  their  oppressors.  Their  dreams  were  brief 
Before  Jeroboam  himself  was  dead,  a  new  king  had 
usurped  the  Assyrian  throne  (745  B.C.)  and  inaugurated 
a  more  vigorous  polic}'.     Borrowing  the  name  of  the 


'  2  Kings  X.  32  f. ;  xiii.  3, 

•  2  Kings  xiii.  14  ff. 

•  The  phrase  in  2  Kings  xiii.  5,  Jehovah  gave  Israel  a  saviour,  is 
interpreted  by  certain  scholars  as  if  the  saviour  were  Assyria.  In 
ziv.  27  he  is  plainly  said  to  be  Jeroboam. 

•  The  entering  in  of  Hamath  (2  Kings  xiv.  25). 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ASSYRIA    UPON  PROPHECY    47 

ancient  Tiglath-Pileser,  he  followed  that  conqueror's 
path  across  the  Euphrates.  At  first  it  seemed  as  if  he 
was  to  suffer  check.  His  forces  were  engrossed  by  the 
siege  of  Arpad  for  three  years  (c.  743),  and  this  delay, 
along  with  that  of  two  years  more,  during  which  he 
had  to  return  to  the  conquest  of  Babylon,  may  well 
have  given  cause  to  the  courts  of  Damascus  and 
Samaria  to  believe  that  the  Assyrian  power  had  not 
really  revived.  Combining,  they  attacked  Judah  under 
Ahaz.  But  Ahaz  appealed  to  Tiglath-Pileser,  who 
within  a  year  (734 — 733)  had  overthrown  Damascus  and 
carried  captive  the  populations  of  Gilead  and  Galilee. 
There  could  now  be  no  doubt  as  to  what  the  Assyrian 
power  meant  for  the  political  fortunes  of  Israel.  Before 
this  resistless  and  inexorable  empire,  the  people  of 
Jehovah  were  as  the  most  frail  of  their  neighbours — 
sure  of  defeat,  and  sure,  too,  of  that  terrible  captivity 
in  exile  which  formed  the  novel  policy  of  the  invaders 
against  the  tribes  who  withstood  them.  Israel  dared 
to  withstand.  The  vassal  Hoshea,  whom  the  Assyrians 
had  placed  on  the  throne  of  Samaria  in  730,  kept  back 
his  tribute.  The  people  rallied  to  him  ;  and  for  more 
than  three  years  this  little  tribe  of  highlanders  resisted 
in  their  capital  the  Assyrian  siege.  Then  came  the 
end.  Samaria  fell  in  721,  and  Israel  went  into  captivity 
beyond  the  Euphrates. 

In  following  the  course  of  this  long  tragedy,  a  man's 
heart  cannot  but  feel  that  all  the  splendour  and  the 
glory  did  not  lie  with  the  prophets,  in  spite  of  their 
being  the  only  actors  in  the  drama  who  perceived  its 
moral  issues  and  predicted  its  actual  end.  For  who 
can  withhold  admiration  from  those  few  tribesmen, 
who  accepted  no  defeat  as  final,  but  so  long  as  they 
were  left  to  their  fatherland  rallied  their  ranks  to  ity 


48  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

liberty  and  defied  the  huge  empire.  Nor  was  their 
courage  always  as  blind,  as  in  the  time  of  Isaiah 
Samaria's  so  fatally  became.  For  one  cannot  have 
failed  to  notice,  how  fitful  and  irregular  was  Assyria's 
advance,  at  least  up  to  the  reign  of  Tiglath-Pileser ; 
nor  how  prolonged  and  doubtful  were  her  sieges  of 
some  of  the  towns.  The  Assyrians  themselves  do  not 
always  record  spoil  or  tribute  after  what  they  are 
pleased  to  call  their  victories  over  the  cities  of  Palestine. 
To  the  same  campaign  they  had  often  to  return  for 
several  years  in  succession.^  It  took  Tiglath-Pileser 
himself  three  years  to  reduce  Arpad  ;  Salmanassar  IV. 
besieged  Samaria  for  three  years,  and  was  slain  before 
it  yielded.  These  facts  enable  us  to  understand  that, 
apart  from  the  moral  reasons  which  the  prophets  urged 
for  the  certainty  of  Israel's  overthrow  by  Assyria,  it 
was  always  within  the  range  of  political  possibility  that 
Assyria  would  not  come  back,  and  that  while  she  was 
engaged  with  revolts  of  other  portions  of  her  huge  and 
disorganised  empire,  a  combined  revolution  on  the 
part  of  her  Syrian  vassals  would  be  successful.  The 
prophets  themselves  felt  the  influence  of  these  chances. 
They  were  not  always  confident,  as  we  shall  see,  that 
Assyria  was  to  be  the  means  of  Israel's  overthrow. 
Amos,  and  in  his  earlier  years  Isaiah,  describe  her 
with  a  caution  and  a  vagueness  for  which  there  is  no 
other  explanation  than  the  political  uncertainty  that 
again  and  again  hung  over  the  future  of  her  advance 
upon  Syria.  It,  then,  even  in  those  high  minds,  to 
whom  the  moral  issue  was  so  clear,  the  political  form 
that  issue  should  assume  was  yet  temporarily  uncertain, 


'  Salmanassar   II.   in   850,   849,   846  to  war  against   Dad'idri   of 
Damascus,  and  in  842  and  839  against  Hazael,  his  snccessor. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ASSYRIA    UPON  PROPHECY    49 

what  good  reasons  must  the  mere  statesmen  of  Syria 
have  often  felt  for  the  proud  security  which  filled 
the  intervals  between  the  Assyrian  invasions,  or  the 
sanguine  hopes  which  inspired  their  resistance  to  the 
latter. 

We  must  not  cast  over  the  whole  Assyrian  advance 
the  triumphant  air  of  the  annals  of  such  kings  as 
Tiglath-Pileser  or  Sennacherib.  Campaigning  in  Pales- 
tine was  a  dangerous  business  even  to  the  Romans  ; 
and  for  the  Assyrian  armies  there  was  always  possible 
besides  some  sudden  recall  by  the  rumour  of  a  revolt 
in  a  distant  province.  Their  own  annals  supply  us 
with  good  reasons  for  the  sanguine  resistance  offered 
to  them  by  the  tribes  of  Palestine.  No  defeat,  of 
course,  is  recorded  ;  but  the  annals  are  full  of  delays 
and  withdrawals.  Then  the  Plague  would  break 
out ;  we  know  how  in  the  last  year  of  the  century 
it  turned  Sennacherib,  and  saved  Jerusalem.^  In 
short,  up  almost  to  the  end  the  Syrian  chiefs  had  some 
fair  political  reasons  for  resistance  to  a  power  which 
had  so  often  defeated  them  ;  while  at  the  very  end, 
when  no  such  reason  remained  and  our  political 
sympathy  is  exhausted,  we  feel  it  replaced  by  an  even 
warmer  admiration  for  their  desperate  defence.  Mere 
mountain-cats  of  tribes  as  some  of  them  were,  they 
held  their  poorly  furnished  rocks  against  one,  two  or 
three  years  of  cruel  siege. 

In  Israel  these  political  reasons  for  courage  against 
Assyria  were  enforced  by  the  whole  instincts  of  the 
popular  religion.  The  century  had  felt  a  new  out- 
burst  of  enthusiasm    for  Jehovah.^     This   was    con- 


'  See  in  this  series  Isaiah,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  359  flF. 
*  See  above,  pp.  35  ff. 
VOL.    I.  ^ 


50  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

sequent,  not  only  upon  the  victories  He  had  granted 
over  Aram,  but  upon  the  literature  of  the  peace  which 
followed  those  victories  :  the  collection  of  the  stories 
of  the  ancient  miracles  of  Jehovah  in  the  beginning 
of  His  people's  history,  and  of  the  purpose  He  had 
even  then  announced  of  bringing  Israel  to  supreme 
rank  in  the  world.  Such  a  God,  so  anciently  mani- 
fested, so  recently  proved,  could  never  surrender  His 
own  nation  to  a  mere  Goi  ^ — a  heathen  and  a  barbarian 
people.  Add  this  dogma  of  the  popular  religion  of 
Israel  to  those  substantial  hopes  of  Assyria's  with- 
drawal from  Palestine,  and  you  see  cause,  intelligible 
and  adequate,  for  the  complacency  of  Jeroboam  and 
his  people  to  the  fact  that  Assyria  had  at  last,  by  the 
fall  of  Damascus,  reached  their  own  borders,  as  well 
as  for  the  courage  with  which  Hoshea  in  725  threw 
off  the  Assyrian  yoke,  and,  with  a  willing  people,  for 
three  years  defended  Samaria  against  the  great  king. 
Let  us  not  think  that  the  opponents  of  the  prophets 
were  utter  fools  or  mere  puppets  of  fate.  They  had 
reasons  for  their  optimism  ;  they  fought  for  their  hearths 
and  altars  with  a  valour  and  a  patience  which  proves 
that  the  nation  as  a  whole  was  not  so  corrupt,  as 
we  are  sometimes,  by  the  language  of  the  prophets, 
tempted  to  suppose. 

But  all  this — the  reasonableness  of  the  hope  of 
resisting  Assyria,  the  valour  which  so  stubbornly 
fought  her,  the  religious  faith  which  sanctioned  both 
valour  and  hope — only  the  more  vividly  illustrates  the 
singular  independence  of  the  prophets,  who  took  an 
opposite  view,  who  so  consistently  affirmed  that  Israel 


To  use  the  term  which  Amos  adopts  with  such  ironical  force : 
vi.  14. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ASSYRIA    UPON  PROPHECY    51 

must  fall,  and  so  early  foretold  that  she  should  fall 
to  Assyria. 

The  reason  of  this  conviction  of  the  prophets  was, 
of  course,  their  fundamental  faith  in  the  righteous- 
ness of  Jehovah,  That  was  a  belief  quite  independent 
of  the  course  of  events.  As  a  matter  of  history,  the 
ethical  reasons  for  Israel's  doom  were  manifest  to  the 
prophets  within  Israel's  own  life,  before  the  signs 
grew  clear  on  the  horizon  that  the  doomster  was  to  be 
Assyria.-^  Nay,  we  may  go  further,  and  say  that  it 
could  not  possibly  have  been  otherwise.  For  except 
the  prophets  had  been  previously  furnished  with  the 
ethical  reasons  for  Assyria's  resistless  advance  on 
Israel,  to  their  sensitive  minds  that  advance  must  have 
been  a  hopeless  and  a  paralysing  problem.  But  they 
nowhere  treat  it  as  a  problem.  By  them  Assyria  is 
always  either  welcomed  as  a  proof  or  summoned  as  a 
means — the  proof  of  their  conviction  that  Israel  re- 
quires humbling,  the  means  of  carrying  that  humbling 
into  effect.  The  faith  of  the  prophets  is  ready  for 
Assyria  from  the  moment  that  she  becomes  ominous 
for  Israel,  and  every  footfall  of  her  armies  on  Jehovah's 
soil  becomes  the  corroboration  of  the  purpose  He  has 
already  declared  to  His  servants  in  the  terms  of  their 
moral  consciousness.  The  spiritual  service  v/hich 
Assyria  rendered  to  Israel  was  therefore  secondary  to 
the  prophets'  native  convictions  of  the  righteousness 
of  God,  and  could  not  have  been  performed   without 


'  When  we  get  down  among  the  details  we  shall  see  clear  evidence 
for  this  fact,  for  instance,  that  Amos  prophesied  against  Israel  at  a 
time  when  he  thought  that  the  Lord's  anger  was  to  be  exhausted 
in  purely  natural  chastisements  of  His  people,  and  before  it  was 
revealed  to  him  that  Assyria  was  required  to  follow  up  these 
chastisements  with  a  heavier  blow.     See  Chap.  VI.,  Section  2. 


5»  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

these.     This  will  become  even  more  clear  if  we  look 
for  a  little  at  the  exact  nature  of  that  service. 

In  its  broadest  effects,  the  Assyrian  invasion  meant 
for  Israel  a  very  considerable  change  in  the  intellectual 
outlook.  Hitherto  Israel's  world  had  virtually  lain 
between  the  borders  promised  of  old  to  their  ambition 
— the  river  of  Egypt^  and  the  great  river,  the  River 
Euphrates.  These  had  marked  not  merely  the  sphere 
of  Israel's  politics,  but  the  horizon  within  which  Israel 
had  been  accustomed  to  observe  the  action  of  their 
God  and  to  prove  His  character,  to  feel  the  problems  of 
their  religion  rise  and  to  grapple  with  them.  But  now 
there  burst  from  the  outside  of  this  little  world  that 
awful  power,  sovereign  and  inexorable,  which  effaced  all 
distinctions  and  treated  Israel  in  the  same  manner  as 
her  heathen  neighbours.  This  was  more  than  a 
widening  of  the  world  :  it  was  a  change  of  the  very 
poles.  At  first  sight  it  appeared  merely  to  have  in- 
creased the  scale  on  which  history  was  conducted ; 
it  was  really  an  alteration  of  the  whole  character 
of  history.  Religion  itself  shrivelled  up,  before  a  force 
so  much  vaster  than  anything  it  had  yet  encountered, 
and  so  contemptuous  of  its  claims.  What  is  Jehovah, 
said  the  Assyrian  in  his  laughter,  more  than  the  gods  oj 
Damascus,  or  of  Haniath,  or  of  the  Philistines  ?  In  fact, 
for  the  mind  of  Israel,  the  crisis,  though  less  in  degree, 
was  in  quality  not  unlike  that  produced  in  the  religion 
of  Europe  by  the  revelation  of  the  Copernican  astronomy. 
As  the  earth,  previously  believed  to  be  the  centre  of 
the  universe,  the  stage  on  which  the  Son  of  God  had 
achieved    God's    eternal    purposes    to    mankind,    was 


'  That  is,  of  course,  not  the  Nile,  but  the  great  Wady,  at  present 
known  as  the  Wady  el  'Arish,  which  divides  Palestine  from  Egypt. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ASSYRIA    UPON  PROPHECY    53 

discovered  tc  be  but  a  satellite  of  one  of  innumerable 
suns,  a  mere  ball  swung  beside  millions  of  others  by 
a  force  which  betrayed  no  sign  of  sympathy  with  the 
great  transactions  which  took  place  on  it,  and  so  faith 
in  the  Divine  worth  of  these  was  rudely  shaken — so 
Israel,  who  had  believed  themselves  to  be  the  peculiar 
people  of  the  Creator,  the  solitary  agents  of  the  God 
of  Righteousness  to  all  mankind,^  and  who  now  felt 
themselves  brought  Co  an  equality  with  other  tribes 
by  this  sheer  force,  which,  brutally  indifferent  to 
spiritual  distinctions,  swaj^ed  the  fortunes  of  all  alike, 
must  have  been  tempied  to  unbelief  in  the  spiritual 
facts  of  their  history,  in  the  power  of  their  God  and 
the  destiny  He  had  promised  them.  Nothing  could 
have  saved  Israel,  as  nothing  could  have  saved  Europe, 
but  a  conception  of  Goi^  which  rose  to  this  new 
demand  upon  its  powers-- a  faith  which  said,  "Our 
God  is  sufficient  for  this  gre^tar  world  and  its  forces 
that  so  dwarf  our  own  ;  the  discovery  of  these  only 
excites  in  us  a  more  awful  wonder  of  His  power." 
The  prophets  had  such  a  conc.=^ptton  of  God.  To 
them  He  was  absolute  righteousMcss — righteousness 
wide  as  the  widest  world,  stronger  than  the  strongest 
force.  To  the  prophets,  therefore,  fiv'^  rise  of  Assyria 
only  increased  the  possibilities  of  Providence.  But 
it  could  not  have  done  this  had  Providoncf^  not  already 
been  invested  in  a  God  capable  by  ll\^  character  of 
rising  to  such  possibilities. 

Assyria,  however,  was  not  only  Force  :  she  was  also 
the  symbol  of  a  great  Idea — the  Idea  of  Unity.  We 
have  just  ventured  on  one  historical  analog3^  We 
may  try  another  and  a  more  exact  one.     The  Kvi^iire 

•  So  already  in  the  JE  narratives  of  the  Pentateuch. 


54  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  Rome,  grasping  the  whole  world  in  its  power  and 
reducing  all  races  of  men  to  much  the  same  level  of 
political  rights,  powerfully  assisted  Christian  theology 
in  the  task  of  imposing  upon  the  human  mind  a  clearer 
imagination  of  unity  in  the  government  of  the  world 
and  of  s.^ritual  equality  among  men  of  all  nations. 
A  not  dissimilar  service  to  the  faith  of  Israel  was 
performed  by  the  Empire  of  Assyria.  History,  that 
hitherto  had  been  but  a  series  of  angry  pools,  became 
as  the  ocean  swaying  in  tides  to  one  almighty  impulse. 
It  was  far  easier  to  imagine  a  sovereign  Providence 
when  Assyria  reduced  history  to  a  unity  by  over- 
throwing all  the  rulers  and  all  their  gods,  than  when 
history  was  broken  up  into  the  independent  fortunes 
of  many  states,  each  with  its  own  religion  divinely 
valid  in  its  own  territory.  By  shattering  the  tribes 
Assyria  shattered  the  tribal  theory  of  religion,  which 
we  have  seen  to  be  the  characteristic  Semitic  theory — 
a  god  for  every  tribe,  a  tribe  for  every  god.  The  field 
was  cleared  of  the  many  :  there  was  room  for  the  One. 
That  He  appeared,  not  as  the  God  of  the  conquering 
race,  but  as  the  Deity  of  one  of  their  many  victims,  was 
due  to  Jehovah's  righteousness.  At  this  juncture,  when 
the  world  was  suggested  to  have  one  throne  and  that 
throne  was  empty,  there  was  a  great  chance,  if  we 
may  so  put  it,  for  a  god  with  a  character.  And  the 
only  God  in  all  the  Semitic  world  who  had  a  character 
was  Jehovah. 

It  is  true  that  the  Assyrian  Empire  was  not  construc- 
tive, like  the  Roman,  and,  therefore,  could  not  assist 
the  prophets  to  the  idea  of  a  Catholic  Church.  But 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  did  assist  them  to  a 
feeling  of  the  moral  unity  of  mankind.  A  great  his- 
torian   has   made   the   just    remark   that,   whatsoever 


THE  INFLUENCE   OF  ASSYRIA    UPON  PROPHECY    55 

widens  the  imagination,  enabling  it  to  realise  the 
actual  experience  of  other  men,  is  a  powerful  agent 
of  ethical  advance.^  Now  Assyria  widened  the  imagi- 
nation and  the  sympathy  of  Israel  in  precisely  this 
way.  Consider  the  universal  Pity  of  the  Assyrian 
conquest :  how  state  after  state  went  down  before  it, 
how  all  things  mortal  yielded  and  were  swept  away. 
The  mutual  hatreds  and  ferocities  of  men  could  not 
persist  before  a  common  Fate,  so  sublime,  so  tragic. 
And  thus  we  understand  how  in  Israel  the  old  envies 
and  rancours  of  that  border  warfare  with  her  foes  which 
had  filled  the  last  four  centuries  of  her  history  is 
replaced  by  a  new  tenderness  and  compassion  towards 
the  national  efforts,  the  achievements  and  all  the  busy 
life  of  the  Gentile  peoples.  Isaiah  is  especially  dis- 
tinguished by  this  in  his  treatment  of  Egypt  and  of 
Tyre  ;  and  even  where  he  and  others  do  not,  as  in 
these  cases,  appreciate  the  sadness  of  the  destruction 
of  so  much  brave  beauty  and  serviceable  wealth,  their 
tone  in  speaking  of  the  fall  of  the  Assyrian  on  their 
neighbours  is  one  of  compassion  and  not  of  exultation.^ 
As  the  rivalries  and  hatreds  of  individual  lives  are 
stilled  in  the  presence  of  a  common  death,  so  even  that 
factious,  ferocious  world  of  the  Semites  ceased  to  fret  its 
anger  and  watch  it  for  ever  (to  quote  Amos'  phrase)  in 
face  of  the  universal  Assyrian  Fate.  But  in  that  Fate 
there  was  more  than  Pity,  On  the  data  of  the  prophets 
Assyria  was  afflicting  Israel  for  moral  reasons  :  it  could 
not  be  for  other  reasons  that  she  was  afflicting  their 
neighbours.     Israel  and  the  heathen  were  suffering  for 

'  Lecky:  History  of  European  Morals,  I. 

'  The  present  writer  has  already  pointed  out  this  with  regard  to 
Egypt  and  Phoenicia  in  Isaiah  (Expositor's  Bible  Series),  I.,  Chaps. 
XXII.  and  XXIII.,  and  with  regard  to  Pbilistia  in  Hist.  Geog.,  p.  178. 


56  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  same  righteousness'  sake.  What  could  have  better 
illustrated  the  moral  equality  of  all  mankind  I  Nc 
doubt  the  prophets  were  already  theoretically  con- 
vinced *  of  this — for  the  righteousness  they  believed 
in  was  nothing  if  not  universal.  But  it  is  one  thing  to 
hold  a  belief  on  principle  and  another  to  have  practical 
experience  of  it  in  history.  To  a  theory  of  the  moral 
equality  of  mankind  Assyria  enabled  the  prophets  to 
add  sympathy  and  conscience.  We  shall  see  all  this 
illustrated  in  the  opening  prophecies  of  Amos  against 
the  foreign  nations. 

But  Assyria  did  not  help  to  develop  monotheism  in 
Israel  only  by  contributing  to  the  doctrines  of  a  moral 
Providence  and  of  the  equality  of  all  men  beneath  it. 
The  influence  must  have  extended  to  Israel's  conception 
of  God  in  Nature.  Here,  of  course,  Israel  was  already 
possessed  of  great  beliefs.  Jehovah  had  created  man  ; 
He  had  divided  the  Red  Sea  and  Jordan.  The  desert, 
the  storm,  and  the  seasons  were  all  subject  to  Him. 
But  at  a  time  when  the  superstitious  mind  of  the 
people  was  still  feeling  after  other  Divine  powers  in 
the  earth,  the  waters  and  the  air  of  Canaan,  it  was  a 
very  valuable  antidote  to  such  dissipation  of  their  faith 
to  find  one  God  swaying,  through  Assyria,  all  families 
of  mankind.  The  Divine  unity  to  which  history  was 
reduced  must  have  reacted  on  Israel's  views  of  Nature, 
and  made  it  easier  to  feel  one  God  also  there.  Now,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  imagination  of  the  unity  of  Nature, 
the  belief  in  a  reason  and  method  pervading  all  things, 

'  I  put  it  this  way  only  for  the  sake  of  making  the  logic  clear  ;  for 
it  is  a  mistake  to  say  that  the  prophets  at  any  time  held  merely 
theoretic  convictions.  All  their  conviction  was  really  experimental — 
never  held  apart  from  some  illustration  or  proof  of  principle  in 
actual  history. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ASSYRIA    UPON  PROPHECY    57 

was  very  powerfully  advanced  in  Israel  throughout  the 
Assyrian  period. 

We  may  find  an  illustration  of  this  in  the  greater, 
deeper  meaning  in  which  the  prophets  use  the  old 
national  name  of  Israel's  God — Jehovah  Seba'oth, 
Jehovah  of  Hosts.  This  title,  which  came  into  frequent 
use  under  the  early  kings,  when  Israel's  vocation  was 
to  win  freedom  by  war,  meant  then  (as  far  as  we  can 
gather)  only  Jehovah  of  the  armies  of  Israel — the  God 
of  battles,  the  people's  leader  in  war,^  whose  home  was 
Jerusalem,  the  people's  capital,  and  His  sanctuary  their 
battle  emblem,  the  Ark.  Now  the  prophets  hear 
Jehovah  go  forth  (as  Amos  does)  from  the  same  place, 
but  to  them  the  Name  has  a  far  deeper  significance. 
They  never  define  it,  but  they  use  it  in  associations 
where  hosts  must  mean  something  different  from  the 

'  niNZl^  nin*:  i  Sam.  i.  3;  iv.  4;  xvii.  45,  where  it  is  explained  by 
the  parallel  phrase  God  of  the  armies  of  Israel;  2  Sam.  vi.  2,  where  it 
is  connected  with  Israel's  battle  emblem,  the  Ark  (cf.  Jer.  xxii.  18) ; 
and  so  throughout  Samuel  and  Kings,  and  also  Chronicles,  the 
Psalms,  and  most  prophets.  The  plural  nii<3V  is  never  used  in 
the  Old  Testament  except  of  human  hosts,  and  generally  of  the 
armies  or  hosts  of  Israel.  The  theory  therefore  which  sees  the 
same  meaning  in  the  Divine  title  is  probably  the  correct  one.  It  was 
first  put  forward  by  Herder  (Geist  der  Eb.  Poesie,  ii.  84,  85),  and  after 
some  neglect  it  has  been  revived  by  Kautzsch  (Z.  A.  T.  IV.,  vi.  ff.)  and 
Stade  {Gescft.,  i.  437,  n.  3).  The  alternatives  are  that  the  hosts  origin- 
ally, meant  those  of  heaven,  either  the  angels  (so,  among  others, 
Ewald,  Ht'sf.,  Eng.  Ed.,  iii.  62)  or  the  stars  (so  Delitzsch,  Kuenen, 
Baudissin,  Cheyne,  Prophecies  of  Isaiah,  i,  11).  In  the  former  of  these 
two  there  is  some  force  ;  but  the  reason  given  for  the  latter,  that  the 
name  came  to  the  front  in  Israel  when  the  people  were  being  drawn 
into  connection  with  star-worshipping  nations,  especially  Aram, 
seems  to  me  baseless.  Israel  had  not  been  long  in  touch  with  Aram 
in  Saul's  time,  yet  even  then  the  name  is  accepted  as  if  one  of  much 
earlier  origin.  A  clear  account  of  the  argument  on  the  other  side 
to  that  taken  in  this  note  will  be  found  in  Smend,  Alttesiament' 
liche  RcUgioMSgeschichte,  pp.  185  fif. 


S8  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

armies  of  Israel.  To  Amos  the  hosts  of  Jehovah  are 
not  the  armies  of  Israel,  but  those  of  Assyria  :  they  are 
also  the  nations  whom  He  marshals  and  marches  across 
the  earth,  Philistines  from  Caphtor,  Aram  from  Qir,  as 
well  as  Israel  from  Egypt.  Nay,  more ;  according  to 
those  Doxologies  which  either  Amos  or  a  kindred  spirit 
has  added  to  his  lofty  argument,^  Jehovah  sways  and 
orders  the  powers  of  the  heavens  :  Orion  and  Pleiades, 
the  clouds  from  the  sea  to  the  mountain  peaks  where  they 
break,  day  and  night  in  constant  procession.  It  is  in 
associations  like  these  that  the  Name  is  used,  either  in 
its  old  form  or  slightly  changed  ^%  Jehovah  God  of  hosts , 
or  the  hosts ;  and  we  cannot  but  feel  that  the  hosts 
of  Jehovah  are  now  looked  upon  as  all  the  influences 
of  earth  and  heaven — human  armies,  stars  and  powers 
of  nature,  which  obey  His  word  and  work  His  will. 

*  See  below,  Chap.  XL 


AMOS 


59 


"Towers  in  the  distance,  like  an  earth-bom  Atlas  .  .  such 
a  man  in  such  a  historical  position,  standing  on  the  confines  of  light 
and  darkness,  like  day  on  the  misty  mountain-tops." 


60 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  BOOK  OF  AMOS 

THE  genuineness  of  the  bulk  of  the  Book  of  Amos 
is  not  doubted  by  any  critic.  The  only  passages 
suspected  as  interpolations  are  the  three  references  to 
Judah,  the  three  famous  outbreaks  in  praise  of  the 
might  of  Jehovah  the  Creator,  the  final  prospect  of  a 
hope  that  does  not  gleam  in  any  other  part  of  the  book, 
with  a  few  clauses  alleged  to  reflect  a  stage  of  history 
later  than  that  in  which  Amos  worked.^  In  all,  these 
verses  amount  to  only  twenty-six  or  twenty-seven  out 
of  one  hundred  and  forty-six.  Each  of  them  can  be 
discussed  separately  as  we  reach  it,  and  we  may  now 
pass  to  consider  the  general  course  of  the  prophecy 
which  is  independent  of  them. 

The  Book  of  Amos  consists  of  Three  Groups  of 
Oracles,  under  one  title,  which  is  evidently  meant  to 
cover  them  all. 

The  title  runs  as  follows  : — 

Words  of  'Amos — who  was  of  the  herdsmen  of 
Tekod — which  he  saw  concerning  Israel  in  the  days 

'  The  full  list  of  suspected  passages  is  this :  (l)  References  to 
Judah — ii.  4,  S;  vi.  I,  in  Zion;  ix.  11,  12.  (2)  The  three  Outbreaks 
of  Praise— iv.  13;  v.  8,  9;  ix.  5,  6.  (3)  The  Final  Hope — ix.  8-15, 
including  vv.  II,  12,  already  mentioned.  (4)  Clauses  alleged  to  reflect 
a  later  stage  of  history — i.  9-12;  v,  i,  2,  15  ;  vi.  2,  14.  (5)  Suspected 
for  incompatibility — viii.  II-13. 

61 


62  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  *Uzziah   king  of  Judah,    and  in   the   days   of 
Jarab'am  son  of  foash^  king  of  Israel :  two  years 
before  the  earthquake. 
The   Three   Sections,   with   their  contents,   are    as 
follows  : — 

First  Section  :  Chaps.  I.,  II.  The  Heathen's 

Crimes  and  Israel's. 

A  series  ol  short  oracles  of  the  same  form,  directed  impartially 
against  the  political  crimes  of  all  the  states  of  Palestine,  and 
culminating  in  a  more  detailed  denunciation  of  the  social  evils  of 
Israel,  whose  doom  is  foretold,  beneath  the  same  flood  of  war  as 
shall  overwhelm  all  her  neighbours. 

Second  Section  :   Chaps.    III. — VI.   Israel's 
Crimes  and  Doom. 

A  series  of  various  oracles  of  denunciation,  which  have  no 
further  logical  connection  than  is  supplied  by  a  general  sameness 
of  subject,  and  a  perceptible  increase  of  detail  and  articulateness 
from  beginning  to  end  of  the  section.  They  are  usually  grouped 
according  to  the  recurrence  of  the  formula  Hear  this  word,  which 
stands  at  the  head  of  our  present  chaps,  iii.,  iv.  and  v. ;  and  by 
the  two  cries  of  Woe  at  v.  i8  and  vi.  i.  But  even  more  obvious 
than  these  commencements  are  the  various  climaxes  to  which 
they  lead  up.  These  are  all  threats  of  judgment,  and  each  is 
more  strenuous  or  explicit  than  the  one  that  has  preceded  it. 
They  close  with  iii.  15,  iv.  3,  iv.  12,  v.  17,  v.  27  and  vi.  14;  and 
according  to  them  the  oracles  may  be  conveniently  divided  into 
six  groups. 

I.  III.  1-15.  After  the  main  theme  of  j«dgment  is  stated 
in  I,  2,  we  have  in  3-8  a  parenthesis  on  the  prophet's  right 
to  threaten  doom;  after  which  9-15,  following  directly  on  2, 
emphasise  the  social  disorder,  threaten  the  land  with  invasion, 
the  people  with  extinction  and  the  o\  erthrovv  of  their  civilisation, 

'  So  designated  to  distinguish  him  from  the  first  Jeroboam,  the  son 
of  Nebat. 


2 HE  BOOK  OF  AMOS  63 

2.  IV.  1-3,  beginning  with  the  formula  Hear  this  word,  is 
directed  against  women  and  describes  the  siege  of  the  capital 
and  their  captivity. 

3.  IV.  4-12,  with  no  opening  formula,  contrasts  the  people's 
vain  propitiation  of  God  by  ritual  with  His  treatment  of  them 
by  various  physical  chastisements — drought,  blight  and  locusts, 
pestilence,  earthquake — and  summons  them  to  prepare  for 
another,  unnamed,  visitation.  Jehovah  God  of  Hosts  is  His 
Name. 

4.  V.  1-17,  beginning  with  the  formula  Hear  this  word,  and 
a  dirge  over  a  vision  of  the  nation's  defeat,  attacks,  like  the 
previous  group,  the  lavish  ritual,  sets  in  contrast  to  it  Jehovah's 
demands  for  justice  and  civic  purity;  and,  offering  a  reprieve 
if  Israel  will  repent,  closes  with  the  prospect  of  an  universal 
mourning  (w.  16,  17),  which,  though  introduced  by  a  therefore, 
has  no  logical  connection  with  what  precedes  it. 

5.  V.  18-26  is  the  first  of  the  two  groups  that  open  with  Woe. 
Affirming  that  the  eagerly  expected  Day  of  Jehovah  will  be  dark- 
ness and  disaster  on  disaster  inevitable  (18-20),  it  again  emphasises 
Jehovah's  desire  for  righteousness  rather  than  worship  (21-26), 
and  closes  with  the  threat  of  captivity  beyond  Damascus. 
Jehovah  God  of  Hosts  is  His  Name,  as  at  the  close  of  3. 

6.  VI.  I- 14.  The  second  Woe,  on  them  that  are  at  ease  in 
Zio7i  (i,  2):  a  satire  on  the  luxuries  of  the  rich  and  their  in- 
difference to  the  national  suffering  (3-6):  captivity  must  come, 
with  the  desolation  of  the  land  (9,  10) ;  and  in  a  peroration  the 
prophet  reiterates  a  general  downfall  of  the  nation  because  of 
its  perversity.  A  Nation — needless  to  name  it ! — will  oppress 
Israel  from  Hamath  to  the  River  of  the  Arabah. 

Third  Section  :  Chaps.  VII. — IX.  Visions  with 
Interludes. 

The  Visions  betray  traces  of  development ;  but  they  are  inter- 
rupted by  a  piece  of  narrative  and  addresses  on  the  same  themes 
as  chaps,  iii. — vi.  The  First  two  Visions  (vii.  i-6j  are  of 
disasters — locusts  and  drought — in  the  realm  of  nature ;  they  are 
averted  by  prayer  from  Amos.  The  Third  (7-9)  is  in  the  sphere 
not  of  nature,  but  history  :  Jehovah  standing  with  a  plumbline, 
as  if  to  show  the  nation's  fabric  to  be  utterly  twisted,  announces 
that  it  shall  be  overthrown,  and  that  the  dynasty  of  Jeroboam 


64  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

must  be  put  to  the  sword.  Upon  this  mention  of  the  king,  the  first 
in  the  book,  there  starts  the  narrative  (10-17)  of  how  Amaziah, 
priest  at  Bethel— obviously  upon  hearing  the  prophet's  threat — 
sent  word  to  Jeroboam  ;  and  then  (whether  before  or  after 
getting  a  reply)  proceeded  to  silence  Amos,  who,  however, 
reiterates  his  prediction  of  doom,  again  described  as  captivity  in  a 
foreign  land,  and  adds  a  Fourth  Vision  (viii.  1-3),  of  the  Kaits 
or  Su7timer  Fruit,  which  suggests  Kets,  or  End  of  the  Nation. 
Here  it  would  seem  Amos'  discourses  at  Bethel  take  end.  Then 
comes  viii.  4-6,  another  exposure  of  the  sins  of  the  rich  ;  followed 
by  a  triple  pronouncement  of  doom  (7),  again  in  the  terms  of 
physical  calamities — earthquake  (8),  eclipse  (9,  10),  and  famine 
(11-14),  in  the  last  of  which  the  public  worship  is  again  attacked- 
A  Fifth  Vision,  of  the  Lord  by  the  Altar  commanding  to  smite 
(ix.  i),  is  followed  by  a  powerful  threat  of  the  hopelessness  of 
escape  from  God's  punishment  (ix.  1^-4);  the  third  of  the  great 
apostrophes  to  the  might  of  Jehovah  (5,  6) ;  another  statement  of 
the  equality  in  judgment  of  Israel  with  other  peoples,  and  of  their 
utter  destruction  (j-Zd).  Then  (8^)  we  meet  the  first  qualification 
of  the  hitherto  unrelieved  sentence  of  death.  Captivity  is  de- 
scribed, not  as  doom,  but  as  discipline  (9) :  the  sinners  of  the 
people,  scoffers  at  doom,  shall  die  (10).  And  this  seems  to  leave 
room  for  two  final  oracles  of  restoration  and  glory,  the  only  two 
in  the  book,  which  are  couched  in  the  exact  terms  of  the  promises 
of  later  prophecy  (11- 15)  and  are  by  many  denied  to  Amos. 

Such  is  the  course  of  the  prophesying  of  Amos.  To 
have  traced  it  must  have  made  clear  to  us  the  unity  of 
his  book/  as  well  as  the  character  of  the  period  to  which 
he  belonged.  But  it  also  furnishes  us  with  a  good  deal 
of  evidence  towards  the  answer  of  such  necessary 
questions  as  these — whether  we  can  fix  an  exact  date 
for  the  whole  or  any  part,  and  whether  we  can  trace  any 
logical  or  historical  development  through  the  chapters, 
either  as  these  now  stand,  or  in  some  such  re-arrange- 
ment as  we  saw  to  be  necessary  for  the  authentic 
prophecies  of  Isaiah. 

'  Apart  from  the  suspected  parentheses  already  mentioned. 


THE  BOOK  OF  AMOS  6$ 

Let  us  take  first  the  simplest  of  these  tasks — to  ascer- 
tain the  general  period  of  the  book.  Twice — by  the  title 
and  by  the  portion  of  narrative  ^ — we  are  pointed  to  the 
reign  of  Jeroboam  II.,  circa  783 — 743  ;  other  historical 
allusions  suit  the  same  years.  The  principalities  of 
Palestine  are  all  standing,  except  Gath ;  ^  but  the  great 
northern  cloud  which  carries  their  doom  has  risen  and 
is  ready  to  burst.  Now  Assyria,  we  have  seen,  had 
become  fatal  to  Palestine  as  early  as  854.  Infrequent 
invasions  of  Syria  had  followed,  in  one  of  which,  in 
803,  Rimmon  Nirari  III.  had  subjected  Tyre  and 
Sidon,  besieged  Damascus,  and  received  tribute  from 
Israel.  So  far  then  as  the  Assyrian  data  are  concerned, 
the  Book  of  Amos  might  have  been  written  early  in  the 
reign  of  Jeroboam.  Even  then  was  the  storm  lowering 
as  he  describes  it.  Even  then  had  the  lightning  broken 
over  Damascus.  There  are  other  symptoms,  however, 
which  demand  a  later  date.  They  seem  to  imply,  not 
only  Uzziah's  overthrow  of  Gath,^  and  Jeroboam's  con- 
quest of  Moab  *  and  of  Aram,^  but  that  establishment  of 
Israel's  poUtical  influence  from  Lebanon  to  the  Dead 
Sea,  which  must  have  taken  Jeroboam  several  years 
to  accomplish.  With  this  agree  other  features  of  the 
prophecy — the  sense  of  political  security  in  Israel,  the 


'  Chap.  vii. 

•  And,  if  vi.  2  be  genuine,  Hamath. 

•  2  Chron.  xxvi.  6.  In  the  Hst  of  the  Philistine  cities,  Amos  i.  6-8, 
Gath  does  not  occur,  and  in  harmony  with  this  in  vi.  2  it  is  said  to 
be  overthrown;  see  pp.  173  f. 

*  2  Kings.  In  Amos  ii.  3  the  ruler  of  Moab  is  called,  not  king,  but 
13D15J',  or  regent,  such  as  Jeroboam  substituted  for  the  king  of  Moab. 

*  According  to  Gratz's  emendation  of  vi.  13 :  we  have  taken  Lo-Debar 
and  Karnaim.  Perhaps  too  in  iii.  12,  though  the  verse  is  very  obscure, 
some  settlement  of  Israelites  in  Damascus  is  implied.  For  Jeroboam's 
conquest  of  Aram  (2  Kings  xiv.  28),  see  p.  177. 

VOL.  I.  5 


66  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

large  increase  of  wealth,  the  ample  and  luxurious 
buildings,  the  gorgeous  ritual,  the  easy  ability  to 
recover  from  physical  calamities,  the  consequent  care- 
lessness and  pride  of  the  upper  classes.  All  these 
things  imply  that  the  last  Syrian  invasions  of  Israel  in 
the  beginning  of  the  century  were  at  least  a  generation 
behind  the  men  into  whose  careless  faces  the  prophet 
hurled  his  words  of  doom.  During  this  interval  Assyria 
had  again  advanced — in  775,  in  yy^  and  in  772.*  None 
of  these  expeditions,  however,  had  come  south  of 
Damascus,  and  this,  their  invariable  arrest  at  some 
distance  from  the  proper  territory  of  Israel,  may  have 
further  flattered  the  people's  sense  of  security,  though 
probably  the  truth  was  that  Jeroboam,  like  some  of  his 
predecessors,  bought  his  peace  by  tribute  to  the  emperor. 
In  765,  when  the  Assyrians  for  the  second  time  invaded 
Hadrach,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Damascus,  their 
records  mention  a  pestilence,  which,  both  because  their 
armies  were  then  in  Syria,  and  because  the  plague 
generally  spreads  over  the  whole  of  Western  Asia,  may 
well  have  been  the  pestilence  mentioned  by  Amos.  In 
763  a  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  took  place,  and  is  perhaps 
implied  by  the  ninth  verse  of  his  eighth  chapter.  If 
this  double  allusion  to  pestilence  and  eclipse  be  correct, 
it  brings  the  book  down  to  the  middle  of  the  century 
and  the  latter  half  of  Jeroboam's  long  reign.  In  755 
the  Assyrians  came  back  to  Hadrach ;  in  754  to  Arpad  : 
with  these  exceptions  Syria  was  untroubled  by  them 
till  after  745.  It  was  probably  these  quiet  years  in 
which   Amos   found    Israel   at  ease  in   Zion}     If  we 


"  In  775  to  Erini,  "the  country  of  the  cedars" — that  is,  Mount 
Amanus,  near  the  Gulf  of  Antioch ;  in  773  to  Damascus;  in  772  to 
Hadrach.  *vi.  I, 


THE  BOOK  OF  AMOS  67 

went  down  further,  within  the  more  forward  policy  of 
Tiglath-Pileser,  who  ascended  the  throne  in  745  and 
besieged  Arpad  from  743  to  740,  we  should  find  an 
occasion  for  the  urgency  with  which  Amos  warns 
Israel  that  the  invasion  of  her  land  and  the  overthrow 
of  the  dynasty  of  Jeroboam  will  be  immediate.^  But 
Amos  might  have  spoken  as  urgentlj^  even  before 
Tiglath-Pileser's  accession  ;  and  the  probability  that 
Hosea,  who  prophesied  within  Jeroboam's  reign,  quotes 
from  Amos  seems  to  imply  that  the  prophecies  of  the 
latter  had  been  current  for  some  time. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century — is,  there- 
fore, the  most  definite  date  to  which  we  are  able  to 
assign  the  Book  of  Amos.  At  so  great  a  distance  the 
difference  of  a  few  unmarked  years  is  invisible.  It  is 
enough  that  we  know  the  moral  dates — the  state  of 
national  feeling,  the  personages  alive,  the  great  events 
which  are  behind  the  prophet,  and  the  still  greater 
which  are  imminent.  We  can  see  that  Amos  wrote  in 
the  political  pride  of  the  latter  years  of  Jeroboam's 
reign,  after  the  pestilence  and  eclipse  of  the  sixties, 
and  before  the  advance  of  Tiglath-Pileser  in  the  last 
forties,  of  the  eighth  century. 

A  particular  year  is  indeed  offered  by  the  title  of  the 
book,  which,  if  not  by  Amos  himself,  must  be  from  only 
a  few  years  later  :^  Words  of  Amos,  which  he  saw  in 
the  days  of  Uzziah  and  of  Jeroboam,  two  years  before  the 
earthquake.  This  was  the  great  earthquake  of  which 
other  prophets  speak  as  having  happened  in  the  days 


'  vii.  9. 

'  Even  Konig  denies  that  the  title  is  from  Amos  {Einleituttg,  307)  ; 
yet  the  ground  on  which  he  does  so,  the  awkwardness  of  the  double 
relative,  does  not  appear  sufficient.  One  does  not  write  a  title  in  the 
same  style  as  an  ordinary  sentence. 


68  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  Uzziah.^  But  we  do  not  know  where  to  place  the 
year  of  the  earthquake,  and  are  as  far  as  ever  from  a 
definite  date. 

The  mention  of  the  earthquake,  however,  introduces 
us  to  the  answer  of  another  of  our  questions — whether, 
with  all  its  unity,  the  Book  of  Amos  reveals  any  lines 
of  progress,  either  of  event  or  of  idea,  either  historical 
or  logical. 

Granting  the  truth  of  the  title,  that  Amos  had  his 
prophetic  eyes  opened  two  years  before  the  earthquake, 
it  will  be  a  sign  of  historical  progress  if  we  find  in  the 
book  itself  any  allusions  to  the  earthquake.  Now  these 
are  present.  In  the  first  division  we  find  none,  unless 
the  threat  of  God's  visitation  in  the  form  of  a  shaking 
of  the  land  be  considered  as  a  tremor  communi- 
cated to  the  prophet's  mind  from  the  recent  upheaval. 
But  in  the  second  division  there  is  an  obvious  reference  : 
the  last  of  the  unavailing  chastisements,  with  which 
Jehovah  has  chastised  His  people,  is  described  as  a 
great  overturning}  And  in  the  third  division,  in  two 
passages,  the  judgment,  which  Amos  has  already  stated 
will  fall  in  the  form  of  an  invasion,  is  also  figured  in 
the  terms  of  an  earthquake.  Nor  does  this  exhaust  the 
tremors  which  that  awful  convulsion  had  started ;  but 
throughout  the  second  and  third  divisions  there  is  a 
constant  sense  of  instability,  of  the  liftableness  and 
breakableness  of  the  very  ground  of  life.  Of  course,  as 
we  shall  see,  this  was  due  to  the  prophet's  knowledge 
of  the  moral  explosiveness  of  society  in  Israel ;  but  he 
could  hardly  have  described  the  results  of  that  in  the 
terms  he  has  used,  unless  himself  and  his  hearers  had 
recently  felt  the  ground  quake  under  them,  and  seen 

f  Zecb.  xiv,  5,  and  probably  Isa.  ix.  9,  10  (Eng.).  *  iv.  11, 


THE  BOOK  OF  AMOS  69 

whole  cities  topple  over.  If,  then,  Amos  began  to 
prophesy  two  years  before  the  earthquake,  the  bulk  of 
his  book  was  spoken,  or  at  least  written  down,  after  the 
earthquake  had  left  all  Israel  trembhng,^ 

This  proof  of  progress  in  the  book  is  confirmed  by 
another  feature.  In  the  abstract  given  above  it  is 
easy  to  see  that  the  judgments  of  the  Lord  upon  Israel 
were  of  a  twofold  character.  Some  were  physical — 
famine,  drought,  blight,  locusts,  earthquake  ;  and  some 
were  political — battle,  defeat,  invasion,  captivity.  Now 
it  is  significant — and  I  do  not  think  the  point  has  been 
previously  remarked — that  not  only  are  the  physical 
represented  as  happening  first,  but  that  at  one  time 
the  prophet  seems  to  have  understood  that  no  others 
would  be  needed,  that  indeed  God  did  not  reveal  to 
him  the  imminence  of  political  disaster  till  He  had 
exhausted  the  discipline  of  physical  calamities.  For 
this  we  have  double  evidence.  In  chapter  iv.  Amos 
reports  that  the  Lord  has  sought  to  rouse  Israel  out 
of  the  moral  lethargy  into  which  their  religious  services 
have  soothed  them,  by  withholding  bread  and  water ; 

'  Of  course  it  is  always  possible  to  suspect — and  let  us  by  all 
means  exhaust  the  possibilities  of  suspicion — that  the  title  has  been 
added  by  a  scribe,  who  interpreted  the  forebodings  of  judgment 
which  Amos  expresses  in  the  terms  of  earthquake  as  if  they  were  the 
predictions  of  a  real  earthquake,  and  was  anxious  to  show,  by  insert- 
ing the  title,  how  they  were  fulfilled  in  the  great  convulsion  of 
Uzziah's  days.  But  to  such  a  suspicion  we  have  a  complete  answer. 
No  later  scribe,  who  understood  the  book  he  was  dealing  with,  would 
have  prefixed  to  it  a  title,  with  the  motive  just  suspected,  when  in 
chap.  iv.  he  read  that  an  earthquake  had  just  taken  place.  The  very 
fact  that  such  a  title  appears  over  a  book,  which  speaks  of  the  earth- 
quake as  past,  surely  attests  the  bona  fides  of  the  title.  With  that 
mention  in  chap.  iv.  of  the  earthquake  as  past,  none  would  have 
ventured  to  say  that  Amos  began  to  prophesy  before  the  earthquake 
unless  they  had  known  this  to  be  the  case. 


70  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

by  blighting  their  orchards;  by  a  pestilence,  a  thoroughly 
Egyptian  one ;  and  by  an  earthquake.  But  these 
having  failed  to  produce  repentance,  God  must  visit  the 
people  once  more  :  how,  the  prophet  does  not  say, 
leaving  the  imminent  terror  unnamed,  but  we  know 
that  the  Assyrian  overthrow  is  meant.  Now  precisely 
parallel  to  this  is  the  course  of  the  Visions  in  chapter 
vii.  The  Lord  caused  Amos  to  see  (whether  in  fancy 
or  in  fact  we  need  not  now  stop  to  consider)  the  plague 
of  locusts.  It  was  so  bad  as  to  threaten  Israel  with 
destruction.  But  Amos  interceded,  and  God  answered. 
It  shall  not  be.  Similarly  with  a  plague  of  drought. 
But  then  the  Vision  shifts  from  the  realm  of  nature  to 
that  of  politics.  The  Lord  sets  the  plumbline  to  the 
fabric  of  Israel's  life  :  this  is  found  hopelessly  bent  and 
unstable.  It  must  be  pulled  down,  and  the  pulling 
down  shall  be  political :  the  family  of  Jeroboam  is  to 
be  slain,  the  people  are  to  go  into  captivity.  The 
next  Vision,  therefore,  is  of  the  End — the  Final  Judg- 
ment of  war  and  defeat,  which  is  followed  only  by 
Silence. 

Thus,  by  a  double  proof,  we  see  not  only  that  the 
Divine  method  in  that  age  was  to  act  first  by  physical 
chastisement,  and  only  then  by  an  inevitable,  ultimate 
doom  of  war  and  captivity  ;  but  that  the  experience 
of  Amos  himself,  his  own  intercourse  with  the  Lord, 
passed  through  these  two  stages.  The  significance  of 
this  for  the  picture  of  the  prophet's  life  we  shall  see 
in  our  next  chapter.  Here  we  are  concerned  to  ask 
whether  it  gives  us  any  clue  as  to  the  extant  arrange- 
ment of  his  prophecies,  or  any  justification  for  re- 
arranging them,  as  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah  have  to 
be  re-arranged,  according  to  the  various  stages  of 
historical  development  at  which  they  were  uttered. 


THE  BOOK  OF  AMOS  7" 

We  have  just  seen  that  the  progress  from  the 
physical  chastisements  to  the  political  doom  is  reflected 
in  both  the  last  two  sections  of  the  book.  But  the 
same  gradual,  cumulative  method  is  attributed  to  the 
Divine  Providence  by  the  First  Section :  for  three 
transgressions,  yea,  for  four,  I  will  not  turn  it  back  ;  and 
then  follow  the  same  disasters  of  war  and  captivity  as 
are  threatened  in  Sections  11.  and  III.  But  each 
section  does  not  only  thus  end  similarly ;  each  also 
begins  with  the  record  of  an  immediate  impression 
made  on  the  prophet  by  Jehovah  (chaps,  i.  2 ;  iii. 
3-8;  vii.  1-9). 

To  sum  up : — The  Book  of  Amos  consists  of  three 
sections,  which  seem  to  have  received  their  present 
form  towards  the  end  of  Jeroboam's  reign  ;  and  which, 
after  emphasising  their  origin  as  due  to  the  immediate 
influence  of  Jehovah  Himself  on  the  prophet,  follow 
pretty  much  the  same  course  of  the  Divine  dealings  with 
that  generation  of  Israel — a  course  which  began  with 
physical  chastisements,  that  failed  to  produce  re- 
pentance, and  ended  with  the  irrevocable  threat  of  the 
Assyrian  invasion.  Each  section,  that  is  to  say,  starts 
from  the  same  point,  follows  much  the  same  direction, 
and  arrives  at  exactly  the  same  conclusion.  Chrono-, 
logically  you  cannot  put  one  of  them  before  the 
other ;  but  from  each  it  is  possible  to  learn  the  stages 
of  experience  through  which  Amos  himself  passed — to 
discover  how  God  taught  the  prophet,  not  only  by  the 
original  intuitions  from  which  all  prophecy  starts,  but 
by  the  gradual  events  of  his  day  both  at  home  and 
abroad. 


•  Except  for  the  later  additions,  not  by  Amos,  to  be  afterwards 
noted. 


72  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

This  decides  our  plan  for  us.  We  shall  first  trace 
the  life  and  experience  of  Amos,  as  his  book  enables  us 
to  do ;  and  then  we  shall  examine,  in  the  order  in 
which  they  lie,  the  three  parallel  forms  in  which,  when 
he  was  silenced  at  Bethel,  he  collected  the  fruits  of 
that  experience,  and  gave  them  their  final  expression. 

The  style  of  the  book  is  simple  and  terse.  The 
fixity  of  the  prophet's  aim — upon  a  few  moral  principles 
and  the  doom  they  demand — keeps  his  sentences  firm 
and  sharp,  and  sends  his  paragraphs  rapidly  to  their 
climax.  That  he  sees  nature  only  under  moral  light 
renders  his  poetry  austere  and  occasionally  savage. 
His  language  is  very  pure.  There  is  no  ground  for 
Jerome's  charge  that  he  was  "  imperitus  sermone  "  :  we 
shall  have  to  notice  only  a  few  irregularities  in  spelling, 
due  perhaps  to  the  dialect  of  the  deserts  in  which  he 
passed  his  life.^ 

The  text  of  the  book  is  for  the  most  part  well- 
preserved  ;  but  there  are  a  number  of  evident  cor- 
ruptions. Of  the  Greek  Version  the  same  holds  good 
as  we  have  said  in  more  detail  of  the  Greek  of  Hosea.'* 
It  is  sometimes  correct  where  the  Hebrew  text  is  not, 
sometimes  suggestive  of  the  emendations  required,  and 
sometimes  hopelessly  astray. 

•C£  ii.  13;  V.  II.;  vi.  8,  10;  vii.  9,  i6;  viii.  8  (?). 
•  See  below,  p.  231, 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET 

THE  Book  of  Amos  opens  one  of  the  greatest 
stages  in  the  reUgious  development  of  mankind. 
Its  originaUty  is  due  to  a  few  simple  ideas,  which  it 
propels  into  religion  with  an  almost  unrelieved  abrupt- 
ness. But,  like  all  ideas  which  ever  broke  upon  the 
world,  these  also  have  flesh  and  blood  behind  them. 
Like  every  other  Reformation,  this  one  in  Israel  began 
with  the  conscience  and  the  protest  of  an  individual. 
Our  review  of  the  book  has  made  this  plain.  We  have 
found  in  it,  not  only  a  personal  adventure  of  a  heroic 
kind,  but  a  progressive  series  of  visions,  with  some  other 
proofs  of  a  development  both  of  facts  and  ideas.  In 
short,  behind  the  book  there  beats  a  life,  and  our  first 
duty  is  to  attempt  to  trace  its  spiritual  history.  The 
attempt  is  worth  the  greatest  care.  "  Amos,"  says  a 
very  critical  writer,^  "  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
appearances  in  the  history  of  the  human  spirit." 

I.  The  Man  and  His  Discipline. 

Amos  i.  i  ;  iii.  3-8;  vii.  14,  15. 

When  charged  at  the  crisis  of  his  career  with  being 
but  a   hireling-prophet,    Amos   disclaimed    the   official 

'  Cornill :    Der  Isiaelitische  Prophetismus.     Five  Lectures  for  th4 
Educated  Laity.     1894. 

73 


74  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

name  and  took  his  stand  upon  his  work  as  a  man :  No 
prophet  /,  nor  pi'ophefs  son,  but  a  herdstnan  and  a 
dresser  of  sycomores.  Jehovah  took  me  from  behind  the 
flock}  We  shall  enhance  our  appreciation  of  this  man- 
hood, and  of  the  new  order  of  prophecy  which  it 
asserted,  if  we  look  for  a  little  at  the  soil  on  which  it 
was  so  bravely  nourished. 

Six  miles  south  from  Bethlehem,  as  Bethlehem  is  six 
from  Jerusalem,  there  rises  on  the  edge  of  the  Judsean 
plateau,  towards  the  desert,  a  commanding  hill,  the 
ruins  on  which  are  still  known  by  the  name  of  Tekda'.^ 

In  the  time  of  Amos  Tekoa  was  a  place  without 
sanctity  and  almost  without  tradition.  The  name  sug- 
gests that  the  site  may  at  first  have  been  that  of  a  camp. 
Its  fortification  by  Rehoboam,  and  the  mission  of  its 
wise  woman  to  David,  are  its  only  previous  appearances 
in  history.  Nor  had  nature  been  less  grudging  to  it 
than  fame.  The  men  of  Tekoa  looked  out  upon  a 
desolate  and  haggard  world.  South,  west  and  north 
the  view  is  barred  by  a  range  of  limestone  hills,  on  one 
of  which  directly  north  the  grey  towers  of  Jerusalem 
are  hardly  to  be  discerned  from  the  grey  mountain 
lines.  Eastward  the  prospect  is  still  more  desolate,  but 
it  is  open ;  the  land  slopes  away  for  nearly  eighteen 

•  Amos  vii.  14.     See  further  pp.  76  f. 

^  Khurbet  Takua',  Hebrew  Tekoa',  TtpR,  from  Vpn,  to  blow  a 
trumpet  (cf.  Jer.  vi.  I,  Blow  the  trumpet  in  Tekoa)  or  to  pitch  a 
tent.  The  latter  seems  the  more  probable  derivation  of  the  name,  and 
suggests  a  nomadic  origin,  which  agrees  with  the  position  of  Tekoa 
on  the  borders  of  the  desert.  Tekoa  does  not  occur  in  the  list  of  the 
towns  taken  by  Joshua.  There  are  really  no  reasons  for  supposing 
that  some  other  Tekoa  is  meant.  The  two  that  have  been  alleged 
are  (l)  that  Amos  exclusively  refers  to  the  Northern  Kingdom,  (2)  that 
sycomores  do  not  grow  at  such  levels  as  Tekoa.  These  are  dealt  with 
on  pp.  79  and  77  respectively. 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  75 

miles  to  a  depth  of  four  thousand  feet.  Of  this  long 
descent,  the  first  step,  lying  immediately  below  the  hill 
of  Tekoa,  is  a  shelf  of  stony  moorland  with  the  ruins 
of  vineyards.  It  is  the  lowest  ledge  of  the  settled  life 
of  Judaea.  The  eastern  edge  drops  suddenly  by  broken 
rocks  to  slopes  spotted  with  bushes  of  "retem,"  the 
broom  of  the  desert,  and  with  patches  of  poor  wheat. 
From  the  foot  of  the  slopes  the  land  rolls  away  in  a 
maze  of  low  hills  and  shallow  dales,  that  flush  green  in 
spring,  but  for  the  rest  of  the  year  are  brown  with 
withered  grass  and  scrub.  This  is  the  Wilderness  or 
Pastureland  of  Tekoa^  across  which  by  night  the  wild 
beasts  howl,  and  by  day  the  blackened  sites  of  deserted 
camps,  with  the  loose  cairns  that  mark  the  nomads' 
graves,  reveal  a  human  life  almost  as  vagabond  and 
nameless  as  that  of  the  beasts.  Beyond  the  rolling 
land  is  Jeshimon,  or  Devastation — a  chaos  of  hills, 
none  of  whose  ragged  crests  are  tossed  as  high  as  the 
shelf  of  Tekoa,  while  their  flanks  shudder  down  some 
further  thousands  of  feet,  by  crumbling  precipices  and 
corries  choked  with  debris,  to  the  coast  of  the  Dead 
Sea.  The  northern  half  of  this  is  visible,  bright  blue 
against  the  red  wall  of  Moab,  and  the  level  top  of  the 
wall,  broken  only  by  the  valley  of  the  Arnon,  constitutes 
the  horizon.  Except  for  the  blue  water — which  shines 
in  its  gap  between  the  torn  hills  like  a  bit  of  sky 
through  rifted  clouds — it  is  a  very  dreary  world.  Yet 
the  sun  breaks  over  it,  perhaps  all  the  more  gloriously; 
mists,  rising  from  the  sea  simmering  in  its  great  vat, 
drape  the  nakedness  of  the  desert  noon  ;  and  through 
the  dry  desert  night  the  planets  ride  with  a  majesty 
they  cannot  assume  in  our  more  troubled  atmospheres. 

'  2  Chron.  xx.  20. 


76  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

It  is  also  a  very  empty  and  a  very  silent  world,  yet 
every  stir  of  life  upon  it  excites,  therefore,  the  greater 
vigilance,  and  man's  faculties,  relieved  from  the  rush 
and  confusion  of  events,  form  the  instinct  of  marking, 
and  reflecting  upon,  every  single  phenomenon.  And  it 
is  a  very  savage  world.  Across  it  all,  the  towers  of 
Jerusalem  give  the  only  signal  of  the  spirit,  the  one 
token  that  man  has  a  history. 

Upon  this  unmitigated  wilderness,  where  life  is 
reduced  to  poverty  and  danger ;  where  nature  starves 
the  imagination,  but  excites  the  faculties  of  perception 
and  curiosity ;  with  the  mountain  tops  and  the  sunrise 
in  his  face,  but  above  all  with  Jerusalem  so  near, — 
Amos  did  the  work  which  made  him  a  man,  heard  the 
voice  of  God  calling  him  to  be  a  prophet,  and  gathered 
those  symbols  and  figures  in  which  his  prophet's 
message  still  reaches  us  with  so  fresh  and  so  austere 
an  air. 

Amos  was  among  the  shepherds  of  Tekoa.  The  word 
for  shepherd  is  unusual,  and  means  the  herdsman  of  a 
peculiar  breed  of  desert  sheep,  still  under  the  same 
name  prized  in  Arabia  for  the  excellence  of  their  wool.^ 
And  he  was  a  dresser  of  sycomores.  The  tree,  which 
is  not  our  sycamore,  is  very  easily  grown  in  sandy 
soil  with  a  little  water.  It  reaches  a  great  height  and 
mass  of  foliage.  The  fruit  is  like  a  small  fig,  with  a 
sweet  but  watery  taste,  and  is  eaten  only  by  the  poor. 


'  npl)  n6k6d,  is  doubtless  the  same  as  the  Arabic  "  nakkad,"  or 
keeper  of  the  "  nakad,"  defined  by  Freytag  as  a  short-legg;ed  and 
deformed  race  of  sheep  in  the  Bahrein  province  of  Arabia,  from 
which  comes  the  proverb  "  viler  than  a  nakad  " ;  yet  the  wool  is  very 
fine.  The  king  of  Moab  is  called  "IpJlJ  in  2  Kings  iii.  4  (A.V.  sheep- 
master).  In  vii.  14  Amos  calls  himself  ")|"?13j  cattleman,  which  ther« 
is  no  reason  to  alter,  as  some  do,  to  1i?,1J. 


THE  MAN  AND    THE  PROPHET  77 

Born  not  of  the  fresh  twigs,  but  of  the  trunk  and  older 
branches,  the  sluggish  lumps  are  provoked  to  ripen 
by  pinching  or  bruising,  which  seems  to  be  the  literal 
meaning  of  the  term  that  Amos  uses  of  himself — a 
pincher  of  sycomores}  The  sycomore  does  not  grow 
at  so  high  a  level  as  Tekoa  ;  ^  and  this  fact,  taken  along 
with  the  limitation  of  the  ministry  of  Amos  to  the 
Northern  Kingdom,  has  been  held  to  prove  that  he 
was  originally  an  Ephraimite,  a  sycomore-dresser,  who 
had  migrated  and  settled  down,  as  the  peculiar  phrase 
of  the  title  says,  among  the  shepherds  of  Tekoa?  We 
shall  presently  see,  however,  that  his  familiarity  with 
life  in  Northern  Israel  may  easily  have  been  won  in 
other  ways  than  through  citizenship  in  that  kingdom ; 
while  the  very  general  nature  of  the  definition,  among 
the   shepherds   of  Tekoa,  does    not   oblige   us  to  place 

'  D2"f3,  boles,  probably  from  a  root  (found  in  ^thiopic)  balas, 
a  fig;  hence  one  who  had  to  do  ivith  figs,  handled  them,  ripened 
ihent. 

*  The  Egyptian  sycomore,  Ficus  sycomorus,  is  not  found  in  Syria 
above  one  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  while  Tekoa  is  more  than 
twice  as  high  as  that.  Cf.  I  Kings  x.  27,  the  sycomores  that  are 
in  the  vale  or  valley  land,  p'QP  -^  I  Chron.  xxvii.  28,  the  sycomores  that 
are  in  the  low  plains.  "  The  sycamore  grows  in  sand  on  the  edge 
of  the  desert  as  vigorously  as  in  the  midst  of  a  well-watered  country. 
Its  roots  go  deep  in  search  of  water,  which  infiltrates  as  far  as  the 
gorges  of  the  hills,  and  they  absorb  it  freely  even  where  drought 
seems  to  reign  supreme "  (Maspero  on  the  Egyptian  sycomore  : 
The  Dawn  of  Civilization,  translated  by  McClure,  p.  26).  "Every- 
where  on  the  confines  of  cultivated  ground,  and  even  at  some 
distance  from  the  valley,  are  fine  single  sycamores  flourishing  as 
though  by  miracle  amid  the  sand.  .  .  .  They  drink  from  water,  which 
has  infiltrated  from  the  Nile,  and  whose  existence  is  nowise  betrayed 
upon  the  surface  of  the  soil"  {ib.,  I2l).  Always  and  still  reverenced 
by  Moslem  and  Christian. 

•  So  practically  Oort  (Th.  Tjidsch.,  1891,  121  ff.),  when  compelled 
to  abandon  his  previous  conclusion  {ib.,  1880,  122  fi".)  that  the  Tekoa 
of  Amos  lay  in  Northern  Israel 


78  THE   TWELVE   PROPHETS 

either  him  or  his  sycomores  so  high  as  the  village 
itself.  The  most  easterly  township  of  Judaea,  Tekoa 
commanded  the  whole  of  the  wilderness  beyond,  to 
which  indeed  it  gave  its  name,  the  wilderness  of  Tekoa. 
The  shepherds  of  Tekoa  were  therefore,  in  all  pro- 
bability, scattered  across  the  whole  region  down  to 
the  oases  on  the  coast  of  the  Dead  Sea,  which  have 
generally  been  owned  by  one  or  other  of  the  settled 
communities  in  the  hill-country  above,  and  may  at 
that  time  have  belonged  to  Tekoa,  just  as  in  Crusading 
times  they  belonged  to  the  monks  of  Hebron,  or  are 
to-day  cultivated  by  the  Rushaideh  Arabs,  who  pitch 
their  camps  not  far  from  Tekoa  itself  As  you  will 
still  find  everywhere  on  the  borders  of  the  Syrian 
desert  shepherds  nourishing  a  few  fruit-trees  round 
the  chief  well  of  their  pasture,  in  order  to  vary  their 
milk  diet,  so  in  some  low  oasis  in  the  wilderness  of 
Judaea  Amos  cultivated  the  poorest,  but  the  most 
easily  grown  of  fruits,  the  sycomore/  All  this  pushes 
Amos  and  his  dwarf  sheep  deeper  into  the  desert, 
and  emphasises  what  has  been  said  above,  and  still 
remains  to  be  illustrated,  of  the  desert's  influence  on 
his  discipline  as  a  man  and  on  his  speech  as  a  prophet. 
We  ought  to  remember  that  in  the  same  desert 
another  prophet  was  bred,  who  was  also  the  pioneer 
of  a  new  dispensation,  and  whose  ministry,  both  in  its 
strength  and  its  limitations,  is  much  recalled  by  the 
ministry  of  Amos.     John  the   son  of  Zacharias  grew 


'  In  1S91  we  met  the  Rushaideh,  who  cultivate  Engedi, 
encamped  just  below  Tekoa.  But  at  other  parts  of  the  borders 
between  the  hill-country  of  Judaea  and  the  desert,  and  between 
Moab  and  the  desert,  we  found  round  most  of  the  herdsmen's 
central  wells  a  few  fig-trees  or  pomegranates,  or  even  apricots 
occasionally. 


THE  MAN  AND    THE  PROPHET  79 

and  waxed  strong  in  spirit,  and  was  in  the  deserts  till  the 
day  of  his  showing  unto  Israel}  Here,  too,  our  Lord 
was  with  the  wild  beasts.'^  How  much  Amos  had  been 
with  them  may  be  seen  from  many  of  his  metaphors. 
The  lion  roareth,  who  shall  not  fear  ?  ...  As  ivhcn  the 
shepherd  rescueth  from  the  mouth  of  the  lion  two  shin- 
bones  or  a  bit  of  an  ear.  .  .  .  It  shall  be  as  when  one 
is  fleeing  from  a  lion,  and  a  bear  cometh  upon  him; 
and  he  entereth  a  house,  and  leaneth  his  hand  on  the 
wall,  and  a  serpent  biteth  him. 

As  a  wool-grower,  however,  Amos  must  have  had 
his  yearly  journeys  among  the  markets  of  the  land  ; 
and  to  such  were  probably  due  his  opportunities  of 
familiarity  with  Northern  Israel,  the  originals  of  his 
vivid  pictures  of  her  town-life,  her  commerce  and  the 
worship  at  her  great  sanctuaries.  One  hour  west- 
ward from  Tekoa  would  bring  him  to  the  high-road 
between  Hebron  and  the  North,  with  its  troops  of 
pilgrims  passing  to  Beersheba.^  It  was  but  half-an-hour 
more  to  the  watershed  and  an  open  view  of  the  Philistine 
plain.  Bethlehem  was  only  six,  Jerusalem  twelve 
miles  from  Tekoa.  Ten  miles  farther,  across  the 
border  of  Israel,  lay  Bethel  with  its  temple,  seven 
miles  farther  Gilgal,  and  twenty  miles  farther  still 
Samaria  the  capital,  in  all  but  two  days'  journey  from 
Tekoa.  These  had  markets  as  well  as  shrines;* 
their  annual  festivals  would  be  also  great  fairs.  It 
is  certain  that  Amos  visited  them  ;  it  is  even  possible 
that  he  went  to  Damascus,  in  which  the  Israelites  had 
at  the  time  their  own  quarters  for  trading.  By  road 
and  market  he  would  meet  with  men  of  other  lands. 
Phoenician  pedlars,  or  Canaanites  as  they  were  called, 

Luke  i.  80.  •  Mark  i.  18.  *  v.  S;  viii.  14.  '  S.e  p.  36. 


8o  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

came  up  to  buy  the  homespun  for  which  the  house- 
wives of  Israel  were  famed  ^ — hard-faced  men  who  were 
also  willing  to  purchase  slaves,  and  haunted  even  the 
battle-fields  of  their  neighbours  for  this  sinister  purpose. 
Men  of  Moab,  at  the  time  subject  to  Israel ;  Aramean 
hostages;  Philistines  who  held  the  export  trade  to 
Egypt, — these  Amos  must  have  met  and  may  have 
talked  with  ;  their  dialects  scarcely  differed  from  his 
own.  It  is  no  distant,  desert  echo  of  life  which  we 
hear  in  his  pages,  but  the  thick  and  noisy  rumour  of 
caravan  and  market-place  :  how  the  plague  was  march- 
ing up  from  Egypt ;  ^  ugly  stories  of  the  Phoenician 
slave-trade ;  ^  rumours  of  the  advance  of  the  awful 
Power,  which  men  were  hardly  yet  accustomed  to  name, 
but  which  had  already  twice  broken  from  the  North 
upon  Damascus.  Or  it  was  the  progress  of  some 
national  mourning — how  lamentation  sprang  up  in 
the  capital,  rolled  along  the  highways,  and  was  re- 
echoed from  the  husbandmen  and  vinedressers  on  the 
hillsides.*  Or,  at  closer  quarters,  we  see  and  hear  the 
bustle  of  the  great  festivals  and  fairs — the  solemn 
assemblies,  the  reeking  holocausts,  the  noise  of  songs 
and  viols )^  the  brutish  religious  zeal  kindling  into 
drunkenness  and  lust  on  the  very  steps  of  the  altar ;  • 
the  embezzlement  of  pledges  by  the  priests,  the 
covetous  restlessness  of  the  traders,  their  false  measures, 
their  entanglement  of  the  poor  in  debt ; '  the  careless 
luxury  of  the  rich,  their  banquets,  buckets  of  wine,  ivory 
couches,  pretentious,  preposterous  music.^  These  things 
are  described  as  by  an  eyewitness.  Amos  was  not  a 
citizen  of  the  Northern  Kingdom,  to  which  he  almost 


•  Prov. 

xxxi. 

24. 

« 

V. 

16. 

» 

viii 

.4ft. 

•  vL  la 

• 

V. 

21  ff. 

• 

VI. 

»i  4-7. 

•i.9^ 

■ 

ii. 

7,8. 

THE  MAN  AND  THE  PROPHET  «i 

exclusively  refers  ;  but  it  was  because  he  went  up  and 
down  in  it,  using  those  eyes  which  the  desert  air  had 
sharpened,  that  he  so  thoroughly  learned  the  wickedness 
of  its  people,  the  corruption  of  Israel's  life  in  every 
rank  and  class  of  society.^ 

But  the  convictions  which  he  applied  to  this  life 
Amos  learned  at  home.  They  came  to  him  over  the 
desert,  and  without  further  material  signal  than  was 
flashed  to  Tekoa  from  the  towers  of  Jerusalem.  This 
is  placed  beyond  doubt  by  the  figures  in  which  he 
describes  his  call  from  Jehovah.  Contrast  his  story, 
so  far  as  he  reveals  it,  with  that  of  another.  Some 
twenty  years  later,  Isaiah  of  Jerusalem  saw  the  Lord 
in  the  Temple,  high  and  lifted  up,  and  all  the  inaugural 
vision  of  this  greatest  of  the  prophets  was  conceived 
in  the  figures  of  the  Temple — the  altar,  the  smoke, 
the  burning  coals.  But  to  his  predecessor  among  the 
shepherds  of  Tekoa,  although  revelation  also  starts  from 
Jerusalem,  it  reaches  him,  not  in  the  sacraments  of 
her  sanctuary,  but  across  the  bare  pastures,  and  as  it 
were  in  the  roar  of  a  lion.  Jehovah  from  Zion  roarethy 
and  uttereth  His  voice  from  Jerusalem}  We  read  of 
no  formal  process  of  consecration  for  this  first  of  the 
prophets.  Through  his  clear  desert  air,  the  word  of 
God  breaks  upon  him  without  medium  or  sacrament. 
And  the  native  vigilance  of  the  man  is  startled,  is 
convinced  by  it,  beyond  all  argument  or  question.  The 
lion  hath  roared,  who  shall  not  fear?  Jehovah  hath 
spoken,  who  can  but  prophesy  ? 

These  words  are  taken  from  a  passage  in  which 
Amos  illustrates  prophecy  from  other  instances  of  his 
shepherd    life.      We    have    seen    what    a    school    of 


'  See  pp.  136  {.  •  i.  a. 

VOL.    I. 


82  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

vigilance  the  desert  is.  Upon  the  bare  surface  all 
that  stirs  is  ominous.  Every  shadow,  every  noise — 
the  shepherd  must  know  what  is  behind  and  be 
warned.  Such  a  vigilance  Amos  would  have  Israel 
apply  to  his  own  message,  and  to  the  events  of  their 
history.  Both  of  these  he  compares  to  certain  facts 
of  desert  life,  behind  which  his  shepherdly  instincts 
have  taught  him  to  feel  an  ominous  cause.  Do  two  men 
walk  together  except  they  have  trysted? — except  they  have 
made  an  appointment.  Hardly  in  the  desert ;  for 
there  men  meet  and  take  the  same  road  by  chance  as 
seldom  as  ships  at  sea.  Doth  a  lion  roar  in  the  jungle 
and  have  no  prey,  or  a  young  lion  let  out  his  voice  in  his 
den  except  he  be  taking  something  ?  The  hunting  lion  is 
silent  till  his  quarry  be  in  sight ;  when  the  lonely  shep- 
herd hears  the  roar  across  the  desert,  he  knows  the  lion 
leaps  upon  his  prey,  and  he  shudders  as  Israel  ought 
to  do  when  they  hear  God's  voice  by  the  prophet, 
for  this  also  is  never  loosened  but  for  some  grim  fact, 
some  leap  of  doom.  Or  doth  a  little  bird  fall  on  the 
snare  earthwards  and  there  be  no  noose  upon  her?  The 
reading  may  be  doubtful,  but  the  meaning  is  obvious  : 
no  one  ever  saw  a  bird  pulled  roughly  down  to  earth 
when  it  tried  to  fly  away  without  knowing  there  was 
the  loop  of  a  snare  about  her.  Or  does  the  snare  itself 
rise  up  from  the  ground,  except  indeed  it  be  capturing 
something? — except  there  be  in  the  trap  or  net  some- 
thing to  flutter,  struggle  and  so  lift  it  up.  Traps 
do  not  move  without  life  in  them.  Or  is  the  alarum 
trumpet^  blown  in  a  city — for  instance,  in  high  Tekoa 
up  there,  when  some  Arab  raid  sweeps  from  the  desert 

'  IQIK',  as  has  been  pointed  out,  means  in  early  Israel  always  the, 
trumpet  blown  as  a  summons  to  war ;  only  in  later  Israel  was  the 
name  given  to  the  temple  trumpet. 


THE  MAN  AND    THE  PROPHET  83 

on  to  the  fields — and  do  the  people  not  tremble  ?  Or 
shall  calamity  happen  in  a  city  and  Jehovah  not  have 
done  it?  Yea,  the  Lord  Jehovah  doelh  nothing  but  He 
has  revealed  His  purpose  to  His  servants  the  prophets. 
My  voice  of  warning  and  these  events  of  evil  in  your 
midst  have  the  same  cause — Jehovah — behind  them. 
The  lion  hath  roared,  who  shall  not  fear  ?  Jehovah  hath 
spoken,   who  can  but  prophesy  ?  ^ 

We  cannot  miss  the  personal  note  which  rings 
through  this  triumph  in  the  reality  of  things  unseen. 
Not  only  does  it  proclaim  a  man  of  sincerity  and  con- 
viction :  it  is  resonant  with  the  discipline  by  which 
that  conviction  was  won — were  won,  too,  the  freedom 
from  illusion  and  the  power  of  looking  at  facts  in 
the  face,  which  Amos  alone  of  his  contemporaries 
possessed. 

St.  Bernard  has  described  the  first  stage  of  the 
Vision  of  God  as  the  Vision  Distributive,  in  which 
the  eager  mind  distributes  her  attention  upon  common 
things  and  common  duties  in  themselves.  It  was  in 
this  elementary  school  that  the  earliest  of  the  new 
prophets  passed  his  apprenticeship  and  received  his 
gifts.  Others  excel  Amos  in  the  powers  of  the 
imagination  and  the  intellect.  But  by  the  incorrupt 
habits  of  his  shepherd's  life,  by  daily  wakefulness  to 
its  alarms  and  daily  faithfulness  to  its  opportunities, 
he  was  trained  in  that  simple  power  of  appreciating 
facts  and  causes,  which,  applied  to  the  great  phenomena 
of  the  spirit  and  of  history,  forms  his  distinction 
among  his  peers.  In  this  we  find  perhaps  the  reason 
why  he  records  of  himself  no  solemn  hour  of  cleansing 
and  initiation.     Jehovah  took  me  from  following  the  flock, 

'  See  further  on  this  important  passage  pp.  89  S, 


84  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

and  Jehovah  said  unto  me,  Go,  prophesy  unto  My  people 
Israel.  Amos  was  of  them  of  whom  it  is  written, 
"  Blessed  are  those  servants  whom  the  Lord  when  He 
cometh  shall  find  watching."  Through  all  his  hard  life, 
this  shepherd  had  kept  his  mind  open  and  his  conscience 
quick,  so  that  when  the  word  of  God  came  to  him  he 
knew  it,  as  fast  as  he  knew  the  roar  of  the  lion  across 
the  moor.  Certainly  there  is  no  habit,  which,  so  much 
as  this  of  watching  facts  with  a  single  eye  and  a 
responsible  mind,  is  indispensable  alike  in  the  humblest 
duties  and  in  the  highest  speculations  of  life.  When 
Amos  gives  those  na'ive  illustrations  of  how  real  the 
voice  of  God  is  to  him,  we  receive  them  as  the  tokens 
of  a  man,  honest  and  awake.  Little  wonder  that  he 
refuses  to  be  reckoned  among  the  professional  prophets 
of  his  day,  who  found  their  inspiration  in  excitement 
and  trance.  Upon  him  the  impulses  of  the  Deity  come 
in  no  artificial  and  morbid  ecstasy,  removed  as  far  as 
possible  from  real  life.  They  come  upon  him,  as  it 
were,  in  the  open  air.  They  appeal  to  the  senses  of 
his  healthy  and  expert  manhood.  They  convince  him 
of  their  reality  with  the  same  force  as  do  the  most 
startling  events  of  his  lonely  shepherd  watches.  The 
lion  hath  roared,  who  shall  not  fear  ?  Jehovah  hath 
spoken,  who  can  but  prophesy  ? 

The  influence  of  the  same  discipline  is  still  visible 
when  Amos  passes  from  the  facts  of  his  own  con- 
sciousness to  the  facts  of  his  people's  life.  His  day  in 
Israel  sweltered  with  optimism.  The  glare  of  wealth, 
the  fulsome  love  of  country,  the  rank  incense  of  a 
religion  that  was  without  morality — these  thickened 
all  the  air,  and  neither  the  people  nor  their  rulers  had 
any  vision.  But  Amos  carried  with  him  his  clear 
desert  atmosphere  and  his  desert  eyes.     He  saw  the 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  85 


raw  facts :  the  poverty,  the  cruel  negligence  of  the  rich, 
the  injustice  of  the  rulers,  the  immorality  of  the  priests. 
The  meaning  of  these  things  he  questioned  with  as 
much  persistence  as  he  questioned  every  suspicious 
sound  or  sight  upon  those  pastures  of  Tekoa.  He  had 
no  illusions  :  he  knew  a  mirage  when  he  saw  one. 
Neither  the  military  pride  of  the  people,  fostered  by 
recent  successes  over  Syria,  nor  the  dogmas  of  their 
religion,  which  asserted  Jehovah's  swift  triumph  upon 
the  heathen,  could  prevent  him  from  knowing  that  the 
immoraHty  of  Israel  meant  Israel's  political  downfall. 
He  was  one  of  those  recruits  from  common  life,  by 
whom  religion  and  the  state  have  at  all  times  been 
reformed.  Springing  from  the  laity  and  very  often 
from  among  the  working  classes,  their  freedom  from 
dogmas  and  routine,  as  well  as  from  the  compromising 
interests  of  wealth,  rank  and  party,  renders  them 
experts  in  life  to  a  degree  that  almost  no  professional 
priest,  statesman  or  journalist,  however  honest  or 
sympathetic,  can  hope  to  rival.  Into  politics  they 
bring  facts,  but  into  religion  they  bring  vision. 

It  is  of  the  utmost  significance  that  this  reformer, 
this  founder  of  the  highest  order  of  prophecy  in  Israel, 
should  not  only  thus  begin  with  facts,  but  to  the  very 
end  be  occupied  with  almost  nothing  else,  than  the 
vision  and  record  of  them.  In  Amos  there  is  but 
one  prospect  of  the  Ideal.  It  does  not  break  till  the 
close  of  his  book,  and  then  in  such  contrast  to  the  plain 
and  final  indictments,  which  constitute  nearly  all  the 
rest  of  his  prophesying,  that  many  have  not  un- 
naturally denied  to  him  the  verses  which  contain  it. 
Throughout  the  other  chapters  we  have  but  the 
exposure  of  present  facts,  material  and  moral,  nor  the 
sight  of  any  future  more  distant  than  to-morrow  and 


86  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  immediate  consequences  of  to-day's  deeds.  Let 
us  mark  this.  The  new  prophecy  which  Amos  started 
in  Israel  reached  Divine  heights  of  hope,  unfolded 
infinite  powers  of  moral  and  political  regeneration — 
dared  to  blot  out  all  the  past,  dared  to  believe  all  things 
possible  in  the  future.  But  it  started  from  the  truth 
about  the  moral  situation  of  the  present.  Its  first 
prophet  not  only  denied  every  popular  dogma  and 
ideal,  but  appears  not  to  have  substituted  for  them 
any  others.  He  spent  his  gifts  of  vision  on  the  dis- 
covery and  appreciation  of  facts.  Now  this  is  neces- 
sary, not  only  in  great  reformations  of  religion,  but 
at  almost  every  stage  in  her  development.  We  are 
constantly  disposed  to  abuse  even  the  most  just  and 
necessary  of  religious  ideals  as  substitutes  for  experience 
or  as  escapes  from  duty,  and  to  boast  about  the  future 
before  we  have  understood  or  mastered  the  present. 
Hence  the  need  of  realists  like  Amos.  Though  they 
are  destitute  of  dogma,  of  comfort,  of  hope,  of  the 
ideal,  let  us  not  doubt  that  they  also  stand  in  the 
succession  of  the  prophets  of  the  Lord. 

Nay,  this  is  a  stage  of  prophecy  on  which  may  be 
fulfilled  the  prayer  of  Moses  :  Would  to  God  that  all 
the  Lord^s  people  were  prophets  !  To  see  the  truth  and 
tell  it,  to  be  accurate  and  brave  about  the  moral 
facts  of  our  day — to  this  extent  the  Vision  and  the 
Voice  are  possible  for  every  one  of  us.  Never  for  us 
may  the  doors  of  heaven  open,  as  they  did  for  him 
who  stood  on  the  threshold  of  the  earthly  temple, 
and  he  saw  the  Lord  enthroned,  while  the  Seraphim 
of  the  Presence  sang  the  glory.  Never  for  us  may 
the  skies  fill  with  that  tempest  of  life  which  Ezekiel 
beheld  from  Shinar,  and  above  it  the  sapphire  throne, 
and  on  the  throne  the  likeness  of  a  man,  the  likeness 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  87 

of  the  glory  of  the  Lord.  Yet  let  us  remember  that 
to  see  facts  as  they  are  and  to  tell  the  truth  about 
them — this  also  is  prophecy.  We  may  inhabit  a  sphere 
which  does  not  prompt  the  imagination,  but  is  as 
destitute  of  the  historic  and  traditional  as  was  the 
wilderness  of  Tekoa.  All  the  more  may  our  un- 
glamoured  eyes  be  true  to  the  facts  about  us.  Every 
common  day  Itads  forth  her  duties  as  shining  as  every 
night  leads  forth  her  stars.  The  deeds  and  the  fortunes 
of  men  are  in  our  sight,  and  spell,  to  all  who  will 
honestly  read,  the  very  Word  of  the  Lord.  If  only 
we  be  loyal,  then  by  him  who  made  the  rude  sounds 
and  sights  of  the  desert  his  sacraments,  and  whose 
vigilance  of  things  seen  and  temporal  became  the 
vision  of  things  unseen  and  eternal,  we  also  shall  see 
God,  and  be  sure  of  His  ways  with  men. 

Before  we  pass  from  the  desert  disciphne  of  the 
prophet,  we  must  notice  one  of  its  effects,  which,  while 
it  greatly  enhanced  the  clearness  of  his  vision,  un- 
doubtedly disabled  Amos  for  the  highest  prophetic 
rank.  He  who  lives  in  the  desert  lives  without 
patriotism — detached  and  aloof.  He  may  see  the 
throng  of  men  more  clearly  than  those  who  move 
among  it.  He  cannot  possibly  so  much  feel  for  them. 
Unlike  Hosea,  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  Amos  was  not 
a  citizen  of  the  kingdom  against  which  he  prophesied, 
and  indeed  no  proper  citizen  of  any  kingdom,  but  a 
nomad  herdsman,  hovering  on  the  desert  borders  of 
Judaea.  He  saw  Israel  from  the  outside.  His  message 
to  her  is  achieved  with  scarcely  one  sob  in  his  voice. 
For  the  sake  of  the  poor  and  the  oppressed  among 
the  people  he  is  indignant.  But  with  the  erring, 
staggering  nation  as  a  whole  he  has  no  leal  sympathy. 
His  pity  for  her  is  exhausted  in  one  elegy  and  two 


88  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

brief  intercessions  ;  hardly  more  than  once  does  he  even 
call  her  to  repentance.  His  sense  of  justice,  in  fact, 
had  almost  never  to  contend  with  his  love.  This 
made  Amos  the  better  witness,  but  the  worse  prophet. 
He  did  not  rise  so  high  as  his  great  successors,  because 
he  did  not  so  feel  himself  one  Vv^ith  the  people  whom  he 
was  forced  to  condemn,  because  he  did  not  bear  their  fate 
as  his  own  nor  travail  for  their  new  birth.  "  Ihm  fehlt 
die  Liebe."  Love  is  the  element  lacking  in  his  prophecy ; 
and  therefore  the  words  are  true  of  him,  which  were 
uttered  of  his  great  follower  across  this  same  wilderness 
of  Judaea,  that  mighty  as  were  his  voice  and  his  message 
to  prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord,  yet  the  least  in  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  greater  than  he. 

2.  The  Word  and  its  Origins. 

Amos  i.  2 ;  iii.  3-8 ;  and  passim. 

We  have  seen  the  preparation  of  the  Man  for  the 
Word.  We  are  now  to  ask,  Whence  came  the  Word 
to  the  Man  ? — the  Word  that  made  him  a  prophet. 
What  were  its  sources  and  sanctions  outside  himself? 
These  involve  other  questions.  How  much  of  his 
message  did  Amos  inherit  from  the  previous  religion 
of  his  people?  And  how  much  did  he  teach  for  the 
first  time  in  Israel  ?  And  again,  how  much  of  this 
new  element  did  he  owe  to  the  great  events  of  his 
day  ?  And  how  much  demands  some  other  source  of 
inspiration  ? 

To  all  these  inquiries,  outlines  of  the  answers  ought 
by  this  time  to  have  become  visible.  We  have  seen 
that  the  contents  of  the  Book  of  Amos  consist  almost 
entirely  of  two  kinds  :  facts,  actual  or  imminent,  in  the 
history  of  his  people ;  and  certain  moral  principles  of 


THE  MAN  AND  THE  PROPHET  89 

the  most  elementary  order.  Amos  appeals  to  no 
dogma  nor  form  of  law,  nor  to  any  religious  or  national 
institution.  Still  more  remarkably,  he  does  not  rely 
upon  miracle  nor  any  so-called  "  supernatural  sign." 
To  employ  the  terms  of  Mazzini's  famous  formula, 
Amos  draws  his  materials  solely  from  "  conscience 
and  history."  Within  himself  he  hears  certain  moral 
principles  speak  in  the  voice  of  God,  and  certain  events 
of  his  day  he  recognises  as  the  judicial  acts  of  God. 
The  principles  condemn  the  living  generation  of  Israel 
as  morally  corrupt ;  the  events  threaten  the  people 
with  political  extinction.  From  this  agreement  between 
inward  conviction  and  outward  event  Amos  draws 
his  full  confidence  as  a  prophet,  and  enforces  on  the 
people  his  message  of  doom  as  God's  own  word. 

The  passage  in  which  Amos  most  explicitl}^  illustrates 
this  harmony  between  event  and  conviction  is  one 
whose  metaphors  we  have  already  quoted  in  proof  of 
the  desert's  influence  upon  the  prophet's  life.  When 
Amos  asks,  Can  hvo  walk  together  except  they  have  made 
an  appointment  ?  his  figure  is  drawn,  as  we  have  seen, 
from  the  wilderness  in  which  two  men  will  hardly  meet 
except  they  have  arranged  to  do  so ;  but  the  truth,  he 
would  illustrate  by  the  figure,  is  that  two  sets  of  pheno- 
mena which  coincide  must  have  sprung  from  a  common 
purpose.  Their  conjunction  forbids  mere  chance. 
What  kind  of  phenomena  he  means,  he  lets  us  see  in 
his  next  instance  :  Doth  a  lion  roar  in  the  jungle  and 
have  no  prey  ?  Doth  a  young  lion  let  forth  his  voice 
from  his  den  except  he  be  catching  something  ?  That  is, 
those  ominous  sounds  never  happen  without  some  fell 
and  terrible  deed  happening  along  with  them.  Amos 
thus  plainly  hints  that  the  two  phenomena  on  whose 
coincidence  he  insists  are  an  utterance  on  one  side,  and 


90  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

on  the  other  side  a  deed  fraught  with  destruction.  The 
leading  of  the  next  metaphor  about  the  bird  and  the 
snare  is  uncertain  ;  at  most  what  it  means  is  that 
you  never  see  signs  of  distress  or  a  vain  struggle  to 
escape  without  there  being,  though  out  of  sight,  some 
real  cause  for  them.^  But  from  so  general  a  principle  he 
returns  in  his  fourth  metaphor  to  the  special  coincidence 
between  utterance  and  deed.  Is  the  alarum-trumpet 
blown  in  a  city  and  do  the  people  not  tremble  ?  Of  course 
they  do ;  they  know  such  sound  is  never  made  without 
the  approach  of  calamity.  But  who  is  the  author  of 
every  calamity  ?  God  Himself:  Shall  there  be  evil  in  a 
city  and  Jehovah  not  have  done  it  ?  Very  well  then  ;  we 
have  seen  that  common  life  has  many  instances  in 
which,  when  an  ominous  sound  is  heard,  it  is  because 
it  is  closely  linked  with  a  fatal  deed.  These  happen 
together,  not  by  mere  chance,  but  because  the  one  is 
the  expression,  the  warning  or  the  explanation  of  the 
other.  And  we  also  know  that  fatal  deeds  which 
happen  to  any  community  in  Israel  are  from  Jehovah. 
He  is  behind  them.  But  they,  too,  are  accompanied 
by  a  warning  voice  from  the  same  source  as  themselves. 
This  is  the  voice  which  the  prophet  hears  in  his  heart — 
the  moral  conviction  which  he  feels  as  the  Word  of  God. 
The  Lord  Jehovah  doeth  nothing  but  He  hath  revealed 
His  counsel  to  His  servants  the  prophets.  Mark  the 
grammar:  the  revelation  comes  first  to  the  prophet's 
heart ;  then  he  sees  and  recognises  the  event,  and  is 
confident    to   give   his    message    about    it.     So   Amos, 

'  Shall  a  little  bird  fah  on  the  snare  earthwards  and  there  be  no 
noose  about  her  ?  Shall  a  snare  rise  from  the  ground  and  not  be  taking 
something  ?  On  this  see  p.  82.  Its  meaning  seems  to  be  equivalent 
to  the  Scottish  proverb :  "  There's  aye  some  w^ater  whan  the  stirkie 
droon§," 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  91 

repeating  his  metaphor,  sums  up  his  argument.  The 
Lion  hath  roared,  who  shall  not  fear  ? — certain  that 
there  is  more  than  sound  to  happen.  The  Lord  Jehovah 
hath  spoken,  who  can  but  prophesy  ? — certain  that  what 
Jehovah  has  spoken  to  him  inwardly  is  hkewise  no 
mere  sound,  but  that  deeds  of  judgment  are  about  to 
happen,  as  the  ominous  voice  requires  they  should.* 

The  prophet  then  is  made  sure  of  his  message  by  the 
agreement  between  the  inward  convictions  of  his  soul 
and  the  outward  events  of  the  day.  When  these  walk 
together,  it  proves  that  they  have  come  of  a  common 
purpose.  He  who  causes  the  events — it  is  Jehovah 
Himself,  for  shall  there  be  evil  in  a  city  and  Jehovah  not 
have  done  it? — must  be  author  also  of  the  inner  voice 
or  conviction  which  agrees  with  them.  Who  then  can 
but  prophesy  ?  Observe  again  that  no  support  is  here 
derived  from  miracle ;  nor  is  an}-^  claim  made  for  the 
prophet  on  the  ground  of  his  ability  to  foretell  the 
event.  It  is  the  agreement  of  the  idea  with  the  fact, 
their  evident  common  origin  in  the  purpose  of  Jehovah, 
which  makes  a  man  sure  that  he  has  in  him  the  Word 
of  God.  Both  are  necessary,  and  together  are  enough. 
Are  we  then  to  leave  the  origin  of  the  Word  in  this 
coincidence  of  fact  and  thought — as  it  were  an  electric 
flash  produced  by  the  contact  of  conviction  with  event  ? 
Hardly :  there  are  questions  behind  this  coincidence. 
For  instance,  as  to  how  the  two  react  on  each  other — 
the  event  provoking  the  conviction,  the  conviction  in- 
terpreting the  event  ?  The  argument  of  Amos  seems 
to  imply  that  the  ethical  principles  are  experienced  by 
the   prophet  prior  to    the   events   which  justify  them. 

'  There  is  thus  no  reason  to  alter  the  words  who  shall  nol 
prophesy  to  who  shall  nol  tremble — as  Wellhausen  does.  To  do  so  is 
10  blunt  the  point  of  the  argument. 


92  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Is  this  so,  or  was  the  shock  of  the  events  required  to 
awaken  the  principles  ?  And  if  the  principles  were 
prior,  whence  did  Amos  derive  them  ?  These  are 
some  questions  that  will  lead  us  to  the  very  origins  of 
revelation. 

The  greatest  of  the  events  with  which  Amos  and  his 
contemporaries  dealt  was  the  Assyrian  invasion.  In 
a  previous  chapter  we  have  tried  to  estimate  the  in- 
tellectual effects  of  Assyria  on  prophecy.^  Assyria 
widened  the  horizon  of  Israel,  put  the  world  to  Hebrew 
eyes  into  a  new  perspective,  vastly  increased  the 
possibilities  of  history  and  set  to  religion  a  novel  order 
of  problems.  We  can  trace  the  effects  upon  Israel's 
conceptions  of  God,  of  man  and  even  of  nature.^  Now 
it  might  be  plausibly  argued  that  the  new  prophecy 
in  Israel  was  first  stirred  and  quickened  by  all  this 
mental  shock  and  strain,  and  that  even  the  loftier  ethics 
of  the  prophets  were  thus  due  to  the  advance  of  Assyria. 
For,  as  the  most  vigilant  watchmen  of  their  day,  the 
prophets  observed  the  rise  of  that  empire,  and  felt  its 
fatality  for  Israel.  Turning  then  to  inquire  the  Divine 
reasons  for  such  a  destruction,  they  found  these  in 
Israel's  sinfulness,  to  the  full  extent  of  which  their 
hearts  were  at  last  awakened.  According  to  such  a 
theory  the  prophets  were  politicians  first  and  moralists 
afterwards  :  alarmists  to  begin  with,  and  preachers  of 
repentance  only  second.  Or — to  recur  to  the  language 
employed  above — the  prophets'  experience  of  the 
historical  event  preceded  their  conviction  of  the  moral 
principle  which  agreed  with  it. 

In  support  of  such  a  theory  it  is  pointed  out  that 
after  all  the  most  original  element  in  the  prophecy  of 

»  See  Chap.  IV.  '  See  pp.  53  fl. 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  93 

the  eighth  century  was  the  announcement  of  Israel's 
fall  and  exile.  The  Righteousness  of  Jehovah  had 
often  previously  been  enforced  in  Israel,  but  never 
had  any  voice  drawn  from  it  this  awful  conclusion  that 
the  nation  must  perish.  The  first  in  Israel  to  dare  this 
was  Amos,  and  surely  what  enabled  him  to  do  so  was 
the  imminence  of  Assyria  upon  his  people.  Again, 
such  a  theory  might  plausibly  point  to  the  opening  verse 
of  the  Book  of  Amos,  with  its  unprefaced,  unexplained 
pronouncement  of  doom  upon  Israel : — 

The  Lord  roareth  from  Zion, 
And  giveth  voice  from  Jerusalem  ; 
And  the  pastures  of  the  shepherds  mourttf 
And  the  summit  of  Carmelis  withered ! 

Here,  it  might  be  averred,  is  the  earliest  prophet's 
earliest  utterance.  Is  it  not  audibly  the  voice  of  a  man 
in  a  panic — such  a  panic  as,  ever  on  the  eve  of  historic 
convulsions,  seizes  the  more  sensitive  minds  of  a 
doomed  people  ?  The  distant  Assyrian  thunder  has 
reached  Amos,  on  his  pastures,  unprepared — unable  to 
articulate  its  exact  meaning,  and  with  only  faith  enough 
to  hear  in  it  the  voice  of  his  God.  He  needs  reflection 
to  unfold  its  contents ;  and  the  process  of  this 
reflection  we  find  through  the  rest  of  his  book.  There 
he  details  for  us,  with  increasing  clearness,  both  the 
ethical  reasons  and  the  political  results  of  that  Assyrian 
terror,  by  which  he  was  at  first  so  wildly  shocked  into 
prophecy. 

But  the  panic-born  are  always  the  still-born ;  and  it 
is  simply  impossible  that  prophecy,  in  all  her  ethical 
and  religious  vigour,  can  have  been  the  daughter  of  so 
tatal  a  birth.  If  we  look  again  at  the  evidence  which 
is  quoted  from  Amos  in  favour  of  such  a  theory,  we 


94  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

shall  see  how  fully  it  is  contradicted  by  other  features 
of  his  book. 

To  begin  with,  we  are  not  certain  that  the  terror  of 
the  opening  verse  of  Amos  is  the  Assyrian  terror.  Even 
if  it  were,  the  opening  of  a  book  does  not  necessarily 
represent  the  writer's  earliest  feelings.  The  rest  of  the 
chapters  contain  visions  and  oracles  which  obviously 
date  from  a  time  when  Amos  was  not  yet  startled  by 
Assyria,  but  believed  that  the  punishment  which  Israel 
required  might  be  accomplished  through  a  series  of 
physical  calamities — locusts,  drought  and  pestilence.^ 
Nay,  it  was  not  even  these  earlier  judgments,  preceding 
the  Assyrian,  which  stirred  the  word  of  God  in  the 
prophet.  He  introduces  them  with  a  now  and  a 
therefore.  That  is  to  say,  he  treats  them  only  as  the 
consequence  of  certain  facts,  the  conclusion  of  certain 
premises.  These  facts  and  premises  are  moral — they 
are  exclusively  moral.  They  are  the  sins  of  Israel's 
life,  regarded  without  illusion  and  without  pity.  They 
are  certain  simple  convictions,  which  fill  the  prophet's 
heart,  about  the  impossibility  of  the  survival  of  any 
state  which  is  so  perverse  and  so  corrupt. 

This  origin  of  prophecy  in  moral  facts  and  moral 
intuitions,  which  are  in  their  beginning  independent  of 
political  events,  nia}'  be  illustrated  by  several  other 
points.  For  instance,  the  sins  which  Amos  marked  in 
Israel  were  such  as  required  no  "red  dawn  of  judg- 
ment" to  expose  their  flagrance  and  fatality.  The 
abuse  of  justice,  the  cruelty  of  the  rich,  the  shameless 
immorality  of  the  priests,  are  not  sins  which  we  feel  only 
in  the  cool  of  the  day,  when  God  Himself  draws  near 
to  judgment.     They    are    such    things    as   make    men 

'  See  pp.  69  t. 


THE  MAN  AND  THE  PROPHET  95 

shiver  in  the  sunshine.  And  so  the  Book  of  Amos, 
and  not  less  that  of  Hosea,  tremble  with  the  feeling 
that  Israel's  social  corruption  is  great  enough  of  itself, 
without  the  aid  of  natural  convulsions,  to  shake  the 
very  basis  of  national  life.  Shall  not  the  land  tremble 
for  this,  Amos  says  after  reciting  some  sins,  and 
every  one  that  dwelleth  therein  ?  ^  Not  drought  nor  pesti- 
lence nor  invasion  is  needed  for  Israel's  doom,  but  the 
elemental  force  of  ruin  which  lies  in  the  people's  own 
wickedness.  This  is  enough  to  create  gloom  long- 
before  the  political  skies  be  overcast — or,  as  Amos 
himself  puts  it,  this  is  enough 

To  cause  the  sun  to  go  down  at  noon. 
And  to  darken  the  earth  in  the  clear  day.* 

And  once  more — in  spite  of  Assyria  the  ruin  may  be 
averted,  if  only  the  people  will  repent :  Seek  good  and 
not  evil,  and  Jehovah  of  hosts  will  be  with  you,  as  you 
say.^  Assyria,  however  threatening,  becomes  irrelevant 
to  Israel's  future  from  the  moment  that  Israel  repents. 

Such  beliefs,  then,  are  obviously  not  the  results  of 
experience,  nor  of  a  keen  observation  of  history. 
They  are  the  primal  convictions  of  the  heart,  which  are 
deeper  than  all  experience,  and  themselves  contain  the 
sources  of  historical  foresight.  With  Amos  it  was  not 
the  outward  event  which  inspired  the  inward  conviction, 
but  the  conviction  which  anticipated  and  interpreted 
the  event,  though  when  the  event  came  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  it  confirmed,  deepened,  and  articulated 
the  conviction.* 


'  viii.  8.  *  viu.  9.  *  V.  14. 

*  How  far  Assyria  assisted  the  development  of  prophecy  we  hav« 
already  seen.  But  we  have  been  made  aware,  at  the  same  time,  that 
Assyria'?  service  to  Israel  in  this  respect  presupposed  the  possession 


96  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 


But  when  we  have  thus  tracked  the  stream  of 
prophecy  as  far  back  as  these  elementary  convictions 
we  have  not  reached  the  fountain-head.  Whence  did 
Amos  derive  his  simple  and  absolute  ethics  ?  Were 
they  original  to  him  ?  Were  they  new  in  Israel  ? 
Such  questions  start  an  argument  which  touches  the 
very  origins  of  revelation. 

It  is  obvious  that  Amos  not  only  takes  for  granted 
the  laws  of  righteousness  which  he  enforces  :  he  takes 
for  granted  also  the  people's  conscience  of  them.  New, 
indeed,  is  the  doom  which  sinful  Israel  deserves,  and 
original  to  himself  is  the  proclamation  of  it ;  but  Amos 
appeals  to  the  moral  principles  which  justify  the  doom, 
as  if  they  were  not  new,  and  as  if  Israel  ought  always 
to  have  known  them.  This  attitude  of  the  prophet 
to  his  principles  has,  in  our  time,  suffered  a  curious 
judgment.  It  has  been  called  an  anachronism.  So 
absolute  a  morality,  some  say,  had  never  before  been 
taught  in  Israel ;  nor  had  righteousness  been  so  ex- 
clusively emphasised  as  the  purpose  of  Jehovah.  Amos 
and  the  other  prophets  of  his  century  were  the  virtual 
"  creators  of  ethical  monotheism " :  it  could  only  be 
by  a  prophetic  licence  or  prophetic  fiction  that  he  ap- 
pealed to  his  people's  conscience  of  the  standards  he 
promulgated,  or  condemned  his  generation  to  death 
for  not  having  lived  up  to  them. 

Let  us  see  how  far  this  criticism  is  supported  by 
the  facts. 

To   no  sane  observer  can  the  religious  history  of 

by  the  prophets  of  certain  beliefs  in  the  character  and  will  of  their 

God,  Jehovah.  The  prophets'  faith  could  never  have  risen  to  the 
magnitude  of  the  new  problems  set  to  it  by  Assyria  if  there  had 
not  been  already  inherent  in  it  that  belief  in  the  sovereignty  of  a 
Righteousness  of  which  all  things  material  were  but  the  instruments. 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  97 

Israel  appear  as  anything  but  a  course  of  gradual 
development.  Even  in  the  moral  standards,  in  respect 
to  which  it  is  confessedly  often  most  difficult  to  prove 
growtli,  the  signs  of  the  nation's  progress  are  very 
manifest.  Practices  come  to  be  forbidden  in  Israel 
and  tempers  to  be  mitigated,  which  in  earlier  ages  were 
sanctioned  to  their  extreme  by  the  explicit  decrees  of 
religion.  In  the  nation's  attitude  to  the  outer  world 
sympathies  arise,  along  with  ideals  of  spiritual  service, 
where  previously  onl}^  war  and  extermination  had  been 
enforced  in  the  name  of  the  Deity,  Now  in  such  an 
evolution  it  is  equally  indubitable  that  the  longest  and 
most  rapid  stage  was  the  prophecy  of  the  eighth 
century.  The  prophets  of  that  time  condemn  acts  which 
had  been  inspired  by  their  immediate  predecessors ;  ^ 
they  abjure,  as  impeding  morality,  a  ceremonial  which 
the  spiritual  leaders  of  earlier  generations  had  felt 
to  be  indispensable  to  religion ;  and  they  unfold  ideals 
of  the  nation's  moral  destiny,  of  which  older  writings 
give  us  only  the  faintest  hints.  Yet,  while  the  fact 
of  a  religious  evolution  in  Israel  is  thus  certain,  we 
must  not  fall  into  the  vulgar  error  which  interprets 
evolution  as  if  it  were  mere  addition,  nor  forget  that 
even  in  the  most  creative  periods  of  religion  nothing 
is  brought  forth  which  has  not  already  been  promised, 
and,  at  some  earlier  stage,  placed,  so  to  speak,  within 
reach  of  the  human  mind.  After  all  it  is  the  mind 
which  grows ;  the  moral  ideals  which  become  visible 
to  its  more  matured  vision  are  so  Divine  that,  when 
they  present  themselves,  the  mind  cannot  but  think 
they  were  always  real  and  always  imperative.     If  we 

'  Compare,  for  instance,  Hosea's  condemnation  of  Jehu's  murder 
of  Joram,  with  Elisha's  command  to  do  it;  also  2  Kings  iii.  19,  25, 
with  Deut.  xx.  19. 

vol..  I.  7 


THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 


remember  these  commonplaces  we  shall  do  justice  both 
to  Amos  and  to  his  critics. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  clear  that  most  of  the  morality 
which  Amos  enforced  is  of  that  fundamental  order 
which  can  never  have  been  recognised  as  the  discovery 
or  invention  of  any  prophet.  Whatever  be  their  origin, 
the  conscience  of  justice,  the  duty  of  kindness  to  the 
poor,  the  horror  of  wanton  cruelty  towards  one's  enemies, 
which  form  the  chief  principles  of  Amos,  are  discernible 
in  man  as  far  back  as  history  allows  us  to  search  for 
them.  Should  a  generation  have  lost  them,  they  can 
be  brought  back  to  it,  never  with  the  thrill  of  a  new 
lesson,  but  only  with  the  shame  of  an  old  and  an 
abused  memory.  To  neither  man  nor  people  can  the 
righteousness  which  Amos  preached  appear  as  a  dis- 
covery, but  always  as  a  recollection  and  a  remorse. 
And  this  is  most  emphatically  true  of  the  people  of 
Moses  and  of  Samuel,  of  Nathan,  of  Elijah  and  of 
the  Book  of  the  Covenant.  Ethical  elements  had  been 
characteristic  of  Israel's  religion  from  the  very  first. 
They  were  not  due  to  a  body  of  written  law,  but  rather 
to  the  character  of  Israel's  God,  appreciated  by  the 
nation  in  all  the  great  crises  of  their  history.^  Jehovah 
had  won  for  Israel  freedom  and  unity.  He  had  been 
a  spirit  of  justice  to  their  lawgivers  and  magistrates.* 
He  had  raised  up  a  succession  of  consecrated  per- 
sonalities,^ who  by  life  and  word  had  purified  the  ideals 
of  the  whole  people.  The  results  had  appeared  in 
the  creation  of  a  strong  national  conscience,  which 
avenged  with  horror,  as  folly  in  Israel,  the  wanton 
crimes  of  any  person  or  section  of  the  commonwealth ; 
i    the  gradual  formation  of  a  legal  code,  founded  indeed 

'  See  above,  p.  lo.  *  Isa.  xxviii.  •  Amos  ii. 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  99 

in  the  common  custom  of  the  Semites,  but  greatly  more 
moral  than  that ;  and  even  in  the  attainment  of  certain 
profoundly  ethical  beliefs  about  God  and  His  relations, 
beyond  Israel,  to  all  mankind.  Now,  let  us  understand 
once  for  all,  that  in  the  ethics  of  Amos  there  is  nothing 
which  is  not  rooted  in  one  or  other  of  these  achieve- 
ments of  the  previous  religion  of  his  people.  To 
this  religion  Amos  felt  himself  attached  in  the  closest 
possible  way.  The  word  of  God  comes  to  him  across 
the  desert,  as  we  have  seen,  yet  not  out  of  the  air. 
From  the  first  he  hears  it  rise  from  that  one  monument 
of  his  people's  past  which  we  have  found  visible  on 
his  physical  horizon^ — -front  Zion,  from  Jerusalem,''^ 
from  the  city  of  David,  from  the  Ark,  whose  ministers 
were  Moses  and  Samuel,  from  the  repository  of  the 
main  tradition  of  Israel's  religion.^  Amos  felt  himself 
in  the  sacred  succession ;  and  his  feeling  is  confirmed 
by  the  contents  of  his  book.  The  details  of  that  civic 
justice  which  he  demands  from  his  generation  are  found 
in  the  Book  of  the  Covenant — the  only  one  of  Israel's 
great  codes  which  appears  by  this  time  to  have  been 
in  existence ;  *  or  in  those  popular  proverbs  which 
almost  as  certainly  were  found  in  early  Israel.^ 


'  Ante,  p.  74.  '  i.  2. 

•  Therefore  we  see  at  a  glance  how  utterly  inadequate  is  Renan's 
brilliant  comparison  of  Amos  to  a  modern  revolutionary  journalist 
{Histoire  du  Penple  Israel,  II.).  Journalist  indeed  1  How  all  this 
would-be  cosmopolitan  and  impartial  critic's  judgments  smack  of  the 
boulevards! 

*  Exod.  XX. ;  incorporated  in  the  JE  book  of  history,  and,  ac- 
cording to  nearly  all  critics,  complete  by  750;  the  contents  must 
have  been  familiar  in  Israel  long  before  that.  There  is  no  trace  in 
Amos  of  any  influence  peculiar  to  either  the  Deuteronomic  or  the 
Levitical  legislation. 

'  See  especially  Schultz,  O.  T.  TheoL,  Eng,  Trans,  by  Paterson,  I.  214. 


THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 


Nor  does  Amos  go  elsewhere  for  the  religious  sanc- 
tions of  his  ethics.  It  is  by  the  ancient  mercies  of 
God  towards  Israel  that  he  shames  and  convicts  his 
generation — by  the  deeds  of  grace  which  made  them  a 
nation,  by  the  organs  of  doctrine  and  reproof  which  have 
inspired  them,  unfailing  from  age  to  age.  /  destroyed 
the  Amorite  before  them.  .  .  .  Yea,  I  brought  you  up  out 
of  the  land  of  Egvpt,  and  I  led  you  forty  years  in  the 
wilderness,  to  possess  the  land  of  the  Amorites.  And  I 
raised  up  of  your  sons  for  prophets,  and  of  your  young  men 
for  Nazirites.  Was  it  not  even  thus,  O  ye  children  of 
Israel?  saiih  Jehovah}  We  cannot  even  say  that  the 
belief  which  Amos  expresses  in  Jehovah  as  the  supreme 
Providence  of  the  world '  was  a  new  thing  in  Israel, 
for  a  belief  as  universal  inspires  those  portions  of 
the  Book  of  Genesis  which,  like  the  Book  of  the 
Covenant,  were  already  extant. 

We  see,  therefore,  what  right  Amos  had  to  present 
his  ethical  truths  to  Israel,  as  if  they  were  not  new,  but 
had  been  within  reach  of  his  people  from  of  old. 

We  could  not,  however,  commit  a  greater  mistake, 
than  to  confine  the  inspiration  of  our  prophet  to  the 
past,  and  interpret  his  doctrines  as  mere  inferences 
from  the  earlier  religious  ideas  of  Israel — inferences 
forced  by  his  own  passionate  logic,  or  more  naturally 
ripened  for  him  by  the  progress  of  events.  A  recent 
writer  has  thus  summarised  the  work  of  the  prophets 
of  the  eighth  century  :  **  In  fact  they  laid  hold  upon 
that  bias  towards  the  ethical,  which  dwelt  in  Jahwism 
from  Moses  onwards,  and  they  allowed  it  alone  to  have 


'  ii.  9-1 1.     On  this  passage  see  further  p.  137, 

*  If  iv.  13,  V.  8  and  ix.  6  be  genuine,  this  remark  equally  applies  to 
beli.f  in  Jehovah  as  Creator. 


THE  MAN  AND    THE  PROPHET  loi 

value  as  corresponding  to  the  true  religion  of  Jehovah."  * 
But  this  is  too  abstract  to  be  an  adequate  statement 
of  the  prophets'  ov^n  consciousness.  What  overcame 
Amos  was  a  Personal  Influence — the  Impression  of  a 
Character ;  and  it  was  this  not  only  as  it  was  revealed 
in  the  past  of  his  people.  The  God  who  stands  behind 
Amos  is  indeed  the  ancient  Deity  of  Israel,  and  the 
facts  which  prove  Him  God  are  those  which  made  the 
nation — the  Exodus,  the  guidance  through  the  wilder- 
ness, the  overthrow  of  the  Amorites,  the  gift  of  the 
land.  Was  it  not  even  thus,  O  ye  children  of  Israel  ? 
But  what  beats  and  burns  through  the  pages  of 
Amos  is  not  the  memory  of  those  wonderful  works, 
so  much  as  a  fresh  vision  and  understanding  of  the 
Living  God  who  worked  them.  Amos  has  himself 
met  with  Jehovah  on  the  conditions  of  his  own  time 
— on  the  moral  situation  provided  by  the  living  genera- 
tion of  Israel.  By  an  intercourse  conducted,  not 
through  the  distant  signals  of  the  past,  but  here  and 
now,  through  the  events  of  the  prophet's  own  day, 
Amos  has  received  an  original  and  overpowering  con- 
viction of  his  people's  God  as  absolute  righteousness. 
What  prophecy  had  hitherto  felt  in  part,  and  applied 
to-one  or  other  of  the  departments  of  Israel's  life, 
Amos  is  the  first  to  feel  in  its  fulness,  and  to  every 
extreme  of  its  consequences  upon  the  worship,  the 
conduct  and  the  fortunes  of  the  nation.  To  him 
Jehovah  not  only  commands  this  and  that  righteous 
law,  but  Jehovah  and  righteousness  are  absolutely 
identical.  Seek  Jehovah  and  ye  shall  live  .  .  .  seek  good 
and  ye  shall  live?  The  absoluteness  with  which  Amos 
conceived    this    principle,   the  courage   with  which    he 

'  Kayser,  Old  Testament  Theology.  •  v.  6,  14. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


applied  it,  carry  him  along  those  two  great  Hnes  upon 
which  we  most  clearly  trace  his  originality  as  a  prophet. 
In  the  strength  of  this  principle  he  does  what  is  really 
new  in  Israel :  he  discards  the  two  elements  which  had 
hitherto  existed  alongside  the  ethical,  and  had  fettered 
and  warped  it. 

Up  till  now  the  ethical  spirit  of  the  religion  of 
Jehovah  ^  had  to  struggle  with  two  beliefs  which  we  can 
trace  back  to  the  Semitic  origins  of  the  religion — the 
belief,  namely,  that,  as  the  national  God,  Jehovah  would 
always  defend  their  political  interests,  irrespective  of 
morality ;  and  the  belief  that  a  ceremonial  of  rites  and 
sacrifices  was  indispensable  to  religion.  These  prin- 
ciples were  mutual :  as  the  deit}'  was  bound  to  succour 
the  people,  so  were  the  people  bound  to  supply  the 
deity  with  gifts,  and  the  more  of  these  they  brought 
the  more  they  made  sure  of  his  favours.  Such  views 
were  not  absolutely  devoid  of  moral  benefit.  In  the 
formative  period  of  the  nation  they  had  contributed 
both  discipline  and  hope.  But  of  late  they  had  be- 
tween them  engrossed  men's  hearts,  and  crushed  out 
of  religion  both  conscience  and  common-sense.  By  the 
first  of  them,  the  belief  in  Jehovah's  predestined  pro- 
tection of  Israel,  the  people's  eyes  were  so  holden  they 
could  not  see  how  threatening  were  the  times  ;  by  the 
other,  the  confidence  in  ceremonial,  conscience  was 
dulled,  and  that  immorality  permitted  which  they 
mingled  so  shamelessly  with  their  religious  zeal.  Now 
the  conscience  of  Amos  did  not  merely  protest  against 
the  predominance  of  the  two,  but  was  so  exclusive,  so 
spiritual,  that  it  boldly  banished  both  from  religion. 
Amos  denied  that  Jehovah  was  bound  to  save  His  people ; 


'  See  above,  p.  i8. 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  103 

he  affirmed  that  ritual  and  sacrifice  were  no  part  of  the 
service  He  demands  fi-om  men.     This  is  the  measure 
of  originahty  in  our  prophet.     The  two  religious  prin- 
ciples which  were  inherent  in  the  very  fibre  of  Semitic 
religion,  and  which  till  now  had  gone  unchallenged  in 
Israel,  Amos  cast  forth  from  religion  in  the  name  of 
a  pure  and  absolute  righteousness.     On  the  one  hand, 
Jehovah's  peculiar  connection  with  Israel  meant  no  more 
than  jealousy  for  their  holiness  :    You  only  have  I  known 
of  all  the  families  of  the  eatih,  therefore  will  I  visit  upon 
you  all  your  iniquities}    And,  on  the  other  hand,  all  their 
ceremonial   was  abhorrent  to   Him  :   /  hate,  I  despise 
your  festivals.  .  .  .  Though  ye  offer  Me  burnt  offerings  and 
your  meal  offerings^  I  will  not  accept  them.  .  .  .   Take  thou 
away  from  Me  the  noise  of  thy  songs ;  I  will  not  hear 
the  music   of  thy  viols.     But  let  justice   run  down   as 
waters,  and  righteousness  as  a  perennial  stream.^ 

It  has  just  been  said  that  emphasis  upon  morality  as 
the  sum  of  religion,  to  the  exclusion  of  sacrifice,  is  the 
most  original  element  in  the  prophecies  of  Amos.  He 
himself,  however,  does  not  regard  this  as  proclaimed 
for  the  first  time  in  Israel,  and  the  precedent  he  quotes 
is  so  illustrative  of  the  sources  of  his  inspiration  th^ 
we  do  well  to  look  at  it  for  a  little.  In  the  verse  next 
to  the  one  last  quoted  he  reports  these  words  of  God  : 
Did  ye  offer  unto  Me  sacrifices  and  gifts  in  the  wilderness, 
for  forty  years,  O  house  of  Israel  ?  An  extraordinary 
challenge !  From  the  present  blind  routine  of  sacrifice 
Jehovah  appeals  to  the  beginning  of  His  relations  with 
the  nation :  did  they  then  perform  such  services  to 
Him  ?  Of  course,  a  negative  answer  is  expected.  No 
other  agrees  with  the  main  contention  of  the  passage. 

'  iiL  a.  •  V.  21  flU 


I04  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

In  the  wilderness  Israel  had  not  offered  sacrifices  and 
gifts  to  Jehovah.  Jeremiah  quotes  a  still  more  explicit 
word  of  Jehovah  :  /  spake  not  unto  your  fathers  in  the 
day  that  I  brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egvpt  con- 
cerning burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices :  but  this  thing  I 
commanded  them,  saying,  Obey  My  voice,  and  I  will  be 
your  God,  and  ye  shall  be  My  people} 

To  these  Divine  statements  we  shall  not  be  able  to 
do  justice  if  we  hold  by  the  traditional  view  that  the 
Levitical  legislation  was  proclaimed  in  the  wilderness. 
Discount  that  legislation,  and  the  statements  become 
clear.  It  is  true,  of  course,  that  Israel  must  have  had 
a  ritual  of  some  kind  from  the  first ;  and  that  both  in 
the  wilderness  and  in  Canaan  their  spiritual  leaders 
must  have  performed  sacrifices  as  if  these  were  ac- 
ceptable to  Jehovah.  But  even  so  the  Divine  words 
which  Amos  and  Jeremiah  quote  are  historically  cor- 
rect ;  for  while  the  ethical  contents  of  the  religion 
of  Jehovah  were  its  original  and  essential  contents — 
/  commanded  them,  saying,  Obey  My  voice — the  ritual 
was  but  a  modification  of  the  ritual  common  to  all 
Semites ;  and  ever  since  the  occupation  of  the  land, 
it  had,  through  the  infection  of  the  Canaanite  rites  on 
the  high  places,  grown  more  and  more  Pagan,  both 
in  its  functions  and  in  the  ideas  which  these  were  sup- 
posed to  express.^  Amos  was  right.  Sacrifice  had 
never  been  the  Divine,  the  revealed  element  in  the 
religion  of  Jehovah.  Nevertheless,  before  Amos  no 
prophet  in  Israel  appears  to  have  said  so.  And  what 
enabled  this  man  in  the  eighth  century  to  offer  testi- 
mony, so  novel  but  so  true,  about  the  far-away  begin- 
nings  of  his  people's  religion  in  the  fourteenth,   was 

'  Jer.  vii.  22  f.  -  See  above,  p.  23. 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  105 

plainly  neither  tradition  nor  historical  research,  but  an 
overwhelming  conviction  of  the  spiritual  and  moral 
character  of  God — of  Him  who  had  been  Israel's  God 
both  then  and  now,  and  whose  righteousness  had  been, 
just  as  much  then  as  now,  exalted  above  all  purely 
national  interests  and  all  susceptibility  to  ritual.  When 
we  thus  see  the  prophet's  knowledge  of  the  Living 
God  enabling  him,  not  only  to  proclaim  an  ideal  of 
religion  more  spiritual  than  Israel  had  yet  dreamed, 
but  to  perceive  that  such  an  ideal  had  been  the  essence 
of  the  religion  of  Jehovah  from  the  first,  we  under- 
stand how  thoroughly  Amos  was  mastered  by  that 
knowledge.  If  we  need  any  further  proof  of  his 
"  possession "  by  the  character  of  God,  we  find  it  in 
those  phrases  in  which  his  own  consciousness  dis- 
appears, and  we  have  no  longer  the  herald's  report  of 
the  Lord's  words,  but  the  very  accents  of  the  Lord  Him- 
self, fraught  with  personal  feeling  of  the  most  intense 
qualit}'.  /  Jehovah  hate,  I  despise  your  feast  days.  .  .  . 
Take  thott  away  from  Me  the  noise  of  thy  songs ;  I 
will  not  hear  the  music  of  thy  viols}  .  .  .  I  abhor  the 
arrogance  of  Jacob,  and  hate  his  palaces}  .  .  .  The  eyes 
of  the  Lord  Jehovah  are  upon  the  sinful  kingdom}  .  .  . 
Jehovah  sweareth,  I  will  never  forget  any  of  their  ivorks} 
Such  sentences  reveal  a  Deity  who  is  not  only  mani- 
fest Character,  but  surgent  and  importunate  Feeling. 
We  have  traced  the  prophet's  word  to  its  ultimate  source. 
It  springs  from  the  righteousness,  the  vigilance,  the 
urgency  of  the  Eternal.  The  intellect,  imagination 
and  heart  of  Amos — the  convictions  he  has  inherited 
from  his  people's  past,  his  conscience  of  their  evil  life 
to-day,  his  impressions  of  current  and  coming  history — 

'  V.  21-23.  •  vi.  8.  •  ix.  8.  *  viii.  7. 


io6  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

are  all  enforced  and  illuminated,  all  made  impetuous 
and  radiant,  by  the  Spirit,  that  is  to  say  the  Purpose 
and  the  Energy,  of  the  Living  God,  Therefore,  as  he 
says  in  the  title  of  his  book,  or  as  some  one  says  for 
him,  Amos  saw  his  words.  The}'  stood  out  objective 
to  himself.  And  they  were  not  mere  sound.  They 
glowed  and  burned  with  God, 

When  we  realise  this,  we  feel  how  inadequate  it  is 
to  express  prophecy  in  the  terms  of  evolution.  No 
doubt,  as  we  have  seen,  the  ethics  and  religion  of  Amos 
represent  a  large  and  measurable  advance  upon  those 
of  earlier  Israel.  And  yet  with  Amos  we  do  not  seem 
so  much  to  have  arrived  at  a  new  stage  in  a  Process,  as 
to  have  penetrated  to  the  Idea  which  has  been  behind 
the  Process  from  the  beginning.  The  change  and 
growth  of  Israel's  religion  are  realities — their  fruits  can 
be  seen,  defined,  catalogued — but  a  greater  reality  is 
the  unseen  Purpose  which  impels  them.  They  have 
been  expressed  only  now.  He  has  been  unchanging 
from  old  and  for  ever — from  the  first  absolute  righteous- 
ness in  Himself,  and  absolute  righteousness  in  His 
demands  from  men. 

3.  The  Prophet  and  his  Ministry. 

Amos  vii.,  viii.  1-4, 

We  have  seen  the  preparation  of  the  Man  for  the 
Word ;  we  have  sought  to  trace  to  its  source  the  Word 
which  came  to  the  Man,  It  now  remains  for  us  to 
follow  the  Prophet,  Man  and  Word  combined,  upon 
his  Ministry  to  the  people. 

For  reasons  given  in  a  previous  chapter/  there  must 

'  Chap,  v.,  p.  71. 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  107 

always  be  some  doubt  as  to  the  actual  course  of  the 
ministry  of  Amos  before  his  appearance  at  Bethel. 
Most  authorities,  however,  agree  that  the  visions  re« 
counted  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  chapter  form 
the  substance  of  his  address  at  Bethel,  which  was 
interrupted  by  the  priest  Amaziah.  These  visions 
furnish  a  probable  summary  of  the  prophet's  experience 
up  to  that  point.  While  they  follow  the  same  course, 
which  we  trace  in  the  two  series  of  oracles  that  now 
precede  them  in  the  book,  the  ideas  in  them  are  less 
elaborate.  At  the  same  time  it  is  evident  that  Amos 
must  have  already  spoken  upon  other  points  than  those 
which  he  puts  into  the  first  three  visions.  For  instance, 
Amaziah  reports  to  the  king  that  Amos  had  explicitly 
predicted  the  exile  of  the  whole  people  ^ — a  conviction 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  the  prophet  reached  only 
after  some  length  of  experience.  It  is  equally  certain 
that  Amos  must  have  already  exposed  the  sins  of  the 
people  in  the  light  of  the  Divine  righteousness.  Some 
of  the  sections  of  the  book  which  deal  with  this  subject 
appear  to  have  been  originally  spoken ;  and  it  is  un- 
natural to  suppose  that  the  prophet  announced  the 
chastisements  of  God  without  having  previously  justified 
these  to  the  consciences  of  men. 

If  this  view  be  correct,  Amos,  having  preached  for 
some  time  to  Israel  concerning  the  evil  state  of  society, 
appeared  at  a  great  religious  festival  in  Bethel, 
determined  to  bring  matters  to  a  crisis,  and  to  an- 
nounce the  doom  which  his  preaching  threatened  and 
the  people's  continued  impenitence  made  inevitable. 
Mark  his  choice  of  place  and  of  audience.  It  was  no 
mere  king  he  aimed  at.     Nathan  had  dealt  with  David, 

•  vii.  II. 


lo8  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Gad  with  Solomon,  Elijah  with  Ahab  and  Jezebel.  But 
Amos  sought  the  people,  them  with  whom  resided  the 
real  forces  and  responsibilities  of  life :  the  wealth,  the 
social  fashions,  the  treatment  of  the  poor,  the  spirit  of 
worship,  the  ideals  of  religion.*  And  Amos  sought 
the  people  upon  what  was  not  only  a  great  popular 
occasion,  but  one  on  which  was  arrayed,  in  all  pomp 
and  lavishness,  the  very  system  he  essayed  to  over- 
throw. The  religion  of  his  time — religion  as  mere 
ritual  and  sacrifice — was  what  God  had  sent  him  to 
beat  down,  and  he  faced  it  at  its  headquarters,  and 
upon  one  of  its  high  days,  in  the  royal  and  popular 
sanctuary  where  it  enjoyed  at  once  the  patronage 
of  the  crown,  the  lavish  gifts  of  the  rich  and  the 
thronged  devotion  of  the  multitude.  As  Savonarola  at 
the  Duomo  in  Florence,  as  Luther  at  the  Diet  of  Worms, 
as  our  Lord  Himself  at  the  feast  in  Jerusalem,  so  was 
Amos  at  the  feast  in  Bethel.  Perhaps  he  was  still 
more  lonely.  He  speaks  nowhere  of  having  made  a 
disciple,  and  in  the  sea  of  faces  which  turned  on  him 
when  he  spoke,  it  is  probable  that  he  could  not  wel- 
come a  single  ally.  They  were  officials,  or  interested 
traders,  or  devotees ;  he  was  a  foreigner  and  a  wild 
man,  with  a  word  that  spared  the  popular  dogma  as 
little  as  the  royal  prerogative.  Well  for  him  was  it 
that  over  all  those  serried  ranks  of  authority,  those 
fanatic  crowds,  that  lavish  splendour,  another  vision 
commanded  his  eyes.  /  saw  tlie  Lord  standing  over 
the  altar,  and  He  said,  Smite. 

Amos  told  the  pilgrims  at  Bethel  that  the  first  events 
of  his   time   in   which   he  felt  a   purpose   of  God   in 


'  On  the  ministry  of  eighth-century  prophets  to  the   people  see 
the  author's  Isaiah,  I.,  p.  119. 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  109 

harmony  with  his  convictions  about  Israel's  need  of 
punishment  were  certain  calamities  of  a  physical  kind. 
Of  these,  which  in  chapter  iv.  he  describes  as  succes- 
sively drought,  blasting,  locusts,  pestilence  and  earth- 
quake, he  selected  at  Bethel  only  two — locusts  and 
drought — and  he  began  with  the  locusts.  It  may  have 
been  either  the  same  visitation  as  he  specifies  in 
chapter  iv.,  or  a  previous  one  ;  for  of  all  the  plagues 
of  Palestine  locusts  have  been  the  most  frequent, 
occurring  every  six  or  seven  years.  Thus  the  Lord 
Jehovah  caused  me  to  see :  and,  behold,  a  brood  ^  of  locusts 
at  the  beginning  of  the  coming  up  of  the  spring  crops.  In 
the  Syrian  year  there  are  practically  two  tides  of 
verdure :  one  which  starts  after  the  early  rains  of 
October  and  continues  through  the  winter,  checked  by 
the  cold  ;  and  one  which  comes  away  with  greater  force 
under  the  influence  of  the  latter  rains  and  more  genial 
airs  of  spring.^  Of  these  it  was  the  later  and  richer 
which  the  locusts  had  attacked.  And,  behold,  it  was 
after  the  king's  mowings.  These  seem  to  have  been 
a  tribute  which  the  kings  of  Israel  levied  on  the  spring 
herbage,  and  which  the  Roman  governors  of  Syria  used 
annually  to  impose  in  the  month  Nisan.'  After  the 
king's  mowings  would  be  a  phrase  to  mark  the  time 
when  everybody  else  might  turn  to  reap  their  green 


'  So  LXX.,  followed  by  Hitzig  and  Wellhausen,  by  reading  "l!if*  for 
"'SI'. 

*  Cf.  Hist.  Geography  of  tht  Holy  Land,  pp.  64  ff.  The  word  trans- 
lated spring  crop  above  is  B'p?,  and  from  the  same  root  as  the  name 
of  the  latter  rain,  ^^^[y})^^  which  falls  in  the  end  of  March  or  begin- 
ning of  April.  Cf.  Zeitschrift  des  deuischen  Palastina-Vereins,  IV.  83  ; 
VIII.  62. 

•  Cf.  I  Kings  xviii.  5  with  i  Sam.  vii.  15,  17;  i  Kings  iv.  /ffi 
See  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  228. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


Stuff.  It  was  thus  the  very  crisis  of  the  year  when 
the  locusts  appeared ;  the  April  crops  devoured,  there 
was  no  hope  of  further  fodder  till  December.  Still, 
the  calamity  had  happened  before,  and  had  been  sur- 
vived ;  a  nation  so  vigorous  and  wealthy  as  Israel  was 
under  Jeroboam  II.  need  not  have  been  frightened 
to  death.  But  Amos  felt  it  with  a  conscience.  To 
him  it  was  the  beginning  of  that  destruction  of  his 
people  which  the  spirit  within  him  knew  that  their  sin 
had  earned.  So  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  locusts  had 
made  an  end  of  devouring  the  verdure  of  the  earth,  that 
I  said,  Ron  it,  1  pray  Thee,  or  pardon — a  proof  that  there 
already  weighed  on  the  prophet's  spirit  something  more 
awful  than  loss  of  grass — how  shall  Jacob  rise  again  ? 
for  he  is  little}  The  prayer  was  heard.  Jehovah  re- 
pented for  this :  It  shall  not  be,  said  Jehovah.  The 
unnameable  it  must  be  the  same  as  in  the  frequent 
phrase  of  the  first  chapter :  /  will  not  turn  It  back — 
namely,  the  final  execution  of  doom  on  the  people's  sin. 
The  reserve  with  which  this  is  mentioned,  both  while 
there  is  still  chance  for  the  people  to  repent  and  after 
it  has  become  irrevocable,  is  very  impressive. 

The  next  example  which  Amos  gave  at  Bethel  of 
his  permitted  insight  into  God's  purpose  was  a  great 
drought.  Thus  the  Lord  Jehovah  made  me  to  see :  and, 
behold,  the  Lord  Jehovah  was  calling  fire  into  the  quarrel} 
There  was,  then,  already  a  quarrel   between  Jehovah 

'  LXX.  :    Who  shall  raise  up  Jacob  again  ? 

*  So  Professor  A.  B.  Davidson.  But  the  grammar  might  equally 
well  afford  the  rendering  one  calling  that  the  Lord  will  punish  with 
the  fire,  the  7  of  2)'w  marking  the  introduction  of  indirect  speech 
(cf.  Ewald,  §  338a).  But  Hitzig  for  Nip  reads  i.'\\>  (Deut.  xxv.  18), 
to  occur,  happen.  So  similarly  Wellhausen,  ts  nahte  sich  eu  strafen 
mit  Feuer  der  Herr  Jahvt.  All  these  renderings  yield  practically  the 
same  meaning. 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  m 

and  His  people — another  sign  that  the  prophet's  moral 
conviction  of  Israel's  sin  preceded  the  rise  of  the  events 
in  which  he  recognised  its  punishment.  And  the  fire 
devoured  the  Great  Deep,  yea,  it  was  about  to  devour  the 
land}  Severe  drought  in  Palestine  might  well  be 
described  as  fire,  even  when  it  was  not  accompanied 
by  the  flame  and  smoke  of  those  forest  and  prairie  fires 
which  Joel  describes  as  its  consequences.^  But  to  have 
the  full  fear  of  such  a  drought,  we  should  need  to 
feel  beneath  us  the  curious  world  which  the  men  of 
those  days  felt.  To  them  the  earth  rested  in  a  great 
deep,  from  whose  stores  all  her  springs  and  fountains 
burst.  When  these  failed  it  meant  that  the  unfathomed 
floods  below  were  burnt  up.  But  how  fierce  the  flame 
that  could  effect  this  1  And  how  certainly  able  to 
devour  next  the  solid  land  which  rested  above  the  deep 
— the  very  Portion^  assigned  by  God  to  His  people. 
Again  Amos  interceded  :  Lord  Jehovah,  I  pray  Thee  for- 
bear :  how  shall  Jacob  rise  ?  for  he  is  little.  And  for 
the  second  time  Jacob  was  reprieved.  Jehovah  repented 
for  this :  It  also  shall  not  come  to  pass,  said  the  Lord 
Jehovah, 

We  have  treated  these  visions,  not  as  the  imagina- 
tion or  prospect  of  possible  disasters,*  but  as  insight  into 
the  meaning  of  actual  plagues.     Such  a  treatment  is 

'  A.  B.  Davidson,  Syntax,  §  57,  Rem.  I.  *  i.  19  f. 

•  Cf.  Micah  ii.  3.  p?n  is  the  word  used,  and  according  to  the 
motive  given  above  stands  well  for  the  climax  of  the  fire's  destructive 
work.  This  meets  the  objection  of  Wellhausen,  who  proposes  to 
omit  p^Dj  because  the  heat  does  not  dry  up  first  the  great  deep  and 
then  the  fields  [Ackerjlur).  This  is  to  mistake  the  obvious  point  of 
the  sentence.  The  drought  was  so  great  that,  after  the  fountains  were 
exhausted,  it  seemed  as  if  the  solid  framework  of  the  land,  described 
with  very  apt  pathos  as  the  Portion,  would  be  the  next  to  disappear. 
Some  take  pTTl  as  divided,  therefore  cultivated,  ground. 

*  So  for  instance.  Von  Orelli« 


112  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

justified,  not  only  by  the  invariable  habit  of  Amos  to 
deal  with  real  facts,  but  also  by  the  occurrence  of 
these  same  plagues  among  the  series  by  which,  as  we 
are  told,  God  had  already  sought  to  move  the  people 
to  repentance.^  The  general  question  of  sympathy 
between  such  purely  physical  disasters  and  the  moral 
evil  of  a  people  we  may  postpone  to  another  chapter, 
confining  ourselves  here  to  the  part  played  in  the 
events  by  the  prophet  himself. 

Surely  there  is  something  wonderful  in  the  attitude 
of  this  shepherd  to  the  fires  and  plagues  that  Nature 
sweeps  upon  his  land.  He  is  ready  for  them.  And  he 
is  ready  not  only  by  the  general  feeling  of  his  time  that 
such  things  happen  of  the  wrath  of  God.  His  sovereign 
and  predictive  conscience  recognises  them  as  her 
ministers.  They  are  sent  to  punish  a  people  whom 
she  has  already  condemned.  Yet,  unlike  Elijah,  Amos 
does  not  summon  the  drought,  nor  even  welcome  its 
arrival.  How  far  has  prophecy  travelled  since  the 
violent  Tishbite  1  With  all  his  conscience  of  Israel's 
sin,  Amos  yet  prays  that  their  doom  may  be  turned. 
We  have  here  some  evidence  of  the  struggle  through 
which  these  later  prophets  passed,  before  they  accepted 
their  awful  messages  to  men.  Even  Amos,  desert-bred 
and  living  aloof  from  Israel,  shrank  from  the  judgment 
which  it  was  his  call  to  pubHsh.  For  two  moments — 
they  would  appear  to  be  the  only  two  in  his  ministry — 
his  heart  contended  with  his  conscience,  and  twice  he 
entreated  God  to  forgive.  At  Bethel  he  told  the  people 
all  this,  in  order  to  show  how  unwillingly  he  took  up 
his  duty  against  them,  and  how  inevitable  he  found 
that  duty  to  be.  But  still  more  shall  we  learn  from  his 
tale,   if  we  feel  in  his  words  about  the   smallness  of 

'  Chap.  iv. 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  1 13 

Jacob,  not  pity  only,  but  sympathy.  We  shall  learn 
that  prophets  are  never  made  solely  by  the  bare  word 
of  God,  but  that  even  the  most  objective  and  judicial 
of  them  has  to  earn  his  title  to  proclaim  judgment 
by  suffering  with  men  the  agony  of  the  judgment  he 
proclaims.  Never  to  a  people  came  there  a  true 
prophet  who  had  not  first  prayed  for  them.  To  have 
entreated  for  men,  to  have  represented  them  in  the 
highest  courts  of  Being,  is  to  have  deserved  also  supreme 
judicial  rights  upon  them.  And  thus  it  is  that  our 
Judge  at  the  Last  Day  shall  be  none  other  than  our 
great  Advocate  who  continually  maketh  intercession 
for  us.  It  is  praj^er,  let  us  repeat,  which,  while  it  gives 
us  all  power  with  God,  endows  us  at  the  same  time 
with  moral  rights  over  men.  Upon  his  mission  of 
judgment  we  shall  follow  Amos  with  the  greater 
sympathy  that  he  thus  comes  forth  to  it  from  the 
mercy-seat  and  the  ministry  of  intercession. 

The  first  two  visions  which  Amos  told  at  Bethel 
were  of  disasters  in  the  sphere  of  nature,  but  his  third 
lay  in  the  sphere  of  politics.  The  two  former  were,  in 
their  completeness  at  least,  averted ;  and  the  language 
Amos  used  of  them  seems  to  imply  that  he  had  not 
even  then  faced  the  possibility  of  a  final  overthrow. 
He  took  for  granted  Jacob  was  to  rise  again  :  he  only 
feared  as  to  how  this  should  be.  But  the  third  vision 
is  so  final  that  the  prophet  does  not  even  try  to  intercede. 
Israel  is  measured,  found  wanting  and  doomed.  Assyria 
is  not  named,  but  is  obviously  intended  ;  and  the  fact 
that  the  prophet  arrives  at  certainty  with  regard  to  the 
doom  of  Israv'],,  just  when  he  thus  comes  within  sight 
of  Assyria,  is  instructive  as  to  the  influence  exerted  on 
prophecy  by  the  rise  of  that  empire.^ 

'  See  Chap.  IV.,  p.  5 1. 
VOL.    I.  8 


114  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Thus  He  gave  me  to  see :  and,  behold,  the  Lord  had 
taken  His  station — 'tis  a  more  solemn  word  than  the 
stood  of  our  versions — upon  a  city  wall  built  to  the 
plummet,^  and  in  His  hand  a  plummet.  And  Jehovah 
said  unto  me,  What  art  thou  seeing,  Amos?  The 
question  surely  betrays  some  astonishment  shown  by 
the  prophet  at  the  vision  or  some  difficulty  he  felt  in 
making  it  out.  He  evidently  does  not  feel  it  at  once, 
as  the  natural  result  of  his  own  thinking  :  it  is  objective 
and  strange  to  him  ;  he  needs  time  to  see  into  it.  And 
I  said,  A  plummet.  And  the  Lord  said.  Behold,  I  am 
setting  a  plummet  in  the  midst  of  My  people  Israel.  I 
will  not  again  pass  them  over.  To  set  a  measuring  line 
or  a  line  with  weights  attached  to  any  building  means 
to  devote  it  to  destruction  ;  *  but  here  it  is  uncertain 
whether  the  plummet  threatens  destruction,  or  means 
that  Jehovah  will  at  last  clearly  prove  to  the  prophet 
the  msufferable  obliquity  of  the  fabric  of  the  nation's  life, 
originally  set  straight  by  Himself — originally  a  wall  of  a 
plummet.  For  God's  judgments  are  never  arbitrary :  by  a 
standard  we  men  can  read  He  shows  us  their  necessity. 
Conscience  itself  is  no  mere  voice  of  authority :  it 
is  a  convincing  plummet,  and  plainly  lets  us  see  why 
we  should  be  punished.  But  whichever  interpretation 
we  choose,  the  result  is  the  same.  The  high  places  of 
Israel  shall  be  desolate,  and  the  sanctuaries  of  Isaac  laid 
waste  ;  and  I  will  rise  against  the  house  of  Jeroboam  with 
the  sword.      A  declaration   of  war !      Israel    is    to    be 


'  Literallj'  of  the  plummet,  an  obscure  expression.  It  cannot  mean 
plumb-straight,  for  the  wall  is  condemned.  . ., 

*  2  Kings  xxi.  13  :  I  will  stretch  over  Jerusalem  tile  line  of  Samaria 
and  the  plummet  or  weight  (^Vp!l/'P)  of  the  house  of  A  hah.  Isa.  xxxiv, 
1 1 :  He  shall  stretch  over  it  the  cord  of  confusion,  and  the  weights  (liter- 
ally stones)  of  emptiness 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  115 

invaded,  her  dynasty  overthrown.  Every  one  whc 
heard  the  prophet  would  know,  though  he  named  them 
not,  that  the  Assyrians  were  meant. 

It  was  apparently  at  this  point  that  Amos  was 
interrupted  by  Amaziah.  The  priest,  who  was  con- 
scious of  no  spiritual  power  with  which  to  oppose  the 
prophet,  gladly  grasped  the  opportunity  afforded  him  by 
the  mention  of  the  king,  and  fell  back  on  the  invariable 
resource  of  a  barren  and  envious  sacerdotalism  :  He 
speaketh  against  Ccesar}  There  follows  one  of  the 
great  scenes  of  history — the  scene  which,  however  fast 
the  ages  and  the  languages,  the  ideals  and  the  deities 
may  change,  repeats  itself  with  the  same  two  actors. 
Priest  and  Man  face  each  other — Priest  with  King 
behind,  Man  with  God — and  wage  that  debate  in  which 
the  whole  warfare  and  progress  of  religion  consist. 
But  the  story  is  only  typical  by  being  real.  Many 
subtle  traits  of  human  nature  prove  that  we  have  here 
an  exact  narrative  of  fact.  Take  Amaziah's  report  to 
Jeroboam.  He  gives  to  the  words  of  the  prophet  just 
that  exaggeration  and  innuendo  which  betray  the  wily 
courtier,  who  knows  how  to  accentuate  a  general  denun- 
ciation till  it  feels  like  a  personal  attack.  And  yet,  like 
every  Caiaphas  of  his  tribe,  the  priest  in  his  exaggera- 
tions expresses  a  deeper  meaning  than  he  is  conscious 
of.  Amos — note  how  the  mere  mention  of  the  name 
without  description  proves  that  the  prophet  was  already 
known  in  Israel,  perhaps  was  one  on  whom  the  autho- 
rities had  long  kept  their  eye — Amos  hath  conspired 
against  thee — yet  God  was  his  only  fellow-conspirator  1 
— in  the  midst  of  the  house  of  Israel — this  royal  tempel 
at  Bethel.      The  land  is  not  able  to  hold  his  words — it 

'  John  xix.  12. 


Il6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

must  burst ;  yes,  but  in  another  sense  than  thou 
meanest,  O  Caiaphas-Amaziah  !  For  thus  hath  Amos 
said,  By  the  sivord  shall  Jeroboam  die — Amos  had 
spoken  only  of  the  dynasty,  but  the  twist  which 
Amaziah  lends  to  the  words  is  calculated — and  Israel 
going  shall  go  into  captivity  from  off  his  own  land. 
This  was  the  one  unvarnished  spot  in  the  report. 

Having  fortified  himself,  as  little  men  will  do,  by 
his  duty  to  the  powers  that  be,  Amaziah  dares  to  turn 
upon  the  prophet ;  and  he  does  so,  it  is  amusing  to 
observe,  with  that  tone  of  intellectual  and  moral  supe- 
riority which  it  is  extraordinary  to  see  some  men 
derive  from  a  merely  official  station  or  touch  with 
royalty.  Visionary,^  begone  !  Get  thee  off  to  the  land  oj 
Judah;  and  earn^  thy  bread  there,  and  there  play  the 
prophet.  But  at  Bethel — mark  the  rising  accent  of  the 
voice — thou  shall  not  again  prophesy.  The  Kings  Sanc- 
tuary it  is,  and  the  House  oj  the  Kingdom?  With  the 
official  mind  this  is  more  conclusive  than  that  it  is  the 
House  of  God  1  In  fact  the  speech  of  Amaziah  justifies 
the  hardest  terms  which  Amos  uses  of  the  religion  of 
his  day.  In  all  this  priest  says  there  is  no  trace  of  the 
spiritual — only  fear,  pride  and  privilege.  Divine  truth 
is  challenged  by  human  law,  and  the  Word  of  God 
silenced  in  the  name  of  the  king. 

We  have  here  a  conception  of  religion,  which  is  not 
merely  due  to  the  unspiritual  character  of  the  priest 
who  utters  it,  but  has  its  roots  in  the  far  back  origins 
of  Israel's  religion.     The  Pagan  Semite  identified  abso- 


'  The  word  seer  is  here  used  in  a  contemptuous  sense,  and  has 
therefore  to  be  translated  by  some  such  word  as  visionary. 

'  Literally  eat. 

•  np^pO  n''2  — that  is,  &  central  or  capital sancluaty.  Cf.  nabpsri  "J^; 
(I  Sam.  xxvii.  5),  city  of  the  kingdom,  i.e.  chief  or  capital  town. 


THE  MAN  AND   THE  PROPHET  1 17 

lutely  State  and  Church  ;  and  on  that  identification  was 
based  the  religious  practice  of  early  Israel,  It  had 
many  healthy  results :  it  kept  religion  in  touch  with 
public  life;  order,  justice,  patriotism,  self-sacrifice  for 
the  common  weal,  were  devoutly  held  to  be  matters  of 
religion.  So  long,  therefore,  as  the  system  was  inspired 
by  truly  spiritual  ideals,  nothing  for  those  times  could 
be  better.  But  we  see  in  it  an  almost  inevitable 
tendency  to  harden  to  the  sheerest  officialism.  That 
it  was  more  apt  to  do  so  in  Israel  than  in  Judah,  is 
intelligible  from  the  political  origin  of  the  Northern 
Schism,  and  the  erection  of  the  national  sanctuaries 
from  motives  of  mere  statecraft.^  Erastianism  could 
hardly  be  more  flagrant  or  more  ludicrous  in  its  opposi- 
tion to  true  religion  than  at  Bethel.  And  yet  how  often 
have  the  ludicrousness  and  the  flagrancy  been  repeated, 
with  far  less  temptation  1  Ever  since  Christianity 
became  a  state  religion,  she  that  needed  least  to  use 
the  weapons  of  this  world  has  done  so  again  and 
again  in  a  thoroughly  Pagan  fashion.  The  attempts 
of  Churches  by  law  established,  to  stamp  out  by  law 
all  religious  dissent ;  or  where  such  attempts  were 
no  longer  possible,  the  charges  now  of  fanaticism  and 
now  of  sordidness  and  religious  shopkeeping,  which 
have  been  so  frequently  made  against  dissent  by  little 
men  who  fancied  their  state  connection,  or  their  higher 
social  position,  to  mean  an  intellectual  and  moral  superi- 
ority; the  absurd  claims  which  many  a  minister  of 
religion  makes  upon  the  homes  and  the  souls  of  a 
parish,  by  virtue  not  of  his  calling  in  Christ,  but  of  his 
position  as  official  priest  of  the  parish, — all  these  are 
the  sins  of  Amaziah,  priest  of  Bethel.     But  they  are  not 

•  I  Kings  xii.  26,  27, 


Ii8  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

confined  to  an  established  Church.  The  Amaziahs  of 
dissent  are  also  very  many.  Wherever  the  official 
masters  the  spiritual ;  wherever  mere  dogma  or  tradition 
is  made  the  standard  of  preaching;  wherever  new 
doctrine  is  silenced,  or  programmes  of  reform  con- 
demned, as  of  iate  years  in  Free  Churches  they  have 
sometimes  been,  not  by  spiritual  argument,  but  by  the 
ipse  dixit  of  the  dogmatist,  or  by  ecclesiastical  rule  or 
expediency, — there  you  have  the  same  spirit.  The 
dissenter  who  checks  the  Wcrd  of  God  in  the  name 
of  some  denominational  law  or  o^gna  is  as  Erastian  as 
the  churchman  who  would  crush  it,  like  Amaziah,  by 
invoking  the  state.  These  things  in  all  the  Churches 
are  the  beggarly  rudiments  of  Paganism  ;  and  religious 
reform  is  achieved,  as  it  was  that  day  at  Bethel,  by  the 
abjuring  of  officialism. 

But  Amos  answered  and  said  unto  Amaziah,  No 
prophet  /,  nor  prophefs  son.  But  a  herdsman  ^  I,  and  a 
dresser  of  sycomores  ;  and  Jehovah  took  me  from  behind 
the  flock,  and  Jehovah  said  ufito  me,  Go,  prophesy  unto  My 
people  Israel. 

On  such  words  we  do  not  comment ;  we  give  them 
homage.  The  answer  of  this  shepherd  to  this  priest 
is  no  mere  claim  of  personal  disinterestedness.  It 
is  the  protest  of  a  new  order  of  prophecy,*  the  charter 
of  a  spiritual  religion.  As  we  have  seen,  the  sons 
of  the  prophets  were  guilds  of  men  who  had  taken  to 
prophesying  because  of  certain  gifts  of  temper  and 
natural  disposition,  and  they  earned  their  bread  by  the 

'  Prophet  and  prophet's  son  are  equivalent  terms,  the  latter  mean- 
ing one  of  the  professional  guilds  of  prophets.  There  is  no  need  to 
change  herdsman,  IplU,  as  Wellhausen  does,  into  nplJ,  shepherd, 
the  word  used  in  i.  i. 

*  Cf.  Wellhausen,  Hist.,  Eng.  Ed.,  §  6  :  "  Amos  was  the  founder  and 
the  purest  type  of  a  new  order  of  prophecy.' 


THE  MAN  AND    THE  PROPHET  119 

exercise  of  these.  Among  such  abstract  craftsmen 
Amos  will  not  be  reckoned.  He  is  a  prophet,  but  not 
of  the  kind  with  which  his  generation  was  familiar. 
An  ordinary  member  of  society,  he  has  been  suddenly 
called  by  Jehovah  from  his  civil  occupation  for  a 
special  purpose  and  by  a  call  which  has  not  necessarily 
to  do  with  either  gifts  or  a  profession.  This  was 
something  new,  not  only  in  itself,  but  in  its  conse- 
quences upon  the  general  relations  of  God  to  men. 
What  we  see  in  this  dialogue  at  Bethel  is,  therefore, 
not  merely  the  triumph  of  a  character,  however  heroic, 
but  rather  a  step  forward — and  that  one  of  the  greatest 
and  most  indispensable — in  the  history  of  religion. 

There  follows  a  denunciation  of  the  man  who 
sought  to  silence  this  fresh  voice  of  God.  Now  there- 
fore hearken  to  the  word  of  Jehovah  thou  that  sayest, 
Prophesy  not  against  Israel,  nor  let  drop  thy  words 
against  the  house  of  Israel;  therefore  thus  saith  Jehovah. 
.  .  .  Thou  hast  presumed  to  say ;  Hear  what  God  will 
say.  Thou  hast  dared  to  set  thine  office  and  system 
against  His  word  and  purpose.  See  how  they  must 
be  swept  away.  In  defiance  of  its  own  rules  the 
grammar  flings  forward  to  the  beginnings  of  its  clauses, 
each  detail  of  the  priest's  estate  along  with  the  scene 
of  its  desecration.  Thy  wife  in  the  city — shall  play  the 
harlot;  and  thy  sons  and  thy  daughters  by  the  sword — 
shall  fall ;  and  thy  land  by  the  measuring  rope — shall 
be  divided;  and  thou  in  an  unclean  land — shall  die. 
Do  not  let  us  blame  the  prophet  for  a  coarse  cruelty 
in  the  first  of  these  details.  He  did  not  invent  it. 
With  all  the  rest  it  formed  an  ordinary  consequence 
of  defeat  in  the  warfare  of  the  times — an  inevitable 
item  of  that  general  overthrow  which,  with  bitter 
emphasis,    the    prophet    describes    in    Amaziah's    own 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


words  :  Israel  going  shall  go  into  captivity  from  off  his 
own  land. 

There  is  added  a  vision  in  line  with  the  three 
which  preceded  the  priest's  interruption.  We  are 
therefore  justified  in  supposing  that  Amos  spoke  it 
also  on  this  occasion,  and  in  taking  it  as  the  close 
of  his  address  at  Bethel.  Then  the  Lord  Jehovah  gave 
me  to  see :  and,  behold,  a  basket  of  Kaits,  that  is,  summer 
fruit.  And  He  said,  What  art  thou  seeing,  Amos? 
And  I  said,  A  basket  of  Kaits.  And  Jehovah  said 
unto  me,  The  Kets — the  End — has  come  upon  My  people 
Israel.  I  will  not  again  pass  them  over.  This  does  not 
carry  the  prospect  beyond  the  third  vision,  but  it  stamps 
its  finality,  and  there  is  therefore  added  a  vivid  realisation 
of  the  result.  By  four  disjointed  lamentations,  howls  the 
prophet  calls  them,  we  are  made  to  feel  the  last  shocks 
of  the  final  collapse,  and  in  the  utter  end  an  awful 
silence.  And  the  songs  of  the  temple  shall  be  changed 
into  howls  in  that  day,  saith  the  Lord  Jehovah.  Multitiide 
of  corpses  I     In  every  place  I     He  hath  cast  out!     Hush! 

These  then  were  probably  the  last  words  which 
Amos  spoke  to  Israel.  If  so,  they  form  a  curious 
echo  of  what  was  enforced  upon  himself,  and  he  may 
have  meant  them  as  such.  He  was  cast  out ;  he  was 
silenced.  They  might  almost  be  the  verbal  repetition 
of  the  priest's  orders.  In  any  case  the  silence  is 
appropriate.  But  Amaziah  little  knew  what  power  he 
had  given  to  prophecy  the  day  he  forbade  it  to  speak. 
The  gagged  prophet  began  to  write ;  and  those  accents 
which,  humanly  speaking,  might  have  died  out  with  the 
songs  of  the  temple  of  Bethel  were  clothed  upon  v/ith 
the  immortality  of  literature.  Amos  silenced  wrote  a 
book — first  of  prophets  to  do  so — and  this  is  the 
book  we  have  now  to  study. 


CHAPTER    VII 

ATROCITIES  AND  ATROCITIES 
Amos  i.  3 — ii. 

LIKE  all  the  prophets  of  Israel,  Amos  receives 
oracles  for  foreign  nations.  Unlike  them,  how- 
ever, he  arranges  these  oracles  not  after,  but  before, 
his  indictment  of  his  own  people,  and  so  as  to  lead 
up  to  this.  His  reason  is  obvious  and  characteristic. 
If  his  aim  be  to  enforce  a  religion  independent  of  his 
people's  interests  and  privileges,  how  can  he  better  do 
so  than  by  exhibiting  its  principles  at  work  outside 
his  people,  and  then,  with  the  impetus  drained  from 
many  areas,  sweep  in  upon  the  vested  iniquities  01 
Israel  herself?  This  is  the  course  of  the  first  section 
of  his  book — chapters  i.  and  ii.  One  by  one  the 
neighbours  of  Israel  are  cited  and  condemned  in  the 
name  of  Jehovah  ;  one  by  one  they  are  told  they  must 
fall  before  the  still  unnamed  engine  of  the  Divine  Justice. 
But  when  Amos  has  stirred  his  people's  conscience  and 
imagination  by  his  judgment  of  their  neighbours'  sins, 
he  turns  with  the  same  formula  on  themselves.  Are 
they  morally  better  ?  Are  they  more  likely  to  resist 
Assyria?  With  greater  detail  he  shows  them  worse 
and  their  doom  the  heavier  for  all  their  privileges. 
Thus  is  achieved  an  oratorical  triumph,  by  tactics  in 


121  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

harmony  with  the  principles  of  prophecy  and  remark- 
ably suited  to  the  tempers  of  that  time. 

But  Amos  achieves  another  feat,  which  extends  far 
beyond  his  own  day.  The  sins  he  condemns  in  the 
heathen  are  at  first  sight  very  different  from  those 
which  he  exposes  within  Israel.  Not  only  are  they 
sins  of  foreign  relations,  of  treaty  and  war,  while 
Israel's  are  all  civic  and  domestic ;  but  they  are  what  we 
call  the  atrocities  of  Barbarism — wanton  war,  massacre 
and  sacrilege — while  Israel's  are  rather  the  sins  of 
Civilisation — the  pressure  of  the  rich  upon  the  poor, 
the  bribery  of  justice,  the  seduction  of  the  innocent, 
personal  impurity,  and  other  evils  of  luxury.  So  great 
is  this  difference  that  a  critic  more  gifted  with  ingenuity 
than  with  insight  might  plausibly  distinguish  in  the 
section  before  us  two  prophets  with  two  very  different 
views  of  national  sin — a  ruder  prophet,  and  of  course 
an  earlier,  who  judged  nations  only  by  the  flagrant 
drunkenness  of  their  war,  and  a  more  subtle  prophet, 
and  of  course  a  later,  who  exposed  the  masked 
corruptions  of  their  religion  and  their  peace.  Such  a 
theory  would  be  as  false  as  it  would  be  plausible.  For 
not  only  is  the  diversity  of  the  objects  of  the  prophet's 
judgment  explained  by  this,  that  Amos  had  no  familiarity 
with  the  interior  life  of  other  nations,  and  could  only 
arraign  their  conduct  at  those  points  where  it  broke 
into  light  in  their  foreign  relations,  while  Israel's  civic 
life  he  knew  to  the  very  core.  But  Amos  had  besides 
a  strong  and  a  deliberate  aim  in  placing  the  sins  of 
civilisation  as  the  cHmax  of  a  list  of  the  atrocities  of 
barbarism.  He  would  recall  what  men  are  always 
forgetting,  that  the  former  are  really  more  cruel  and 
criminal  than  the  latter ;  that  luxury,  bribery  and 
intolerance,  the  oppression  of  the  poor,  the  corruption 


Aniosi.3-ii.]     ATROCITIES  AND  ATROCITIES  123 

of  the  innocent  and  the  silencing  of  the  prophet — what 
Christ  calls  offences  against  His  little  ones — are  even 
more  awful  atrocities  than  the  wanton  horrors  of 
barbarian  warfare.  If  we  keep  in  mind  this  moral 
purpose,  we  shall  study  with  more  interest  than  we 
could  otherwise  do  the  somewhat  foreign  details  of 
this  section.  Horrible  as  the  outrages  are  which 
Amos  describes,  they  were  repeated  only  yesterday  by 
Turkey  :  many  of  the  crimes  with  which  he  charges 
Israel  blacken  the  life  of  Turkey's  chief  accuser,  Great 
Britain. 

In  his  survey  Amos  includes  all  the  six  states  of 
Palestine  that  bordered  upon  Israel,  and  lay  in  the  way 
of  the  advance  of  Assj^ia — Aram  of  Damascus,  PhiHstia, 
Tyre  (for  Phoenicia),  Edom,  Ammon  and  Moab.  They 
are  not  arranged  in  geogi  a^^lr'cal  order.  The  prophet 
begins  with  Aram  in  the  north-east,  then  leaps  to 
Philistia  in  the  south-west,  comes  north  again  to  Tyre, 
crosses  to  the  south-east  and  Edom,  leaps  Moab  to 
Ammon,  and  then  comes  back  to  Moab.  Nor  is  any 
other  explanation  of  his  order  visible.  Damascus  heads 
"the  list,  no  doubt,  because  her  cruelties  had  been  most 
felt  by  Israel,  and  perhaps  too  because  she  lay  most 
open  to  Assyria.  It  was  also  natural  to  take  next  to 
Aram  Philistia,^  as  Israel's  other  greatest  foe ;  and 
nearest  to  Philistia  lay  Tyre.  The  three  south-eastern 
principalities  come  together.  But  there  may  have  been 
a  chronological  reason  now  unknown  to  us. 

The  authenticity  of  the  oracles  on  Tyre,  Edom  and 
Judah  has  been  questioned  :  it  will  be  best  to  discuss 
each  case  as  we  come  to  it. 

Each  of  the  oracles  is  introduced  by  the  formula : 


'  As  is  done  in  chap.  vi.  2,  ix.  7. 


124  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Thus  saith,  or  hath  said,  Jehovah :  Because  of  three  crimes 
of  .  .  .  yea,  because  of  four,  I  will  not  turn  It  back.  In 
harmony  with  the  rest  of  the  book,'  Jehovah  is  repre- 
sented as  moving  to  punishment,  not  for  a  single  sin, 
but  for  repeated  and  cumulative  guilt.  The  unnamed 
It  which  God  will  not  recall  is  not  the  word  of  judg- 
ment, but  the  anger  and  the  hand  stretched  forth  to 
smite.'  After  the  formula,  an  instance  of  the  nation's 
guilt  is  given,  and  then  in  almost  identical  terms  he 
decrees  the  destruction  of  all  by  war  and  captivity. 
Assyria  is  not  mentioned,  but  it  is  the  Assyrian  fashion 
of  dealing  with  conquered  states  which  is  described. 
Except  in  the  case  of  Tyre  and  Edom,  the  oracles  con- 
clude as  they  have  begun,  by  asserting  themselves  to 
be  the  ivord  of  Jehovah,  or  oi  Jehovah  the  Lord.  It  is 
no  abstract  righteousness  which  condemns  these  foreign 
peoples,  but  the  God  of  Israel,  and  their  evil  deeds  are 
described  by  the  characteristic  Hebrew  word  for  sin — 
crimes,  revolts  or  treasons  against  Him.' 

I.  Aram  of  Damascus. — Thus  hath  Jehovah  said: 
Because  of  three  crimes  of  Damascus,  yea,  because  of 
four,  I  will  not  turn  It  back;  for  that  they  threshed 
Gilead  with  iron — or  basalt  threshing-sledges.  The  word 
is  iron,  but  the  Arabs  of  to-day  call  basalt  iron ;  and 
the  threshing-sledges,  curved  slabs*  drawn  rapidly  by 
horses  over  the  heaped  corn,  are  studded  with  sharp 
basalt  teeth  that  not  only  thresh  out  the  grain,  but  chop 
the  straw  into  little  pieces.  So  cruelly  had  Gilead  been 
chopped  by  Hazael  and  his  son  Ben-Hadad  some  fifty 

*  So  against  Israel  in  chap.  iv. 

»  So   Isa.   V.   25:  iT'ltOJ  n*  nin  IBN  2^  ^h      Cf.  Ezek.   XX.  22: 

•  DTK'B  *  Called  liih,  i.t.  slab. 


Amosi.3-ii.]     ATROCITIES  AND  ATROCITIES  125 

or  forty  years  before  Amos  prophesied.^  Strongholds 
were  burned,  soldiers  slain  without  quarter,  children 
dashed  to  pieces,  and  women  with  child  put  to  a  most 
atrocious  end.^  But  /  shall  send  fire  on  the  house  of 
Hazael,  and  it  shall  devour  the  palaces  of  Ben-Hadad — 
these  names  are  chosen,  not  because  they  were  typical 
of  the  Damascus  dynasty,  but  because  they  were  the  very 
names  of  the  two  heaviest  oppressors  of  Israel.'  And  I 
will  break  the  bolt^  of  Datnascus,  and  cut  off  the  inhabi- 
tant from  Bik'ath-Aven — the  Valley  of  Idolatry,  so 
called,  perhaps,  by  a  play  upon  Bik'ath  On,^  presumably 
the  valley  between  the  Lebanons,  still  called  the  Bek'a, 
in  which  lay  Heliopolis  * — and  him  that  holdeth  the 
sceptre  from  Beth-Eden — some  royal  Paradise  in  that 
region  of  Damascus,  which  is  still  the  Paradise  of  the 
Arab  world — and  the  people  of  Aram  shall  go  captive  to 
Kir — Kir  in  the  unknown  north,  from  which  they  had 
come  : '  Jehovah  hath  said  it. 

2.  Philistia. — Thus  saith  Jehovah  :  For  three  crimes  of 
Gaza  and  for  four  I  will  not  turn  It  back,  because  they 
led  captive  a  whole  captivity,  in  order  to  deliver  them  up 
to  Edom.  It  is  difficult  to  see  what  this  means  if  not 
the  wholesale  depopulation  of  a  district  in  contrast  to 
the  enslavement  of  a  few  captives  of  war.     By  all  tribes 

'  These  Ssn-ian  campaigns  in  Gilead  must  have  taken  place  between 
839  and  806,  the  long  interval  during  which  Damascus  enjoyed  free- 
dom from  Assyrian  invasion. 

*  2  Kings  viii.  12  ;  xiii.  7  :  cf.  above,  p.  31. 

'  He  delivered  them  into  the  hand  of  Hazael  king  of  Arattt,  and  into 
the  hand  of  Ben-Hadad  the  son  of  Hazael,  continually  (2  Kings  xiii.  3). 

*  No  need  here  to  render  prince,  as  some  do. 
»  So  the  LXX. 

*  The  present  Baalbek  (Baal  of  the  Bek'a  ?).  Wellhausen  throws 
doubt  on  the  idea  that  Heliopolis  was  at  this  time  an  Aramean  towa 

'  ix.  7. 


126  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  the  ancient  world,  the  captives  of  their  bow  and 
spear  were  regarded  as  legitimate  property :  it  was  no 
offence  to  the  public  conscience  that  they  should  be 
sold  into  slavery.  But  the  Philistines  seem,  without 
excuse  of  war,  to  have  descended  upon  certain  districts 
and  swept  the  whole  of  the  population  before  them, 
for  purely  commercial  purposes.  It  was  professional 
slave-catching.  The  Philistines  were  exactly  like  the 
Arabs  of  to-day  in  Africa — not  warriors  who  win  their 
captives  in  honourable  fight,  but  slave-traders,  pure  and 
simple.  In  warfare  in  Arabia  itself  it  is  still  a  matter 
of  conscience  with  the  wildest  nomads  not  to  ex- 
tinguish a  hostile  tribe,  however  bitter  one  be  against 
them.^  Gaza  is  chiefly  blamed  by  Amos,  for  she  was 
the  emporium  of  the  trade  on  the  border  of  the  desert, 
with  roads  and  regular  caravans  to  Petra  and  Elah  on 
the  Gulf  01  Akaba,  both  of  them  places  in  Edom  and 
depots  for  the  traffic  with  Arabia.'  But  I  will  cut  off 
the  inhabitant  from  Ashdod,  and  the  holder  of  the  sceptre 
from  Askalon,  and  I  will  turn  My  hand  upon  Ekron — 
four  of  the  five  great  Philistine  towns,  Gath  being 
already  destroyed,  and  never  again  to  be  mentioned 
with  the  others ' — and  the  last  of  the  Philistines  shall 
perish  :  Jehovah  hath  said  it. 

3.  Tyre. — Thus  saith  Jehovah :  Because  of  three  crimes 

'  Doughty :  Arabia  Deserta,  I.  335. 

*  On  the  close  connection  of  Edom  and  Gaza  see  Hist.  Geog., 
pp.  182  ff. 

*  See  Hist.  Geog.,  pp.  194  ff.  Wellhaiisen  thinks  Gath  was  not 
yet  destroyed,  and  quotes  vi.  2;  Micah  i.  10,  14.  But  we  know  that 
Hazael  destroyed  it,  and  that  fact,  taken  in  conjunction  with  its  being 
the  only  omission  here  from  the  five  Philistine  towns,  is  evidence 
enough.  In  the  passages  quoted  by  Wellhausen  there  is  nothing  to 
the  contrary:  vi.  2  implies  that  Gath  has  fallen ;  Micah  i.  lO  is  the 
repetition  of  an  old  proverb. 


Amosi.3-ii.]    ATROCITIES  AND  ATROCITIES  127 

of  Tyre  and  because  of  four  I  will  not  turn  It  back; 
for  that  they  gave  up  a  whole  captivity  to  Edom — the 
same  market  as  in  the  previous  charge — and  did  not 
remember  the  covenant  of  brethren.  We  do  not  know 
to  what  this  refers.  The  alternatives  are  three :  that 
the  captives  were  Hebrews  and  the  alHance  one  between 
Israel  and  Edom ;  that  the  captives  were  Hebrews 
and  the  alliance  one  between  Israel  and  Tyre;^  that 
the  captives  were  Phoenicians  and  the  alliance  the 
natural  brotherhood  of  Tyre  and  the  other  Phoenician 
towns.'*  But  of  these  three  alternatives  the  first  is 
scarcely  possible,  for  in  such  a  case  the  blame  would 
have  been  rather  Edom's  in  buying  than  Tyre's  in 
selling.  The  second  is  possible,  for  Israel  and  Tyre 
had  lived  in  close  alliance  for  more  than  two  cen- 
turies ;  but  the  phrase  covenant  of  brethren  is  not  so 
well  suited  to  a  league  between  two  tribes  who  felt 
themselves  to  belong  to  fundamentally  different  races,' 
as  to  the  close  kinship  of  the  Phoenician  communities. 
And  although,  in  the  scrappy  records  of  Phoenician 
history  before  this  time,  we  find  no  instance  of  so  gross 
an  outrage  by  Tyre  on  other  Phoenicians,  it  is  quite 
possible  that  such  may  have  occurred.  During  next 
century  Tyre  twice  over  basely  took  sides  with  Assyria 
in  suppressing  the  revolts  of  her  sister  cities.*  Besides, 
the  other  Phoenician  towns  are  not  included  in  the 
charge.  We  have  every  reason,  therefore,  to  believe 
that  Amos  expresses    here   not  resentment   against   a 


'  Farrar,  53;  Pusey  on  ver.  9;  Pietschm&nn,  Geschichie  der  Phdm'zier, 
298. 

'  To  which  Wellhausen  inclines. 

•  Gen.  X. 

♦  Under  Asarhaddon,  678—676  B.C.,  and  later  under  Assurbanipal 
(Pietschmann,  Gesch.,  pp.  302  f.). 


128  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

betrayal  of  Israel,  but  indignation  at  an  outrage  upon 
natural  rights  and  feelings  with  which  Israel's  own 
interests  were  not  in  any  way  concerned.  And  this 
also  suits  the  lofty  spirit  of  the  whole  prophecy.  But 
I  will  send  fire  upon  the  wall  of  Tyre^  and  it  shall  devour 
her  palaces.  .  .  . 

This  oracle  against  Tyre  has  been  suspected  l)y 
Wellhausen/  for  the  following  reasons :  that  it  is  of 
Tyre  alone,  and  silence  is  kept  regarding  the  other 
Phoenician  cities,  while  in  the  case  of  Philistia  other 
towns  than  Gaza  are  condemned  ;  that  the  charge  is  the 
same  as  against  Gaza ;  and  that  the  usual  close  to  the 
formula  is  wanting.  But  it  would  have  been  strange 
if  from  a  list  of  states  threatened  by  the  Assyrian 
doom  we  had  missed  Tyre,  Tyre  which  lay  in  the 
avenger's  very  path.  Again,  that  so  acute  a  critic  as 
Wellhausen  should  cite  the  absence  of  other  Phoenician 
towns  from  the  charge  against  Tyre  is  really  amazing, 
when  he  has  just  allowed  that  it  was  probably  against 
some  or  all  of  these  cities  that  Tyre's  crime  was 
committed.  How  could  they  be  included  in  the 
blame  of  an  outrage  done  upon  themselves  ?  The 
absence  of  the  usual  formula  at  the  close  may  perhaps 
be  explained  by  omission,  as  indicated  above.^ 

4.  Edom. —  Thus  saith  Jehovah :  Because  of  three 
crimes  of  Edom  and  because  of  four  I  will  not  turn  It 
back;  for  that  he  pursued  with  the  sword  his  brother^ 
who  cannot  be  any  other  than  Israel,  corrupted  his 
natural  feelings — literally    his   bowels   of  mercies — and 


'  And  he  omits  it  from  his  translation. 

*  So  far  from  such  an  omission  proving  that  the  oracle  is  an 
insertion,  is  it  not  more  probable  that  an  insertor  would  have  taken 
care  to  make  his  insertion  formally  correct? 


An.osi.  3-ii.]     ATROCITIES  AND  ATROCITIES  129 

kept  aye  fretting^  his  anger,  and  his  passion  he  watched — 
like  a  fire,  or  paid  heed  to  it — for  ever?  But  I  will 
send  fire  upon  Teman — the  South  Region  belonging  to 
Edom — and  it  shall  devour  the  palaces  of  Bosrah — the 
Edomite  Bosrah,  south-east  of  Petra.^  The  Assyrians 
had  already  compelled  Edom  to  pay  tribute.* 

The  objections  to  the  authenticity  of  this  oracle  are 
more  serious  than  those  in  the  case  of  the  oracle  on 
Tyre.  It  has  been  remarked  *  that  before  the  Jewish 
Exile  so  severe  a  tone  could  not  have  been  adopted 
by  a  Jew  against  Edom,  who  had  been  mostly  under 
the  yoke  of  Judah,  and  not  leniently  treated.  What 
were  the  facts?  Joab  subdued  Edom  for  David  with 
great  cruelty.^  Jewish  governors  were  set  over  the 
conquered  people,  and  this  state  of  affairs  seems  to 
have  lasted,  in  spite  of  an  Edomite  attempt  against 
Solomon,''  till  8 50.  In  Jehoshaphat's  reign,  873 — 850, 
there  was  no  king  of  Edom,  a  deputy  was  king,  who 
towards  850  joined  the  kings  of  Judah  and  Israel  in 
an  invasion  of  Moab  through  his  territory.*  But,  soon 
after  this  invasion  and  perhaps  in  consequence  of  its 
failure,  Edom  revolted  from  Joram  of  Judah  (849 — 842), 


'  There  seems  no  occasion  to  amend  with  Olshausen  to  the  kept 
of  Psalm  ciii.  9. 

"^  Read  with  LXX.  rVi^  '\'0'^,  though  throughout  the  verse  the 
LXX.  translation  is  very  vile. 

'  In  other  two  passages,  Bosrah,  the  city,  is  placed  in  parallel  not  to 
another  city,  but  just  as  here  to  a  whole  region  :  Isa.  xxxiv.  6,  where 
the  parallel  is  the  land  of  Edom,  and  Ixiii.  I,  where  it  is  Edotn. 
There  is  therefore  no  need  to  take  Teman  in  our  passage  as  a  city, 
as  which  it  does  not  appear  before  Eusebius. 

^  Under  Rimman-nirari  III,  (812 — 783).  See  Buhl's  Gesch.  der 
Edotniter,  65  :  this  against  Wellhausen. 

•  Wellhausen,  in  loco.  '  i  Kings  xi.  I4-25. 

*  2  Sam.  viii,  13,  with  I  Kings  xi.  16.         •  2  Kings  iii. 
VOL.  I.  9 


I30  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

who  unsuccessfully  attempted  to  put  down  the  revolt.^ 
The  Edomites  appear  to  have  remained  independent 
for  fifty  years  at  least.  Amaziah  of  Judah  (797 — 779) 
smote  them,^  but  not  it  would  seem  into  subjection  ; 
for,  according  to  the  Chronicler,  Uzziah  had  to  win 
back  Elath  for  the  Jews  after  Amaziah's  death.'  The 
history,  therefore,  of  the  relations  of  Judah  and  Edom 
before  the  time  of  Amos  was  of  such  a  kind  as  to 
make  credible  the  existence  in  Judah  at  that  time  of 
the  feeling  about  Edom  which  inspires  this  oracle. 
Edom  had  shown  just  the  vigilant,  implacable  hatred 
here  described.  But  was  the  right  to  blame  them 
for  it  Judah's,  who  herself  had  so  persistently  waged 
war,  with  confessed  cruelty,  against  Edom  ?  Could 
a  Judaean  prophet  be  just  in  blaming  Edom  and  saying 
nothing  of  Judah  ?  It  is  true  that  in  the  fifty  years  of 
Edom's  independence — the  period,  we  must  remember, 
from  which  Amos  seems  to  draw  the  materials  of  all 
his  other  charges — there  may  have  been  events  to 
justify  this  oracle  as  spoken  by  him ;  and  our  ignorance 
of  that  period  is  ample  reason  why  we  should  pause 
before  rejecting  the  oracle  so  dogmatically  as 
Wellhauscn  does.  But  we  have  at  least  serious 
grounds  for  suspecting  it.  To  charge  Edom,  whom 
Judah  has  conquered  and  treated  cruelly,  with  restless 
hate  towards  Judah  seems  to  fall  below  that  high 
impartial  tone  which  prevails  in  the  other  oracles  of 
this  section.  The  charge  was  much  more  justifiable 
at  the  time  of  the  Exile,  when  Edom  did  behave 
shamefully  towards  Israel.*  Wellhausen  points  out  that 
Teman  and  Bosrah  are  names  which  do  not  occur  in 


'  2  Kings  viii.  20-22.  '  2  Chion.  xxvi.  2. 

•  2  Kings  xiv.  10.  *  See,  however,  Buhl,  op.  cit.,  67. 


Amosl.3-ii.]     ATROCITIES  AND  ATROCITIES  131 

the  Old  Testament  before  the  Exile,  but  this  is  un- 
certain and  inconclusive.  The  oracle  wants  the  con- 
cluding formula  of  the  rest.^ 

5.  Ammon. — Thus  saith  Jehovah :  Because  of  three 
crimes  of  Ammon  and  because  of  four  I  will  not  turn  It 
back;  for  that  they  ripped  up  Gilead's  women  with  child — 
in  order  to  enlarge  their  borders  I  For  such  an  end  they 
committed  such  an  atrocity  I  The  crime  is  one  that 
has  been  more  or  less  frequent  in  Semitic  warfare. 
Wellhausen  cites  several  instances  in  the  feuds  of  Arab 
tribes  about  their  frontiers.  The  Turks  have  been 
guilty  of  it  in  our  own  day.^  It  is  the  same  charge 
which  the  historian  of  Israel  puts  into  the  mouth  of 
Elisha  against  Hazael  of  Aram,^  and  probably  the  war 
was  the  same ;  when  Gilead  was  simultaneously  attacked 
by  Arameans  from  the  north  and  Ammonites  from  the 
south.  But  I  will  set  fire  to  the  wall  of  Rabbah — Rab- 
bath-Ammon,  literally  chief  or  capital  of  Ammon — and 
it  shall  devour  her  palaces^  with  clamour  in  the  day  of 
battle,  with  tempest  in  the  day  of  storm.  As  we  speak  of 
"storming  a  city,"  Amos  and  Isaiah*  use  the  tempest 
to  describe  the  overwhelming  invasion  of  Assyria.  There 
follows  the  characteristic  Assyrian  conclusion :  And 
their  king  shall  go  into  captivity,  he  and  his  princes^ 
together,  saith  Jehovah. 

'  It  is,  however,  no  reason  against  the  authenticity  of  the  oracle  to 
say  that  Edom  lay  outside  the  path  of  Assyria.  In  answer  to  that  see 
the  Assyrian  inscriptions,  e.g.  Asarhaddon's :  cf.  above,  p.  129,  «.  4, 

^  Notably  in  the  recent  Armenian  massacres. 

*  2  Kings  viii.  12. 

*  xxviii.  2,  xxvii.  7,  8,  where  the  Assyrian  and  another  invasion  are 
both  described  in  terms  of  tempest. 

*  The  LXX.  reading,  their  priests  and  their  princes,  must  be  due  to 
taking  Malcam  =  //j«V  king  as  Milcom— the  Ammonite  god.  See 
Jer.  xlix.  3. 


132  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

6.  MoAB. — Thus  satth  Jehovah  :  Because  of  three  crimes 
of  Moab  and  because  of  four  I  will  not  turn  It  back;  for 
that  he  burned  the  bones  of  the  king  of  Edom  to  lime} 
In  the  great  invasion  of  Moab,  about  850,  by  Israel, 
Judah  and  Edom  conjointly,  the  rage  of  Moab  seems  to 
have  been  directed  chiefly  against  Edom.^  Whether 
opportunity  to  appease  that  rage  occurred  on  the  with- 
drawal of  Israel  we  cannot  say.  But  either  then  or 
afterwards,  balked  of  their  attempt  to  secure  the  king 
of  Edom  alive,  Moab  wreaked  their  vengeance  on  his 
corpse,  and  burnt  his  bones  to  lime.  It  was,  in  the 
religious  belief  of  all  antiquity,  a  sacrilege  ;  yet  it  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  the  desecration  of  the  tomb — or  he 
would  have  mentioned  it — but  the  wanton  meanness  of 
the  deed,  which  Amos  felt.  And  I  will  send  fire  on  Moab, 
and  it  shall  devour  the  palaces  of  The-Cities — Kerioth,' 
perhaps  the  present  Kureiyat,*  on  the  Moab  plateau 
where  Chemosh  had  his  shrine* — and  in  tumult  shall 
Moab  die — to  Jeremiah  ®  the  Moabites  were  the  sons  of 
tumult — with  clamour  and  ivith  the  noise  of  the  war- 
trumpet.  Ajid  I  zvill  cut  off  the  ruler — literally  judge, 
probably  the  vassal  king  placed  by  Jeroboam  II. — from 
her ''  midst,  and  all  his  ^  princes  will  I  slay  with  him : 
Jehovah  hath  said  it. 

These,  then,  are  the  charges  which  Amos  brings 
against  the  heathen  neighbours  of  Israel. 

'  "  Great  Caesar  dead  and  turned  to  clay 

Might  stop  a  hole  to  turn  the  wind  away." 

■  2  Kings  iii.  26.     So  rightly  Pusey. 

•  Jer.  xlviii.  24  without  article,  but  in  41  with. 

•  Though  this  is  claimed  by  most  for  Kiriathaim. 
»  Moabite  Stone,  1.  13.  '  The  land's. 

•  xlviii.  45.  '  The  king's. 


Amosi.3-ii.]     ATROCITIES  AND  ATROCITIES  133 

If  we  look  as  a  whole  across  the  details  through 
which  we  have  been  working,  what  we  see  is  a  picture 
of  the  Semitic  world  so  summary  and  so  vivid  that 
we  get  the  like  of  it  nowhere  else — the  Semitic  world 
in  its  characteristic  brokenness  and  turbulence ;  its 
factions  and  ferocities,  its  causeless  raids  and  quarrels, 
tribal  disputes  about  boundaries  flaring  up  into  the 
most  terrible  massacres,  vengeance  that  wreaks  itself 
alike  on  the  embryo  and  the  corpse — ciiUing  up  women 
with  child  in  Gilead,  and  burning  to  lime  the  bones  of  the 
king  of  Edom.  And  the  one  commerce  which  binds 
these  ferocious  tribes  together  is  the  slave-trade  in  its 
wholesale  and  most  odious  form. 

Amos  treats  none  of  the  atrocities  subjectively.  It 
is  not  because  they  have  been  inflicted  upon  Israel  that 
he  feels  or  condemns  them.  The  appeals  of  Israel 
against  the  tyrant  become  many  as  the  centuries  go 
on  ;  the  later  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  are  full  of  the 
complaints  of  God's  chosen  people,  conscious  of  their 
mission  to  the  world,  against  the  heathen,  who  prevented 
them  from  it.  Here  we  find  none  of  these  complaints, 
but  a  strictly  objective  and  judicial  indictment  of  the 
characteristic  crimes  of  heathen  men  against  each 
other ;  and  though  this  is  made  in  the  name  of  Jehovah, 
it  is  not  in  the  interests  of  His  people  or  of  any 
of  His  purposes  through  them,  but  solely  by  the 
standard  of  an  impartial  righteousness  which,  as  we 
are  soon  to  hear,  must  descend  in  equal  judgment  on 
Israel. 

Again,  for  the  moral  principles  which  Amos  enforces 
no  originality  can  be  claimed.  He  condemns  neither 
war  as  a  whole  hor  slavery  as  a  whole,  but  limits  his 
curse  to  wanton  and  deliberate  aggravations  of  them  : 
to  the  slave-trade  in  cold  blood,  in  violation  of  treaties 


134  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

and  for  purely  commercial  ends;^  to  war  for  trifling 
causes,  and  that  wreaks  itself  on  pregnant  women  and 
dead  men ;  to  national  hatreds,  that  never  will  be  still. 
Now  against  such  things  there  has  always  been  in  man- 
kind a  strong  conscience,  of  which  the  word  *'  humanity  " 
is  in  itself  a  sufficient  proof  We  need  not  here  inquire 
into  the  origin  of  such  a  common  sense — whether  it  be 
some  native  impulse  of  tenderness  which  asserts  itself 
as  soon  as  the  duties  of  self-defence  are  exhausted,  or 
some  rational  notion  of  the  needlessness  of  excesses, 
or  whether,  in  committing  these,  men  are  visited 
by  fear  of  retaliation  from  the  wrath  they  have  un- 
necessarily exasperated.  Certain  it  is,  that  warriors 
of  all  races  have  hesitated  to  be  wanton  in  their  war, 
and  have  foreboded  the  special  judgment  of  heaven 
upon  every  blind  extravagance  of  hate  or  cruelty. 
It  is  well  known  how  "  fey  "  the  Greeks  felt  the  inso- 
lence of  power  and  immoderate  anger ;  they  are  the  fatal 
element  in  many  a  Greek  tragedy.^  But  the  Semites 
themselves,  whose  racial  ferocity  is  so  notorious,  are 
not  without  the  same  feeling.  "  Even  the  Beduins'  old 
cruel  rancours  are  often  less  than  the  golden  piety  of 
the  wilderness.  The  danger  past,  they  can  think  of  the 
defeated  foemen  with  kindness,  .  .  .  putting  only  their 
trust  in  Ullah  to  obtain  the  like  at  need  for  themselves. 
It  is  contrary  to  the  Arabian  conscience  to  extinguish 
a  Kabila."  ^  Similarly  in  Israel  some  of  the  earliest 
ethical  movements  were  revolts  of  the  public  con- 
science against  horrible  outrages,  like  that,  for  instance. 


'  See  above,  p.  126. 

*  dv<T(T€^las  tih  C/3/3tj  TiKo$  (iEschylus,  Eumen.,  534) :  cf.  Odyssey, 
xiv.  262  ;  xvii.  431. 

•  I.e.  a  tribe  ;  Doughty,  Arabia  Desetta,  I.  335. 


Amosi.3-ii.]     ATROCITIES   AND  ATROCITIES  13S 

done  by  the  Benjamites  of  Gibeah.^  Therefore  in  these 
oracles  on  his  wild  Semitic  neighbours  Amos  discloses 
no  new  ideal  for  either  tribe  or  individual.  Our  view 
is  confirmed  that  he  was  intent  only  upon  rousing 
the  natural  conscience  of  his  Hebrew  hearers  in  order 
to  engage  this  upon  other  vices  to  which  it  was  less 
impressionable — that  he  was  describing  those  deeds  of 
war  and  slavery,  whose  atrocity  all  men  admitted,  only 
that  he  might  proceed  to  bring  under  the  same  con- 
demnation the  civic  and  domestic  sins  of  Israel. 

We  turn  with  him,  then,  to  Israel.  But  in  his  book 
as  it  now  stands  in  our  Bibles,  Israel  is  not  imme- 
diately reached.  Between  her  and  the  foreign  nations 
two  verses  are  bestowed  upon  Judah  :  Thus  saith 
Jehovah :  Because  of  three  crimes  of  Judah  and  because 
of  four  I  will  not  turn  It  back ;  for  that  they  despised  the 
Torah  of  Jehovah,  and  His  statutes  they  did  not  observe^ 
and  their  falsehoods — false  gods — led  them  astray,  after 
which  their  fathers  walked.  But  I  will  send  fire  on 
Judah,  and  it  shall  devour  the  palaces  of  Jerusalem. 
These  verses  have  been  suspected  as  a  later  insertion,* 
on  the  ground  that  every  reference  to  Judah  in  the 
Book  of  Amos  must  be  late,  that  the  language  is  very 
formal,  and  that  the  phrases  in  which  the  sin  of  Judah 
is  described  sound  like  echoes  of  Deuteronomy.  The 
first  of  these  reasons  may  be  dismissed  as  absurd ; 
it  would  have  been   far  more   strange   if  Amos    had 


'  Judges  xix.,  xx. 

*  Duhm  was  the  first  to  publish  reasons  for  rejecting  the  passage 
(Theol.  der  Propheten,  1875,  p.  119),  but  Wellhausen  had  already 
reached  the  same  conclusion  {Kleirte  Propheten,  p.  71)-  Oort  and 
Stade  adhere.  On  the  other  side  see  Robertson  Smith,  Prophets 
of  Israel,  398,  and  Kuenen,  who  adheres  to  Smith's  argument* 
{Ondertoek), 


136  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

never  at  all  referred  to  Judah.^  The  charges,  however, 
are  not  like  those  which  Amos  elsewhere  makes,  and 
though  the  phrases  may  be  quite  as  early  as  his 
time,^  the  reader  of  the  original,  and  even  the  reader 
of  the  English  version,  is  aware  of  a  certain  tameness 
and  vagueness  of  statement,  which  contrasts  remarkably 
with  the  usual  pungency  of  the  prophet's  style.  We 
are  forced  to  suspect  the  authenticity  of  these  verses. 

We  ought  to  pass,  then,  straight  from  the  third  to 
the  sixth  verse  of  this  chapter,  from  the  oracles  on 
foreign  nations  to  that  on  Northern  Israel.  It  is 
introduced  with  the  same  formula  as  they  are  :  Thus 
saith  Jehovah :  Because  of  three  crimes  of  Israel  and 
because  of  four  I  will  not  turn  It  back.  But  there 
follow  a  greater  number  of  details,  for  Amos  has  come 
among  his  own  people  whom  he  knows  to  the  heart, 
and  he  applies  to  them  a  standard  more  exact  and  an 
obligation  more  heavy  than  any  he  could  lay  to  the 
life  of  the  heathen.  Let  us  run  quickly  through  the 
items  of  his  charge.  For  that  they  sell  an  honest  man ' 
for  silver,  and  a  needy  man  for  a  pair  of  shoes — pro- 
verbial, as  we  should  say  "  for  an  old  song  " — who 
trample  to  the  dust  of  the  earth  the  head  of  the  poor — 
the  least  improbable  rendering  of  a  corrupt  passage  * 
— and  pervert  the  way  oj  humble  men.     And  a  man  and 


'  "It  is  plain  that  Amos  could  not  have  excepted  Judah  from  the 
universal  ruin  which  he  savf  to  threaten  the  whole  land;  or  at  all 
events  such  exception  would  have  required  to  be  expressly  made  on 
special  grounds." — Robertson  Smith,  Prophets,  398. 

«  Ibid. 

'  p^'y'i,  righteous  :  hardly,  as  most  commentators  take  it,  the  legally 
(as  distinguished  from  the  morally')  righteous ;  the  rich  cruelly  used 
their  legal  rights  to  sell  respectable  and  honest  members  of  society 
into  slavery. 

*  By  adapting  the  LXX.     So  far  as  we  know  Wellhausen  is  right 


Amosi.3-ii.]     ATROCITIES  AND  ATROCITIES  137 

his  father  will  go  into  the  maid,  the  same  maid/  to 
desecrate  My  Holy  Name — without  doubt  some  pubHc 
form  of  unchastity  introduced  from  the  Canaanite 
worship  into  the  very  sanctuary  of  Jehovah,  the  holy 
place  where  He  reveals  His  Name — and  on  garments 
given  in  pledge  they  stretch  themsehes  by  every  altar,  and 
the  wine  of  those  who  have  been  fined  they  drink  in  the 
house  of  their  God.  A  riot  of  sin  :  the  material  of  their 
revels  is  the  miseries  of  the  poor,  its  stage  the  house 
of  God  !  Such  is  religion  to  the  Israel  of  Amos'  day 
— indoors,  feverish,  sensual.  By  one  of  the  sudden 
contrasts  he  loves,  Amos  sweeps  out  of  it  into  God's 
ideal  of  religion — a  great  historical  movement,  told  in 
the  language  of  the  open  air :  national  deliverance, 
guidance  on  the  highways  of  the  world,  the  inspiration 
of  prophecy,  and  the  pure,  ascetic  life.  But  /,  / 
destroyed  the  Amorite "  before  you,  whose  height  was  as 
the  cedars,  and  he  was  strong  as  oaks,  and  I  destroyed  his 
fruit  from  above  and  his  roots  from  below.  What  a 
contrast  to  the  previous  picture  of  the  temple  filled 
with  fumes  of  wine  and  hot  with  lust  I  We  are  out 
on  open  history ;  God's  gales  blow  and  the  forests 
crash  before  them.  And  I  brought  you  up  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt,  and  led  you  through  the  wilderness 
forty  years,  to  inherit  the  land  of  the  Amorite.  Religion 
is  not  chambering  and  wantonness ;    it  is  not  selfish 

in  saying  that  the  Massoretic  text,  which  our  English  version  follows, 
gives  no  sense.  LXX.  reads,  also  without  much  sense  as  a  whole,  rd 
iraTovvTa  inl  rbv  xoC;'  riji  yrjs,  Kal  h<ov^ii\i^ov  ds  Ke<paXas  tttQix^v. 

'  So  rightly  the  LXX.  Or  the  definite  article  may  be  here  used  in 
conformity  with  the  common  Hebrew  way  of  employing  it  to  desig- 
nate, not  a  definite  individual,  but  a  member  of  a  definite,  well- 
Known  genus. 

*  On  the  use  of  Amorite  for  all  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan  se« 
Driver's  Deut.,  pp.  1 1  1. 


138  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

comfort  or  profiting  by  the  miseries  of  the  poor  and 
the  sins  of  the  fallen.  But  religion  is  history — the 
freedom  of  the  people  and  their  education,  the  winning 
of  the  land  and  the  defeat  of  the  heathen  foe ;  and 
then,  when  the  land  is  firm  and  the  home  secure,  it 
is  the  raising,  upon  that  stage  and  shelter,  of  spiritual 
guides  and  examples.  And  I  raised  up  of  your  sons  to 
be  prophets,  and  of  your  young  men  to  be  Nazirites — 
consecrated  and  ascetic  lives.  Is  it  not  so,  O  children 
of'  Israel?  {oracle  of  Jehovah).  But  ye  made  the 
Nazirites  drink  wine,  and  the  frcphets  ye  charged,  saying, 
Prophesy  not ! 

Luxury,  then,  and  a  very  sensual  conception  of 
religion,  with  all  their  vicious  offspring  in  the  abuse 
of  justice,  the  oppression  of  the  poor,  the  corrupting 
of  the  innocent,  and  the  intolerance  of  spiritual  forces 
— these  are  the  sins  of  an  enlightened  and  civilised 
people,  which  Amos  describes  as  worse  than  all  the 
atrocities  of  barbarism,  and  as  certain  of  Divine 
vengeance.  How  far  beyond  his  own  day  are  his 
words  still  warm  1  Here  in  the  nineteenth  century 
is  Great  Britain,  destroyer  of  the  slave-traffic,  and 
champion  of  oppressed  nationalities — yet  this  great 
and  Christian  people,  at  the  very  time  they  are  abolish- 
ing slavery,  suffer  their  own  children  to  work  in 
factories  and  clay-pits  for  sixteen  hours  a  day,  and  in 
mines  set  women  to  a  labour  for  which  horses  are 
deemed  too  valuable.  Things  improve  after  1848,  but 
how  slowly  and  against  what  callousness  of  Christians 
Lord  Shaftesbury's  long  and  often  disappointed  labours 
painfully  testify.  Even  yet  our  religious  public,  that 
curses  the  Turk,  and  in  an  indignation,  which  can 
never  be  too  warm,  cries  out  against  the  Armenian 
atrocities,  is  callous,  nay,  by  the  avarice  of  some,  the 


Aniosi.3-ii.]     ATROCITIES  AND  ATROCITIES  139 

haste  and  passion  for  enjoyment  of  many  more,  and 
the  thoughtlessness  of  all,  itself  contributes,  to  con- 
ditions of  life  and  fashions  of  society,  which  bear  with 
cruelty  upon  our  poor,  taint  our  literature,  needlessly 
increase  the  temptations  of  our  large  towns,  and  render 
pure  childlife  impossible  among  masses  of  our  popu- 
lation. Along  some  of  the  highways  of  our  Christian 
civilisation  we  are  just  as  cruel  and  just  as  lustful  as 
Kurd  or  Turk. 

Amos  closes  this  prophecy  with  a  vision  of  im- 
mediate judgment.  Behold,  I  am  about  to  crush  or 
squeeze  down  upon  you,  as  a  waggon  crushes  ^  that  is  full 

'  The  verb  pW  of  the  Massoretic  text  is  not  found  elsewhere,  and 
whether  we  retain  it,  or  take  it  as  a  variant  of,  or  mistake  for,  p1^,  or 
adopt  some  other  reading,  the  whole  phrase  is  more  or  less  uncertain, 
and  the  exact  shade  of  meaning  has  to  be  guessed,  though  the 
general  sense  remains  pretty  much  the  same.  The  following  is  a 
complete  note  on  the  subject,  with  reasons  for  adopting  the  above 
conclusion. 

(l)  LXX.  :  Behold,  I  roll  (kvXLw)  toider  you  as  a  waggon  full  of 
straw  is  rolled.  A.V. :  /  am  pressed  under  you  as  a  cart  is  pressed, 
Pusey  :  /  straiten  myself  under  you,  etc.  These  versions  take  p-117  in 
the  sense  of  p-1^,  to  press,  and  nPin  in  its  usual  meaning  of  beneath) 
and  the  result  is  conformable  to  the  well-known  figure  of  the  Old 
Testament  by  which  God  is  said  to  be  laden  and  weary  with  the 
transgressions  of  His  people.  But  this  does  not  mean  an  actual 
descent  of  judgment,  and  yet  vv.  14-16  imply  that  such  an  intima- 
tion has  been  made  in  ver.  13 ;  and  besides  pTO  and  p*l?n  are  both 
in  the  Hiphil,  the  active,  to  press,  or  causative,  make  to  press. 
(2)  Accordingly  some,  adopting  this  sense  of  the  verb,  take  Hnn  in 
an  unusual  sense  of  down  upon.  Ewald  :  /  press  down  upon  you 
as  a  cart  that  is  full  of  sheaves  presseth.  Guthe  (in  Kautzsch's  Bibel)  : 
Ich  will  euch  qitelschen.  Rev.  Eng.  Ver.  :  /  will  press  you  in  your  place. 
— But  piy  has  been  taken  in  other  senses.  (3)  Hoffmann  {Z.A.  T.  IV,, 
III.  100)  renders  it  groan  in  conformity  with  Arab.'ik.  (4)  Wetzstein 
(ibid.,  278  ff.)  quotes  Arab,  'ak,  to  stop,  hinder,  and  suggests  /  will 
bring  to  a  stop.  (5)  Buhl  (12th  Ed.  of  Gesenius'  Handwort,  sub  p-l^), 
in   view  of  possibility  of  n?3r  being  threshing-roller,  recalls  Arab. 


I40  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  sheaves}  An  alternative  reading  supplies  the  same 
general  impression  of  a  crushing  judgment :  /  will 
make  the  ground  quake  under  you,  as  a  waggon  makes 
it  quake,  or  as  a  waggon  itself  quakes  under  its  load  of 
sheaves.  This  shock  is  to  be  War.  Flight  shall  perish 
from  the  swift,  and  the  strong  shall  not  prove  his  power, 
nor  the  mighty  man  escape  with  his  life.  And  he  that 
graspeth  the  how  shall  not  stand,  nor  shall  the  swift  of 
foot  escape,  nor  the  horseman  escape  with  his  life.  And 
he  that  thinketh  himself  strong  among  the  heroes  shall 
flee  away  naked  in  that  day — His  the  oracle  of  Jehovah. 

'akk,  to  cut  inpieces.  (6)  Hitzig  {Exeg.  Hatidbuch)  proposed  to  read  p^SO 
and  p''Dn  :  /  will  make  it  shake  under  you,  as  the  laden  ivaggon  shakes 
(the  ground).  So  rather  differently  Wellhausen  :  /  will  make  the 
ground  quake  under  you,  as  a  waggon  quakes  under  its  load  of  sheaves. 

I  have  only  to  add  that,  in  the  Alex.  Cod.  of  LXX.,  which  r^ds 
KtSK'utii  for  Kv\l(i},  we  have  an  interesting  analogy  to  Wetzstein's 
proposal ;  and  that  in  support  of  the  rendering  of  Ewald,  and  its 
unusual  interpretation  ofD^^nnO  which  seems  to  me  on  the  whole 
the  most  probable,  we  may  compare  Job  xxxvi.  1 6,  riTinri  p^lD  N*?. 
This,  it  is  true,  suggests  rather  the  choking  of  a  passage  than  the 
crushing  of  the  ground ;  but,  by  the  way,  that  sense  is  even  more 
applicable  to  a  harvest  waggon  laden  with  sheaves. 

*  Waggon  full  of  sheaves. — Wellhausen  goes  too  far  when  he 
suggests  that  Amos  would  have  to  go  outside  Palestine  to  see  such  a 
waggon.  That  a  people  who  already  knew  the  use  of  chariots  for 
travelling  (cf.  Gen.  xlvi.  5,  JE)  and  waggons  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses (l  Sam.  vi.  7  fif.)  did  not  use  them  at  least  in  the  lowlands  of 
their  country  is  extremely  improbable.  Cf,  Hist,  Geog.,  Appendix  on 
Roads  and  Wheeled  Vehicles  in  Syria. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

CIVILISATION  AND  JUDGMENT 
Amos  iii. — iv.  3. 

WE  now  enter  the  Second  Section  of  the  Book 
of  Amos :  chaps,  iii. — vi.  It  is  a  collection  of 
various  oracles  of  denunciation,  grouped  partly  by 
the  recurrence  of  the  formula  Hear  this  word,  which 
stands  at  the  head  of  our  present  chapters  iii.,  iv.  and 
v.,  which  are  therefore  probably  due  to  it;  partly  by 
two  cries  of  Woe  at  v.  18  and  vi.  i ;  and  also  by  the 
fact  that  each  of  the  groups  thus  started  leads  up  to 
an  emphatic,  though  not  at  first  detailed,  prediction  of 
the  nation's  doom  (iii,  13-15;  iv.  3;  iv.  12;  v.  16, 
17  ;  V.  26,  27  ;  vi.  14).  Within  these  divisions  lie  a 
number  of  short  indictments,  sentences  of  judgment 
and  the  like,  which  have  no  further  logical  connection 
than  is  supplied  by  their  general  sameness  of  subject, 
and  a  perceptible  increase  of  articulateness  from  be- 
ginning to  end  of  the  Section.  The  sins  of  Israel  are 
more  detailed,  and  the  judgment  of  war,  coming  from 
the  North,  advances  gradually  till  we  discern  the 
unmistakable  ranks  of  Assyria.  But  there  are  various 
parentheses  and  interruptions,  which  cause  the  student 
of  the  text  no  little  difficulty.  Some  of  these,  however, 
may  be  only  apparent :  it  will  always  be  a  question 
whether  their  want  of  immediate  connection  with  what 

141 


14*  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

precedes  them  is  not  due  to  the  loss  of  several  words 
from  the  text  rather  than  to  their  own  intrusion  into  it. 
Of  others  it  is  true  that  they  are  obviously  out  of  place 
as  they  lie  ;  their  removal  brings  together  verses  which 
evidently  belong  to  each  other.  Even  such  parentheses, 
however,  may  be  from  Amos  himself  It  is  only  where 
a  verse,  besides  interrupting  the  argument,  seems  to 
reflect  a  historical  situation  later  than  the  prophet's 
day,  that  we  can  be  sure  it  is  not  his  own.  And  in 
all  this  textual  criticism  we  must  keep  in  mind,  that 
the  obscurity  of  the  present  text  of  a  verse,  so  far 
from  being  an  adequate  proof  of  its  subsequent  inser- 
tion, may  be  the  very  token  of  its  antiquity,  scribes 
or  translators  of  later  date  having  been  unable  to 
understand  it.  To  reject  a  verse,  only  because  we  do 
not  see  the  connection,  would  surely  be  as  arbitrary,  as 
the  opposite  habit  of  those  who,  missing  a  connection, 
invent  one,  and  then  exhibit  their  artificial  joint  as 
evidence  of  the  integrity  of  the  whole  passage.  In 
fact  we  must  avoid  all  headstrong  surgery,  for  to  a 
great  extent  we  work  in  the  dark. 

The  general  subject  of  the  Section  may  be  indi- 
cated by  the  title  :  Religion  and  Civilisation.  A 
vigorous  community,  wealthy,  cultured  and  honestly 
religious,  are,  at  a  time  of  settled  peace  and  growing 
power,  threatened,  in  the  name  of  the  God  of  justice, 
with  their  complete  political  overthrow.  Their  civilisa- 
tion is  counted  for  nothing;  their  religion,  on  which 
they  base  their  confidence,  is  denounced  as  false  and 
unavailing.  These  two  subjects  are  not,  and  could  not 
have  been,  separated  by  the  prophet  in  an}'  one  of  his 
oracles.  But  in  the  first,  the  briefest  and  most 
summary  of  these,  chaps,  iii. — iv.  3,  it  is  mainly  with 
the  doom  of  the   civil    structure    of  Israel's  life    that 


Amosin.-iv.3.]     CIVILISATION  AND  JUDGMENT  143 

Amos  deals ;  and  it  will  be  more  convenient  for  us  to 
take  them  first,  with  all  due  reference  to  the  echoes  of 
chem  in  later  parts  of  the  Section.  From  iv.  4 — vi.  it 
is  the  Religion  and  its  false  peace  which  he  assaults  ; 
and  we  shall  take  that  in  the  next  chapter.  First, 
then,  Civilisation  and  Judgment  (iii. — iv.  3);  Second, 
The  False  Peace  of  Ritual  (iv.  4 — vi.). 


These  few  brief  oracles  open  upon  the  same  note  as 
that  in  which  the  previous  Section  closed — that  the 
crimes  of  Israel  are  greater  than  those  of  the  heathen ; 
and  that  the  people's  peculiar  relation  to  God  means,  not 
their  security,  but  their  greater  judgment.  It  is  then 
affirmed  that  Israel's  wealth  and  social  life  are  so 
sapped  by  luxury  and  injustice  that  the  nation  must 
perish.  And,  as  in  every  luxurious  community  the 
women  deserve  especial  blame,  the  last  of  the  group 
of  oracles  is  reserved  for  them  (iv.   I-3). 

Hear  this  word,  which  Jehovah  hath  spoken  against 
you,  O  children  of  Israel,  against  the  whole  family 
which  I  brought  up  from  the  land  of  Egypt — ^Judah  as 
well  as  North  Israel,  so  that  we  see  the  vanity  of  a 
criticism  which  would  cast  out  of  the  Book  of  Amos 
as  unauthentic  every  reference  to  Judah.  Only  you 
have  I  known  of  all  the  families  of  the  ground — not  world, 
but  ground,  purposely  chosen  to  stamp  the  meanness 
and  mortality  of  them  all — therefore  will  I  visit  upon 
you  all  your  iniquities. 

This  famous  text  has  been  called  by  various  writers 
"the  keynote,"  "the  licence"  and  "the  charter"  of 
prophecy.  But  the  names  are  too  petty  for  what  is 
not  less  than  the  fulmination  of  an  element.  It  is  a 
peal   of  thunder   we   hear.     It   is,  in   a  moment,  the 


144  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

explosion  and  discharge  of  the  full  storm  of  prophecy. 
As  when  from  a  burst  cloud  the  streams  immediately 
below  rise  suddenly  and  all  their  banks  are  overflowed, 
so  the  prophecies  that  follow  surge  and  rise  clear  of 
the  old  limits  of  Israel's  faith  by  the  unconfined, 
unmeasured  flood  of  heaven's  justice  that  breaks  forth 
by  this  single  verse.  Now,  once  for  all,  are  submerged 
the  lines  of  custom  and  tradition  within  which  the  course 
of  religion  has  hitherto  flowed  ;  and,  as  it  were,  the 
surface  of  the  world  is  altered.  It  is  a  crisis  which  has 
happened  more  than  once  again  in  history :  when 
helpless  man  has  felt  the  absolute  relentlessness  of 
the  moral  issues  of  life  ;  their  renunciation  of  the  past, 
however  much  they  have  helped  to  form  it ;  their 
sacrifice  of  every  development  however  costly,  and 
of  every  hope  however  pure  ;  their  deafness  to  prayer, 
their  indifference  to  penitence ;  when  no  faith  saves 
a  Church,  no  courage  a  people,  no  culture  or  prestige 
even  the  most  exalted  order  of  men  ;  but  at  the  bare 
hands  of  a  judgment,  uncouth  of  voice  and  often 
unconscious  of  a  Divine  mission,  the  results  of  a 
great  civilisation  are  for  its  sins  swept  remorselessly 
away. 

Before  the  storm  bursts,  we  learn  by  its  lightnings 
some  truths  from  the  old  life  that  is  to  be  destroyed. 
You  only  have  I  known  of  all  the  families  of  the  ground : 
therefore  will  I  visit  your  iniquities  upon  you.  Religion 
is  no  insurance  against  judgment,  no  mere  atonement 
and  escape  from  consequences.  Escape  I  Religion  is 
only  opportunity — the  greatest  moral  opportunity  which 
men  have,  and  which  if  they  violate  nothing  remains 
for  them  but  a  certain  fearful  looking  forward  unto 
judgment.  You  only  have  I  known ;  and  because  you 
did  not  take  the  moral  advantage  of  My  intercourse, 


Amosiii.-iv.3.]    CIVILISATION  AND  JUDGMENT  145 

because  you  felt  it  only  as  privilege  and  pride,  pardon 
for  the  past  and  security  for  the  future,  therefore  doom 
the  more  inexorable  awaits  you. 

Then  as  if  the  people  had  interrupted  him  with  the 
question,  What  sign  do  you  give  us  that  this  judgment 
is  near? — Amos  goes  aside  into  that  noble  digression 
(vv.  3-8)  on  the  harmony  between  the  prophet's  word 
and  the  imminent  events  of  the  time,  which  we  have 
already  studied.^  From  this  apologia,  verse  9  returns 
to  the  note  of  verses  I  and  2  and  develops  it.  Not 
only  is  Israel's  responsibility  greater  than  that  of  other 
people's.  Her  crimes  themselves  are  more  heinous. 
Make  proclamation  over  the  palaces  in  Ashdod — if  we  are 
not  to  read  Assyria  here,^  then  the  name  of  Ashdod 
has  perhaps  been  selected  from  all  other  heathen 
names  because  of  its  similarity  to  the  Hebrew  word 
for  that  violence^  with  which  Amos  is  charging  the 
people — and  over  the  palaces  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and 
say,  Gather  upon  the  Mount  *  of  Samaria  and  see  !  Con- 
fusions manifold  in  the  midst  of  her  ;  violence  to  her  very 
core !  Yea,  they  know  not  how  to  do  uprightness,  saith 
Jehovah,  who  store  up  wrong  and  violence  in  their  palaces. 

"  To  their  crimes,"  said  the  satirist  of  the  Romans 
"  they  owe  their  gardens,  palaces,  stables  and  fine  old 
plate."*  And  William  Langland  declared  of  the  rich 
English  of  his  day  : — 

"For  toke  thei  on  trewly  •  they  tymbred  not  so  heigh, 
Ne  boughte  non  burgages  *  be  ye  full  certayne."* 

'  See  above,  pp.  82  fif.  and  pp.  89  ff. 

*  With  the  LXX.  D^Hl  for     lEJ'Nn. 

*  l^y  (ver.  10). 

*  Singular  as  in  LXX.,  and  not  plural  as  in  the  M.T.  and  English 
versions. 

*  Juvenal,  Satires,  I. 

*  Vision  of  Piers  Plozv man.     Burgages  =  tenements. 
VOL.  I.  10 


146  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  Jehovah:  Siege  and 
Blockade  of  the  Land  !  ^  And  they  shall  bring  down  from 
off  thee  thy  fortresses,  and  plundered  shall  be  thy  palaces. 
Yet  this  shall  be  no  ordinary  tide  of  Eastern  war,  to 
ebb  like  the  Syrian  as  it  flowed,  and  leave  the  nation 
to  rally  on  their  land  again.  For  Assyria  devours  the 
peoples.  77ms  saith  Jehovah :  As  the  shepherd  saveth 
from  the  mouth  of  the  lion  a  pair  of  shin-bones  or  a  bit 
of  an  ear,  so  shall  the  children  of  Israel  be  saved — they 
who  sit  in  Samaria  in  the  corner  of  the  diwan  and  .  .  . 
on  a  couch}  The  description,  as  will  be  seen  from  the 
note  below,  is  obscure.  Some  think  it  is  intended  to 
satirise  a  novel  and  affected  fashion  of  sitting  adopted 
by  the  rich.  Much  more  probably  it  means  that 
carnal  security  in   the   luxuries   of  civilisation   which 

'  Or  The  Enemy,  and  that  right  round  the  Land! 

*  In  Damascus  on  a  couch  :  on  a  Damascus  couch  :  on  a  Damascus- 
cloth  couch  :  or  Damascus-fashion  on  a  couch — alternatives  all  equally 
probable  and  equally  beyond  proof.  The  text  is  very  difficult,  nor  do 
the  versions  give  help.  (l)  The  consonants  of  the  word  before  a  couch 
spell  in  Damascus,  and  so  the  LXX.  take  it.  This  would  be  in  exact 
parallel  to  the  in  Samaria  of  the  previous  half  of  the  clause.  But 
although  Jeroboam  II.  is  said  to  have  recovered  Damascus 
(2  Kings  xiv.  28),  this  is  not  necessarily  the  town  itself,  of  whose 
occupation  by  Israel  we  have  no  evidence,  while  Amos  always 
assumes  it  to  be  Aramean,  and  here  he  is  addressing  Israelites.  Still 
retaining  the  name  of  the  city,  we  can  take  it  with  couch  as  parallel, 
not  to  in  Samaria,  but  to  on  the  side  of  a  diwan ;  in  that  case  the 
meaning  may  have  been  a  Damascus  couch  (though  as  the  two  words 
stand  it  is  impossible  to  parse  them,  and  Gen.  xv.  2  cannot  be  quoted  in 
support  of  this,  for  it  is  too  uncertain  itself,  being  possibly  a  gloss, 
though  it  is  curious  that  as  the  two  passages  run  the  name  Damascus 
should  be  in  the  same  strange  grammatical  conjunction  in  each),  or 
possioly  Damascus-fashion  on  a  couch,  which  (if  the  first  half  of  the 
clause,  as  some  maintain,  refers  to  some  delicate  or  affected  posture  then 
come  into  fashion)  is  the  most  probable  rendering.  (2)  The  Massoretes 
have  pointed,  act  bedatnmeseq  =  in  Damascus,  but  bedemesheq,  a 
form  not  found  elsewhere,  which  some  (Ges.,  Hitz.,  Ew.,  Rev.  Eng. 


Amos  iii.-iv.  3-]     CIVILISATION  AND  JUDGMENT  I47 

Amos  threatens  more  than  once  in  similar  phrases.* 
The  corner  of  the  diwan  is  in  Eastern  houses  the  seat 
of  honour.^  To  this  desert  shepherd,  with  only  the 
hard  ground  to  rest  on,  the  couches  and  ivory- 
mounted  diwans  of  the  rich  must  have  seemed  the  very 
symbols  of  extravagance.  But  the  pampered  bodies  that 
loll  their  lazy  lengths  upon  them  shall  be  left  like  the 
crumbs  of  a  lion's  meal — two  shin-bones  and  the  bit  of  an 
earl  Their  whole  civilisation  shall  perish  with  them. 
Hearken  and  testify  against  the  house  of  Israel — oracle 
of  the  Lord  Jehovah,  God  of  Hosts  ^ — those  addressed 
are  still  the  heathen  summoned  in  ver.  9.  For  on  the 
day  when  I  visit  the  crimes  of  Israel  upon  him,  I  shall 
then  make  visitation  upon  the  altars  of  Bethel,  and  the 
horns  of  the  altar,  which  men  grasp  in  their  last  despair, 
shall  be  smitten  and  fall  to  the  earth.  And  I  will  strike 
the  winter-house  upon  the  summer-house ^  and  the  ivory 
houses  shall  perish,  yea,  swept  away  shall  be  houses  many 
—  oracle  of  Jehovah. 

But   the  luxury  01  no  civilisation  can  be  measured 


Ver.,  etc.)  take  to  mean  some  Damascene  stufif  (as  perhaps  our 
Damask  and  the  Arabic  dimshaq  originally  meant,  though  this  is  not 
certain),  e.g.  silk  or  velvet  or  cushions.  (3)  Others  rearrange  the  text. 
E.g.  Hoffmann  {Z.A.T.W.,  III.  102)  takes  the  whole  clause  away  from 
ver.  12  and  attaches  it  to  ver.  13,  reading  O  those  who  sit  in  Samaria 
on  the  edge  of  the  diwan,  and  in  Damascus  on  a  couch,  hearken  and 
testify  against  the  house  of  Jacob.  But,  as  Wellhausen  points  out,  those 
addressed  in  ver.  13  are  the  same  as  those  addressed  in  ver.  9. 
Wellhausen  prefers  to  believe  that  after  the  words  children  of  Israel, 
which  end  a  sentence,  something  has  fallen  out.  The  LXX.  trans- 
lator, who  makes  several  blunders  in  the  course  of  this  chapter,  in- 
stead of  translating  E^'li;  couch,  the  last  word  of  the  verse,  merely 
transliterates  it  into  iepeh !  I 

'  Cf.  vi.  4  :  that  lie  on  ivory  diwans  and  sprawl  on  their  couchts, 

'  Van  Lennep,  Bible  Lands  and  Customs,  p.  460. 

'  See  p.  205,  n.  4. 


148  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

without  its  women,  and  to  the  women  of  Samaria  Amos 
now  turns  with  the  most  scornful  of  all  his  words. 
Hear  this  word — this  for  you — kijte  of  Bashan  that 
are  in  the  motint  of  Samaria,  that  oppress  the  poor,  that 
crush  the  needy,  that  say  to  their  lords,  Bring,  and  let  us 
drink.  Sivorn  hath  the  Lord  Jehovah  by  His  holiness, 
lo,  days  are  coming  when  there  shall  be  a  taking  away  of 
you  with  hooks,  and  of  the  last  of  you  with  fish-hooks. 
They  put  hooks  ^  in  the  nostrils  of  unruly  cattle, 
and  the  figure  is  often  applied  to  human  captives  ;  ^ 
but  so  many  should  these  cattle  of  Samaria  be  that 
for  the  last  of  them  fish-hooks  must  be  used.  Yea,  by 
the  breaches  in  the  wall  of  the  stormed  city  shall  ye 
go  out,  every  one  headlong,  and  ye  shall  be  cast  .  .  ' 
oracle  of  Jehovah.  It  is  a  cowherd's  rough  picture  of 
women  :  a  troop  of  kine — heavy,  heedless  animals, 
trampling  in  their  anxiety  for  food  upon  every  frail 
and  lowly  object  in  the  way.  But  there  is  a  prophet's 
insight  into  character.  Not  of  Jezebels,  or  Messalinas, 
or  Lady-Macbeths   is  it  spoken,   but  of  the  ordinary 

*  The  words  for  hook  in  Hebrew — the  two  used  above,  HIDV  and 
niT'p  and  a  third,  nin — all  mean  originally  thorns,  doubtless  the 
first  hooks  of  primitive  man ;  but  by  this  time  they  would  signify 
metal  hooks — a  change  analogous  to  the  English  word  pen. 

'  Cf.  Isa.  XXX  vii.  29;  2  Chron.  xxxiii.  II.  On  the  use  offish-hooks, 
Job  xl.  26  (Heb.),  xli.  2  (Eng.) ;  Ezek.  xxix.  4. 

'  The  verb,  which  in  the  text  is  active,  must  be  taken  in  the 
passive.  The  word  not  translated  above  is  njIDinil  unto  the 
Harmon,  which  name  does  not  occur  elsewhere.  LXX.  read  els  ri 
6pos  t6  "Po/x/xdv,  which  Ewald  renders  ye  shall  cast  the  Rimnion  to  the 
mountain  (cf.  Isa.  ii.  20),  and  he  takes  Rimmon  to  be  the  Syrian 
goddess  of  love.  Steiner  (quoted  by  Wellhausen)  renders _yf  shall  be 
cast  out  to  Hadad  Rimmon,  that  is,  violated  as  n'fK*^p.  Hitzig  separates 
inn  from  nJID,  which  he  takes  as  contracted  from  n31?D,  and  renders 
ye  shall Jling  yourselves  out  on  the  mountains  as  a  refuge.  But  none 
of  these  is  satisfactory. 


Amosiii.-iv.3.]    CIVILISATION  AND  JUDGMENT  149 

matrons  of  Samaria.  Thoughtlessness  and  luxury  are 
able  to  make  brutes  out  of  women  of  gentle  nurture, 
with  homes  and  a  religion.* 

Such  are  these  three  or  four  short  oracles  of  Amos. 
They  are  probably  among  his  earliest — the  first  per- 
emptory challenges  of  prophecy  to  that  great  strong- 
hold which  before  forty  years  she  is  to  see  thrown  down 
in  obedience  to  her  word.  As  yet,  however,  there 
seems  to  be  nothing  to  justify  the  menaces  of  Amos. 
Fair  and  stable  rises  the  structure  of  Israel's  life.  A 
nation,  who  know  themselves  elect,  who  in  poUtics  are 
prosperous  and  in  religion  proof  to  every  doubt,  build 
high  their  palaces,  see  the  skies  above  them  unclouded, 
and  bask  in  their  pride,  heaven's  favourites  without  a 
fear.  This  man,  solitary  and  sudden  from  his  desert, 
springs  upon  them  in  the  name  of  God  and  their 
poor.  Straighter  word  never  came  from  Deity  '.Jehovah 
hath  spoken,  who  can  but  prophesy?  The  insight  of 
it,  the  justice  of  it,  are  alike  convincing.  Yet  at  first 
it  appears  as  if  it  were  sped  on  the  personal  and  very 
human  passion  of  its  herald.  For  Amos  not  only 
uses  the  desert's  cruelties — the  lion's  to  the  sheep — 
to  figure  God's  impending  judgment  upon  His  people, 
but  he  enforces  the  latter  with  all  a  desert-bred  man's 
horror  of  cities  and  civilisation.  It  is  their  costly 
furniture,  their  lavish  and  complex  building,  on  which 
he  sees  the  storm  break.  We  seem  to  hear  again  that 
frequent  phrase  of  the  previous  section  :  the  fire  shall 
devour  the  palaces  thereof.     The  palaces,  he  says,  are 

'  I  have  already  treated  this  passage  in  connection  with  Isaiah's 
prophecies  on  women  in  the  volume  on  Isaiah  i. — xxxix.  (Expositor's 
Bible),  Chap.  XVI. 


I50  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

simply  storehouses  of  oppression ;  the  palaces  will  be 
plundered.  Here,  as  throughout  his  book/  couches  and 
diwans  draw  forth  the  scorn  of  a  man  accustomed  to 
the  simple  furniture  of  the  tent.  But  observe  his 
especial  hatred  of  houses.  Four  times  in  one  verse 
he  smites  them  :  winter-house  on  summer-house  and  the 
ivory  houses  shall  perish — yea,  houses  manifold^  saith  the 
Lord.  So  in  another  oracle  of  the  same  section  :  Houses 
of  ashlar  ye  have  built,  and  ye  shall  not  inhabit  them ; 
vineyards  of  delight  have  ye  planted,  and  ye  shall  not  drink 
of  their  wine}  And  in  another :  /  loathe  the  pride  oj 
facob,  and  his  palaces  I  hate;  and  I  will  give  up  a  city 
and  all  that  is  in  it.  .  .  .  For,  la,  the  Lord  is  about  to 
command,  and  He  will  smite  the  great  house  into  ruins 
and  the  small  house  into  splinters.^  No  wonder  that  such 
a  prophet  found  war  with  its  breached  walls  insufficient, 
and  welcomed,  as  the  full  ally  of  his  word,  the  earth- 
quake itself* 

Yet  all  this  is  no  mere  desert  "  razzia "  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord,  a  nomad's  hatred  of  cities  and  the  culture 
of  settled  men.  It  is  not  a  temper;  it  is  a  vision  of 
history.  In  the  only  argument  which  these  early 
oracles  contain,  Amos  claims  to  have  events  on  the 
side  of  his  word.  Shall  the  lion  roar  and  not  be  catching 
something?  Neither  does  the  prophet  speak  till  he 
knows  that  God  is  ready  to  act.  History  accepted  this 
claim.  Amos  spoke  about  755.  In  734  Tiglath-Pileser 
swept  Gilead  and  Galilee ;  in  724  Shalraaneser  overran 
the  rest  of  Northern  Israel  :  siege  and  blockade  of  the 
whole  land !  For  three  years  the  Mount  of  Samaria 
was  invested,  and  then  taken  ;  the  houses  overthrown, 
the  rich  and  the  delicate  led  away  captive.     It  happened 

'  Cf.  chap.  vi.  4.         '  vi.  8,  11. 

'  V.  II.  *  Cf.  what  was  said  o;i  building  above,  p.  33, 


Amosiii.-iv.3.]     CIVILISATION  AND  JUDGMENT  151 

as  Amos  foretold ;  for  it  was  not  the  shepherd's  rage 
within  him  that  spoke.  He  had  seen  the  Lord  standing, 
and  He  said,  Smite. 

But  this  assault  of  a  desert  nomad  upon  the  structure 
of  a  nation's  life  raises  many  echoes  in  history  and 
some  questions  in  our  own  minds  to-day.  Again  and 
again  have  civilisations  far  more  powerful  than  Israel's 
been  threatened  by  the  desert  in  the  name  of  God,  and 
in  good  faith  it  has  been  proclaimed  by  the  prophets 
of  Christianity  and  other  religions  that  God's  kingdom 
cannot  come  on  earth  till  the  wealth,  the  culture,  the 
civil  order,  which  men  have  taken  centuries  to  build, 
have  been  swept  away  by  some  great  political  con- 
vulsion. To-day  Christianity  herself  suffers  the  same 
assaults,  and  is  told  by  many,  the  high  life  and  honest 
intention  of  whom  cannot  be  doubted,  that  till  the 
civilisation  which  she  has  so  much  helped  to  create 
is  destroyed,  there  is  no  hope  for  the  purity  or  the 
progress  of  the  race.  And  Christianity,  too,  has  doubts 
within  herself  What  is  the  world  which  our  Master 
refused  in  the  Mount  of  Temptation,  and  so  often  and 
so  sternly  told  us  that  it  must  perish  ? — how  much 
of  our  wealth,  of  our  culture,  of  our  politics,  of 
the  whole  fabric  of  our  society?  No  thoughtful  and 
religious  man,  when  confronted  with  civilisation,  not 
in  its  ideal,  but  in  one  of  those  forms  which  give  it 
its  very  name,  the  life  of  a  large  city,  can  fail  to  ask, 
How  much  of  this  deserves  the  judgment  of  God  ? 
How  much  must  be  overthrown,  before  His  will  is  done 
on  earth  ?  All  these  questions  rise  in  the  ears  and 
the  heart  of  a  generation,  which  more  than  any  other 
has  been  brought  face  to  face  with  the  ruins  of  empires 
and  civilisations,  which  have  endured  longer,  and  in 
their  day  seemed  more  stable,  than  her  own. 


152  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

In  face  of  the  confused  thinking  and  fanatic  speech 
which  have  risen  on  all  such  topics,  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  Hebrew  prophets  supply  us  with  four  cardinal 
rules. 

First,  of  course,  they  insist  that  it  is  the  moral 
question  upon  which  the  fate  of  a  civilisation  is  decided. 
By  what  means  has  this  system  grown  ?  Is  justice 
observed  in  essence  as  well  as  form  ?  Is  there  freedom, 
or  is  the  prophet  silenced  ?  Does  luxury  or  self-denial 
prevail  ?  Do  the  rich  make  life  hard  for  the  poor  ? 
Is  childhood  sheltered  and  is  innocence  respected  ? 
By  these,  claim  the  prophets,  a  nation  stands  or  falls ; 
and  history  has  proved  the  claim  on  wider  worlds  than 
they  dreamt  of 

But  by  themselves  moral  reasons  are  never  enough 
to  justify  a  prediction  of  speedy  doom  upon  any 
system  or  society.  None  of  the  prophets  began  to 
foretell  the  fall  of  Israel  till  they  read,  with  keener  eyes 
than  their  contemporaries,  the  signs  of  it  in  current 
history.  And  this,  I  take  it,  was  the  point  which  made 
a  notable  difference  between  them,  and  one  who  like 
them  scourged  the  social  wrongs  of  his  civilisation,  yet 
never  spoke  a  word  of  its  fall.  Juvenal  nowhere  calls 
down  judgments,  except  upon  individuals.  In  his  time 
there  were  no  signs  of  the  decline  of  the  empire,  even 
though,  as  he  marks,  there  was  a  flight  from  the  capital 
of  the  virtue  which  was  to  keep  the  empire  alive.  But 
the  prophets  had  political  proof  of  the  nearness  of  God's 
judgment,  and  they  spoke  in  the  power  of  its  coin- 
cidence with  the  moral  corruption  of  their  people. 

Again,  if  conscience  and  history  (both  of  them,  to 
the  prophets,  being  witnesses  of  God)  thus  combine  to 
announce  the  early  doom  of  a  civilisation,  n^nther  the 
religion   that  may  have   helped   to  build   it,  nor  any 


Amosiii.-iv.3.]     CIVILISATION  AND  JUDGMENT  153 

remanent  virtue  in  it,  nor  its  ancient  value  to  God,  can 
avail  to  save.  We  are  tempted  to  judge  that  the  long 
and  costly  development  of  ages  is  cruelly  thrown  away 
by  the  convulsion  and  collapse  of  an  empire ;  it  feels 
impious  to  think  that  the  patience,  the  providence,  the 
millennial  discipline  of  the  Almighty  are  to  be  in  a 
moment  abandoned  to  some  rude  and  savage  force. 
But  we  are  wrong.  You  only  have  I  known  of  all  the 
Jamilies  of  the  ground^  yet  I  must  visit  upon  you  your 
iniquities.  Nothing  is  too  costly  for  justice.  And  God 
finds  some  other  way  of  conserving  the  real  results  of 
the  past. 

Again,  it  is  a  corollary  of  all  this,  that  the  sentence 
upon  civilisation  must  often  seem  to  come  by  voices 
that  are  insane,  and  its  execution  by  means  that  are 
criminal.  Of  course,  when  civilisation  is  arraigned  as 
a  whole,  and  its  overthrow  demanded,  there  may  be 
nothing  behind  the  attack  but  jealousy  or  greed,  the 
fanaticism  of  ignorant  men  or  the  madness  of  dis- 
ordered lives.  But  this  is  not  necessarily  the  case.  For 
God  has  often  in  history  chosen  the  outsider  as  the 
herald  of  doom,  and  sent  the  barbarian  as  its  instru- 
ment. By  the  statesmen  and  patriots  of  Israel,  Amos 
must  have  been  regarded  as  a  mere  savage,  with  a 
savage's  hate  of  civilisation.  But  we  know  what  he 
answered  when  Amaziah  called  him  rebel.  And 
it  was  not  only  for  its  suddenness  that  the  apostles 
said  the  day  of  the  Lord  should  come  as  a  thief  but  also 
because  of  its  methods.  For  over  and  over  again  has 
doom  been  pronounced,  and  pronounced  truly,  by  men 
who  in  the  eyes  of  civilisation  were  criminals  and 
monsters. 

Now  apply  these  four  principles  to  the  question  of 
ourselves.     It  will  scarcely  be  denied  that  our  civilisa- 


154  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

tion  tolerates,  and  in  part  lives  by,  the  existence 
of  vices  which,  as  we  all  admit,  ruined  the  ancient 
empires.  Are  the  political  possibilities  of  overthrow  also 
present?  That  there  exist  among  us  means  of  new 
historic  convulsions  is  a  thing  hard  for  us  to  admit. 
But  the  signs  cannot  be  hid.  When  we  see  the 
jealousies  of  the  Christian  peoples,  and  their  enormous 
preparations  for  battle ;  the  arsenals  of  Europe  which  a 
few  sparks  may  blow  up ;  the  millions  of  soldiers  one 
man's  word  may  mobilise ;  when  we  imagine  the  oppor- 
tunities which  a  general  war  would  furnish  to  the 
discontented  masses  of  the  European  proletariat, — we 
must  surely  acknowledge  the  existence  of  forces  capable 
of  inflicting  calamities,  so  severe  as  to  affect  not  merely 
this  nationality  or  that  type  of  culture,  but  the  very 
vigour  and  progress  of  civilisation  herself;  and  all  this 
without  our  looking  beyond  Christendom,  or  taking 
into  account  the  rise  of  the  yellow  races  to  a  conscious- 
ness of  their  approach  to  equality  with  ourselves.  If, 
then,  in  the  e3^es  of  the  Divine  justice  Christendom 
merits  judgment, — if  life  continue  to  be  left  so  hard  to 
the  poor ;  if  innocence  be  still  an  impossibility  for  so 
much  of  the  childhood  of  the  Christian  nations ;  if  with 
so  many  of  the  leaders  of  civilisation  prurience  be 
lifted  to  the  level  of  an  art,  and  licentiousness  followed 
as  a  cult ;  if  we  continue  to  pour  the  evils  of  our  civili- 
sation upon  the  barbarian,  and  "  the  vices  of  our 
young  nobles,"  to  paraphrase  Juvenal,  "  are  aped  in  " 
Hindustan, — then  let  us  know  that  the  means  of  a 
judgment  more  awful  than  any  which  has  yet  scourged 
a  delinquent  civilisation  are  extant  and  actual  among 
us.  And  if  one  should  reply,  that  our  Christianity 
makes  all  the  difference,  that  God  cannot  undo  the 
development  of  nineteen  centuries,  or  cannot  over- 


Amosui.-iv.3.]     CIVILISATION  AND  JUDGMENT  155 

throw  the  peoples  of  His  Son, — let  us  remember  that 
God  does  justice  at  whatever  cost ;  that  as  He  did  not 
spare  Israel  at  the  hands  of  Assyria,  so  He  did  not 
spare  Christianity  in  the  East  when  the  barbarians  of 
the  desert  found  her  careless  and  corrupt.  You  only 
have  I  known  of  all  the  families  of  the  ground^  therefore 
will  I  visit  upon  you  all  your  iniquities. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE  FALSE  PEACE  OF  RITUAL 
Amos  iv.  4 — vi. 

THE  next  four  groups  of  oracles* — iv.  4-13,  v. 
I- 1 7,  V.  18-27  and  vi. — treat  of  many  different 
details,  and  each  of  them  has  its  own  emphasis;  but 
all  are  alike  in  this,  that  they  vehemently  attack  the 
national  worship  and  the  sense  of  political  security 
which  it  has  engendered.  Let  us  at  once  make  clear 
that  this  worship  is  the  worship  of  Jehovah.  It  is  true 
that  it  is  mixed  with  idolatry,  but,  except  possibly  in 
one  obscure  verse,^  Amos  does  not  concern  himself  with 
the  idols.  What  he  strikes  at,  what  he  would  sweep 
away,  is  his  people's  form  of  devotion  to  their  own 
God.  The  cult  of  the  national  God,  at  the  national 
sanctuaries,  in  the  national  interest  and  by  the  whole 
body  of  the  people,  who  practise  it  with  a  zeal  un- 
paralleled by  their  forefathers — this  is  what  Amos 
condemns.  And  he  does  so  absolutely.  He  has 
n^.thing  but  scorn  for  the  temples  and  the  feasts.  The 
assiduity  of  attendance,  the  liberality  of  gifts,  the 
employment  of  wealth  and  art  and  patriotism  in  worship 
— he  tells  his  generation  that  God  loathes  it  all.  Like 
Jeremiah,  he   even   seems   to  imply   that   God   never 

•  See  p.  141.  »  V.  36. 

«S6 


Amosiv.4-vi.]    THE  FALSE  PEACE  OF  RITUAL  157 

instituted  in  Israel  any  sacrifice  or  offering.^  It  is  all 
this  which  gives  these  oracles  their  interest  for  us  ;  and 
that  interest  is  not  merely  historical. 

It  is  indeed  historical  to  begin  with.  When  we  find, 
not  idolatry,  but  all  religious  ceremonial — temples, 
public  worship,  tithes,  sacrifice,  the  praise  of  God  by 
music,  in  fact  every  material  form  in  which  man  has 
ever  been  wont  to  express  his  devotion  to  God — scorned 
and  condemned  with  the  same  uncompromising  passion 
as  idolatry  itself,  we  receive  a  needed  lesson  in  the 
history  of  religion.  For  when  one  is  asked.  What  is 
the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  heathenism  ?  one  is 
always  ready  to  say.  Idolatry,  which  is  not  true.  The 
distinguishing  characteristic  of  heathenism  is  the  stress 
which  it  lays  upon  ceremonial.  To  the  pagan  religions, 
both  of  the  ancient  and  of  the  modern  world,  rites  were 
the  indispensable  element  in  religion.  The  gifts  of  the 
gods,  the  abundance  of  fruits,  the  security  of  the  state, 
depended  upon  the  full  and  accurate  performance  of 
ritual.  In  Greek  literature  we  have  innumerable  illus- 
trations of  this  :  the  Iliad  itself  starts  from  a  god's  anger, 
roused  by  an  insult  to  his  priest,  whose  prayers  for 
vengeance  he  hears  because  sacrifices  have  been 
assiduously  offered  to  him.  And  so  too  with  the  systems 
of  paganism  from  which  the  faith  of  Israel,  though 
at  first  it  had  so  much  in  common  with  them,  broke 
away  to  its  supreme  religious  distinction.  The  Semites 
laid  the  stress  of  their  obedience  to  the  gods  upon 
traditional  ceremonies ;  and  no  sin  was  held  so  heinous 
by  them  as  the  neglect  or  infringement  of  a  religious 
rite.  By  the  side  of  it  off"ences  against  one's  fellow- 
men  or  one's  own  character  were  deemed  mere  mis- 


V.  25. 


158  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

demeanours.  In  the  day  of  Amos  this  pagan  super- 
stition thoroughly  penetrated  the  rehgion  of  Jehovah, 
and  so  absorbed  the  attention  of  men,  that  without  the 
indignant  and  complete  repudiation  of  it  prophecy  could 
not  have  started  on  her  task  of  identifying  morality 
with  religion,  and  of  teaching  men  more  spiritual  views 
of  God.  But  even  when  we  are  thus  aware  of  cere- 
monialism as  the  characteristic  quality  of  the  pagan 
religions,  we  have  not  measured  the  full  reason  of  that 
uncompromising  attack  on  it,  which  is  the  chief  feature 
of  this  part  of  the  permanent  canon  of  our  religion. 
For  idolatries  die  everywhere ;  but  everywhere  a  super- 
stitious ritualism  survives.  It  continues  with  philo- 
sophies that  have  ceased  to  believe  in  the  gods  who 
enforced  it.  Upon  ethical  movements  which  have 
gained  their  freedom  by  breaking  away  from  it,  in  the 
course  of  time  it  makes  up,  and  lays  its  paralysing 
weight.  With  offers  of  help  it  flatters  religions  the 
most  spiritual  in  theory  and  intention.  The  Pharisees, 
than  whom  few  parties  had  at  first  purer  ideals  of 
morality,  tithed  mint,  anise  and  cummin,  to  the 
neglect  of  the  essence  of  the  Law;  and  even  sound 
Christians,  who  have  assimilated  the  Gospel  of  St.  John, 
find  it  hard  and  sometimes  impossible  to  beheve  in 
salvation  apart  from  their  own  sacraments,  or  outside 
their  own  denominational  forms.  Now  this  is  because 
ritual  is  a  thing  which  appeals  both  to  the  baser  and 
to  the  nobler  instincts  of  man.  To  the  baser  it  offers 
itself  as  a  mechanical  atonement  for  sin,  and  a  substitute 
for  all  moral  and  intellectual  effort  in  connection  with 
faith  ;  to  the  nobler  it  insists  on  a  man's  need  in  religion 
of  order  and  routine,  of  sacrament  and  picture.  Plainly 
then  the  words  of  Amos  have  significance  for  more 
than  the  immediate  problems  of  his  day.     And  if  it 


AiBosiv.4-vi.]    THE  FALSE  PEACE  OF  RITUAL  159 

seem  to  some,  that  Amos  goes  too  far  with  his  cry  to 
sweep  away  all  ceremonial,  let  them  remember,  besides 
the  crisis  of  his  times,  that  the  temper  he  exposes  and 
seeks  to  dissipate  is  a  rank  and  obdurate  error  of  the 
human  heart.  Our  Lord,  who  recognised  the  place  of 
ritual  in  worship,  who  said,  Thus  it  behoveth  us  to  fulfil 
all  righteousness,  which  righteousness  in  the  dialect  of 
His  day  was  not  the  moral  law,  but  man's  due  of  rite, 
sacrifice,  tithe  and  alms,^  said  also,  /  will  have  mercy  and 
not  sacrifice.  There  is  an  irreducible  minimum  of  rite 
and  routine  in  worship  ;  there  is  an  invaluable  loyalty 
to  traditional  habits  ;  there  are  holy  and  spiritual  uses 
in  symbol  and  sacrament.  But  these  are  all  dispensable ; 
and  because  they  are  all  constantly  abused,  the  voice 
of  the  prophet  is  ever  needed  which  tells  us  that  God 
will  have  none  of  them ;  but  let  justice  roll  on  like 
water,  and  righteousness  like  an  unfailing  stream. 

For  the  superstition  that  ritual  is  the  indispensable 
bond  between  God  and  man,  Amos  substitutes  two 
other  aspects  of  religion.  They  are  history  as  God's 
discipline  of  man  ;  and  civic  justice,  as  man's  duty  to 
God.  The  first  of  them  he  contrasts  with  religious  cere- 
monialism in  chap.  iv.  4-13,  and  the  second  in  chap.  v. ; 
while  in  chap.  vi.  he  assaults  once  more  the  false 
political  peace  which  the  ceremonialism  engenders. 

I.  For  Worship,  Chastisement. 

Amos  iv.  4-13. 

In  chap.  ii.  Amos  contrasted  the  popular  conception 
of  religion  as  worship  with  God's  conception  of  it  as 
history.     He    placed  a  picture   of  the  sanctuary,    hot 

'  Another  proof  of  how  the  spirit  of  ritualism   tends  to  absorb 
morality. 


i6o  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

with  religious  zeal,  but  hot  too  with  passion  and  the 
fumes  of  wine,  side  by  side  with  a  great  prospect  of  the 
national  history :  God's  guidance  of  Israel  from  Egypt 
onwards.  That  is,  as  we  said  at  the  time,  he  placed  an 
indoors  picture  of  religion  side  by  side  with  an  open- 
air  one.  He  repeats  that  arrangement  here.  The 
religious  services  he  sketches  are  more  pure,  and  the 
history  he  takes  from  his  own  day  ;  but  the  contrast 
is  the  same.  Again  we  have  on  the  one  side  the  temple 
worship — artificial,  exaggerated,  indoors,  smoky  ;  but  on 
the  other  a  few  movements  of  God  in  Nature,  which, 
though  they  all  be  calamities,  have  a  great  moral  majesty 
upon  them.  The  first  opens  with  a  scornful  call  to 
worship,  which  the  prophet,  letting  out  his  whole  heart 
at  the  beginning,  shows  to  be  equivalent  to  sin.  Note 
next  the  impossible  caricature  of  their  exaggerated  zeal : 
sacrifices  every  morning  instead  of  once  a  year,  tithes 
every  three  days  instead  of  every  three  years.^  To 
offer  leavened  bread  was  a  departure  from  the  older 
fashion  of  unleavened.^  To  publish  their  liberality  was 
like  the  later  Pharisees,  who  were  not  dissimilarly 
mocked  by  our  Lord  :  When  thou  doest  alms,  cause  not 
a  trumpet  to  be  sounded  before  thee,  as  the  hypocrites  do 
in  the  synagogues  and  in  the  streets,  that  they  may  have 
glory  of  men.^  There  is  a  certain  rhythm  in  the  taunt ; 
but  the  prose  style  seems  to  be  resumed  with  fitness 
when  the  prophet  describes  the  solemn  approach  of 
God  in  deeds  of  doom. 


'  Ver.  4 :  cf.  I  Sam.  i. ;  Deut.  xiv.  28.  Wellhausen  offers  another 
exegesis :  Amos  is  describing  exactly  what  took  place  at  Bethel — 
sacrifice  on  the  morning,  i.e.  next  to  the  day  of  their  arrival,  tithes 
on  the  third  day  thereafter.  _ 

*  See  Wellhausen's  note,  and  compare  Lev.  vii.  13. 

•  Matt.  vi.  2. 


Amos iv. 4- 1 3-]    THE  FALSE  PEACE  OF  RITUAL  l6i 

Come  away  to  Bethel  and  transgress, 

At  Gilgal  exaggerate  your  transgression  t 

And  bring  every  morning  your  sacrifices, 

Every  three  days  your  tithes  ! 

And  send  up   the   savour   of  leavened  bread  as   a 
thank-offering, 

And  call  out  your  liberalities — make  them  to  be  heard  I 

For  so  ye  love  to  do,  O  children  of  Israel: 

Oracle  of  Jehovah. 

But  I  on  My  side  have  given  you  cleanness  of  teeth  in 
all  your  cities,  and  want  of  bread  in  all  your  places — yet 
ye  did  not  return  to  Me :  oracle  of  Jehovah. 

But  I  on  My  side  withheld  from  you  the  winter  rain^ 
while  it  was  still  three  months  to  the  harvest :  and  I  let  it 
rain  repeatedly  on  one  city,  and  upon  one  city  I  did  not  let 
it  rain :  one  lot  was  rained  upon,  and  the  lot  that  was 
not  rained  upon  ivithered;  and  two  or  three  cities  kept 
straggling  to  one  city  to  drink  water,  and  were  not  satisfied 
— yet  ye  did  not  return  to  Me:  oracle  of  Jehovah. 

I  smote  you  with  blasting  and  with  mildew  :  many  of 
your  gardens  and  your  vineyards  and  your  figs  and  your 
olives  the  locust  devoured — yet  ye  did  not  return  to  Me : 
oracle  of  Jehovah. 

I  sent  among  you  a  pestilence  by  way  oj  Egypt  :^  I  slew 

'  DJ^'3:  Hist.  Geog.,  p.  64.  It  is  interesting  that  this  year  (1895) 
the  same  thing  was  threatened,  according  to  a  report  in  the  Miltheil- 
ungen  11.  Nachrichteit  des  D.P.V.,  p.  44:  "Nachdem  es  im  December 
einigemal  recht  stark  geregnet  hatte  besonders  an  der  Meereskiiste  ist 
seit  kurz  vor  Weihnacliten  das  Wetter  immer  schon  u.  mild  geblieben, 
u.  wenn  nicht  weiterer  Regen  fallt,  so  wird  grosser  Wassermangel 
entstehen  denn  bis  jetzt  (16  Febr.)  hat  Niemand  Cisterne  voll."  The 
harvest  is  in  April-May. 

*  Or  in  the  fashion  of  Egypt,  i.e.  a  thoroughly  Egyptian  plague ; 
so  called,  not  with  reference  to  the  plagues  of  Egypt,  but  because  that 
country  was  always  the  nursery  of  the  pestilence.  See  Hist.  Geog.^ 
p.  157  ff.    Note  bow  it  comes  with  war. 

VOL.  I.  II 


i62  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

with  the  sword  your  youths — besides  the  capture  of  your 
horses — and  I  brought  up  the  stench  of  your  camps  to 
your  nostrils — yet  ye  did  not  return  to  Me:  oracle  of 
Jehovah. 

I  overturned  among  you,  like  God's  own  overturning  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  till  ye  became  as  a  brand  plucked 
from  the  burning — yet  ye  did  not  return  to  Me :  oracle  of 
Jehovah. 

This  recalls  a  passage  in  that  English  poem  of  which 
we  are  again  and  again  reminded  by  the  Book  of  Amos, 
The  Vision  of  Piers  Plowman.  It  is  the  sermon  of 
Reason  in  Passus  V.  (Skeat's  edition)  : — 

"  He  preved  that  thise  pestilences  •  were  for  pure  synne, 
And  the  southwest  vvynde  •  in  saterday  et  evene 
Was  pertliche  '  for  pure  pride  •  and  for  no  poynt  elles. 
Piries  and  plomtrees  •  were  puffed  to  the  erthe, 
In  ensample  ze  segges  '  •  ze  shulden  do  the  bettere. 
Beches  and  brode  okes  •  were  blowen  to  the  grounde. 
Torncd  upward  her  tailles  "  in  tokenynge  of  drede, 
That  dedly  synne  at  domesday  •  shal  fordon  *  hem  alle." 

In  the  ancient  world  it  was  a  settled  belief  that 
natural  calamities  like  these  were  the  effects  of  the 
deity's  wrath.  When  Israel  suffers  from  them  the 
prophets  take  for  granted  that  they  are  for  the  people's 
punishment,  I  have  elsewhere  shown  how  the  climate 
of  Palestine  lent  itself  to  these  convictions ;  in  this 
respect  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy  contrasts  it  with 
the  climate  of  Egypt*  And  although  some,  perhaps 
rightl}^,  have  scoffed  at  the  exaggerated  form  of  the 
belief,  that  God  is  angry  with  the  sons  of  men  every 
time  drought  or  floods  happen,  yet  the  instinct  is 
sound  which  in   all  ages  has  led  religious  people    to 

'  Apertly,  openly,  •  Undo. 

»  Men,  «  HioU  Geog.,  Chap,  iii.,  pp.  73  f. 


Amosiv.4-i3-]    THE  FALSE  PEACE   OF  RITUAL  163 

feel  that  such  things  are  inflicted  for  moral  purposes. 
In  the  economy  of  the  universe  there  may  be  ends  of 
a  purely  physical  kind  served  by  such  disasters,  apart 
altogether  from  their  meaning  to  man.  But  man  at  least 
learns  from  them  that  nature  does  not  exist  solely  for 
feeding,  clothing  and  keeping  him  wealthy  ;  nor  is  it 
anything  else  than  his  monotheism,  his  faith  in  God 
as  the  Lord  both  of  his  moral  life  and  of  nature,  which 
moves  him  to  believe,  as  Hebrew  prophets  taught  and 
as  our  early  English  seer  heard  Reason  herself  preach. 
Amos  had  the  more  need  to  explain  those  disasters  as 
the  work  of  the  God  of  righteousness,  because  his  con- 
temporaries, while  willing  to  grant  Jehovah  leadership 
in  war,  were  tempted  to  attribute  to  the  Canaanite  gods 
of  the  land  all  power  over  the  seasons. 

What,  however,  more  immediately  concerns  us  in  this 
passage  is  its  very  effective  contrast  between  men's 
treatment  of  God  and  God's  treatment  of  men.  They 
lavish  upon  Him  gifts  and  sacrifices.  He — on  His  side 
— sends  them  cleanness  of  teeth,  drought,  blasting  of 
their  fruits,  pestilence,  war  and  earthquake.  That  is  to 
say,  they  regard  Him  as  a  being  only  to  be  flattered 
and  fed.  He  regards  them  as  creatures  with  characters 
to  discipline,  even  at  the  expense  of  their  material 
welfare.  Their  views  of  Him,  if  religious,  are  sensuous 
and  gross ;  His  views  of  them,  if  austere,  are  moral  and 
ennobling.  All  this  may  be  grim,  but  it  is  exceeding 
grand  ;  and  short  as  the  efforts  of  Amos  are,  we  begin 
to  perceive  in  him  something  already  of  the  greatness 
of  an  Isaiah. 

And  have  not  those,  who  have  believed  as  Amos 
believed,  ever  been  the  strong  spirits  of  our  race,  making 
the  very  disasters  which  crushed  them  to  the  earth  the 
otkens  that  God  has  great  views  about  them  ?     Laugh 


i64  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

not  at  the  simple  peoples,  who  have  their  days  of 
humiliation,  and  their  fast-days  after  floods  and  stunted 
harvests.  For  they  take  these,  not  like  other  men,  as 
the  signs  of  their  frailty  and  helplessness ;  but  as 
measures  of  the  greatness  God  sees  in  them,  His 
provocation  of  their  souls  to  the  infinite  possibilities 
which  He  has  prepared  for  them. 

Israel,  however,  did  not  turn  even  at  the  fifth  call  to 
penitence,  and  so  there  remained  nothing  for  her  but  a 
fearful  looking  forward  to  judgment,  all  the  more  terrible 
that  the  prophet  does  not  define  what  the  judgment 
shall  be. 

Therefore  thus  shall  I  do  to  thee,  O  Israel:  because  I 
am  going  to  do  this  to  thee,  prepare  to  meet  thy  God,  O 
Israel.  For,  lo.  He  that  formeth  the  mountains,  and 
createth  the  wind,  and  declareth  to  man  what  His  thought 
is,  that  makcth  morning  darkness,  and  marcheth  on  the 
high  places  of  ea^ih,  Jehovah,  God  of  Hosts,  is  His  Name} 

2.  For  Worship,  Justice. 

Amos  v. 

In  the  next  of  these  groups  of  oracles  Amos  continues 
his  attack  on  the  national  ritual,  and  now  contrasts  it 
with  the  service  of  God  in  public  life — the  relief  of  the 
poor,  the  discharge  of  justice.  But  he  does  not  begin 
wnth  this.  The  group  opens  with  an  elegy,  which 
bewails  the  nation  as  already  fallen.  It  is  always 
difficult  to  mark  where  the  style  of  a  prophet  passes 
from  rhythmical  prose  into  what  we  may  justly  call  a 
metrical  form.  But  in  this  short  wail,  we  catch  the 
well-known    measure   of   the    Hebrew   dirge ;    not    so 

This  and  similar  passages  are  dealt  with  by  themselves  in 
Chap.  XI. 


,  Amos  v.]         THE  FALSE  PEACE  OF  RITUAL  165 

artistic  as  in  later  poems,  yet  with  at  least  the  charac- 
teristic couplet  of  a  long  and  a  short  line. 

Hear  this  word  which  I  lift  up  against  you — a  Dirge^ 
O  house  of  Israel: — 

Fallen,  no  more  shall  she  rise^ 

Virgin  of  Israel ! 
Flung  down  on  her  own  ground,  ' 

No  one  to  raise  her! 

The  Virgin,  which  with  Isaiah  is  a  standing  title  for 
Jerusalem  and  occasionally  used  of  other  cities,  is  here 
probably  the  whole  nation  of  Northern  Israel.  The 
explanation  follows.  It  is  War.  For  thus  saith  the 
Lord  Jehovah  :  The  city  that  goeth  forth  a  thousand  shall 
have  an  hundred  left;  and  she  that  goeth  forth  an  hundred 
shall  have  left  ten  for  the  house  of  Israel. 

But  judgment  is  not  yet  irrevocable.  There  break 
forthwith  the  only  two  promises  which  lighten  the  lower- 
ing darkness  of  the  book.  Let  the  people  turn  to 
Jehovah  Himself — and  that  means  let  them  turn  from 
the  ritual,  and  instead  of  it  purge  their  civic  life,  restore 
justice  in  their  courts  and  help  the  poor.  For  God  and 
moral  good  are  one.  It  is  seek  Me  and  ye  shall  live,  and 
seek  good  and  ye  shall  live.  Omitting  for  the  present  all 
argument  as  to  whether  the  interruption  of  praise  to 
the  power  of  Jehovah  be  from  Amos  or  another,  we 
read  the  whole  oracle  as  follows. 

Thus  saith  Jehovah  to  the  house  oj  Israel :  Seek  Me 
and  live.  But  seek  not  Bethel,  and  come  not  to  Gilgal, 
and  to  Beersheba  pass  not  over — to  come  to  Beersheba 
one  had  to  cross  all  Judah.  For  Gilgal  shall  taste  the 
gall  of  exile — it  is  not  possible  except  in  this  clumsy 
way  to  echo  the  prophet's  play  upon  words,  "  Ha-Gilgal 
galoh  yigleh  " — and  Bethel,  God's  house,  shall  become  an 


i66  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


idolatry.  This  rendering,  however,  scarcely  gives  the 
rude  force  of  the  original ;  for  the  word  rendered 
idolatry,  Aven,  means  also  falsehood  and  perdition, 
so  that  we  should  not  exaggerate  the  antithesis  if  we 
employed  a  phrase  which  once  was  not  vulgar :  And 
Bethely  house  of  God,  shall  go  to  the  devil !  ^  The  epigram 
was  the  more  natural  that  near  Bethel,  on  a  site  now 
uncertain,  but  close  to  the  edge  of  the  desert  to  which 
it  gave  its  name,  there  lay  from  ancient  times  a  village 
actually  called  Beth-Aven,  however  the  form  may  have 
risen.  And  we  shall  find  Hosea  stereotyping  this 
epigram  of  Amos,  and  calling  the  sanctuary  Beth-Aven 
oftener  than  he  calls  it  Beth-El.^  Seek  ye  Jehovah  and 
live,  he  begins  again,  lestH*>.  break  forth  like  fire,  O  house 
of  Joseph,  and  it  consume  and  there  be  none  to  quench  at 
Bethel.^  .  .  .*  He  that  made  the  Seven  Stars  and  Orion^ 


'  Cf.  LXX. :  Bat^7;\  iarax  ws  ovx  vw6.pxov<Ta. 

^  The  name  Bethel  is  always  printed  as  one  word  in  our  Hebrew 
texts.     See  Baer  on  Gen.  xii.  8. 

'  Wellhausen  thinks  at  Bethel  not  genuine.  But  Bethel  has  been 
singled  out  as  the  place  where  the  people  put  their  false  confidence, 
and  is  naturally  named  here.     LXX. :  t(^  oiKCii  'I<r/3a^\. 

*  Ver.  7  is  plainly  out  of  place  here,  as  the  LXX.  perceived,  and 
therefore  tried  to  give  it  anothei  rendering  which  would  make  it 
seem  in  place :  6  ■jroiQv  els  ti\pos  Kplp.a,  Kal  diKaioaivTjv  eis  yr)v  idrjKev. 
So  Ewald  removed  it  to  between  vv.  9  and  10.  There  it  begins  well 
another  oracle;  and  it  may  be  that  we  should  insert  before  it  *in, 
as  in  vv.  18,  vi.  i. 

'  Literally  the  Group  and  the  Giant.  HD^D,  Kimah,  signifies  group, 
or  little  heap.  Here  it  is  rendered  by  Aq.  and  at  Job  ix,  9  by 
LXX.  'ApKTovpos;  and  here  by  Theod.  and  in  Job  xxxviii.  31,  the 
chain,  or  cluster,  of  the  group  IlXeidSes  The  Targ.  and  Pesh.  always 
give  it  as  Kima,  x.e.  Pleiades.  And  this  is  the  rendering  of  most 
moderns.  But  Stern  takes  it  for  Sirius  with  its  constellation  of  the 
Great  Dog,  for  the  reason  that  this  is  the  brightest  of  all  stars,  and 
therefore  a  more  suitable  fellow  for  Orion  than  the  dimmer  Pleiadea 
can  be.     ?^D!D,  the  Fool  or  Giant,  is  the  Hebrew  name  of  'Qpiwv,  by 


Amos  v.]         THE  FALSE  PEACE   OF  RITUAL  167 

that  turneth  the  murk  ^  into  morning,  and  day  He 
darkeneth  to  night,  that  calleth  for  the  waters  of  the  sea 
and  poureth  them  out  on  the  face  of  the  earth — fehovah 
His  Name.  He  it  is  that  flashcth  out  ruin  ^  on  strength, 
and  bringeth  down  ^  destruction  on  the  fortified.  This 
rendering  of  the  last  verse  is  uncertain,  and  rightly 
suspected,  but  there  is  no  alternative  so  probable,  and 
it  returns  to  the  keynote  from  which  the  passage  started, 
that  God  should  break  forth  like  fire. 

Ah,  they  that  turn  justice  to  wormwood,  and  abase* 
righteousness  to  the  earth !  They  hate  him  that  re- 
proveth  in  the  gate — in  an  Eastern  city  both  the  law- 
court  and  place  of  the  popular  council — and  him  that 
speaketh  sincerely  they  abhor.  So  in  the  English  mystic's 
Vision  Peace  complains  of  Wrong  : — 

"I  dar  noughte  for  fere  of  hym  •  fyghte  ne  chyde."* 

Wherefore,  because  ye  trample  on  the  weak  and  take  from 
him  a  present  of  corn^  ye  have  built  houses  of  ashlar,^ 
but  ye  shall  not  dwell  in  them  ;  vineyards  for  pleasure 
have  ye  planted,  but  ye  shall  not  drink  of  their  wine. 
For  I  know  how  many  are  your  crimes,  and  how  forceful^ 

which  the  LXX.  render  it.  Targum  N7S''0.  To  the  ancient  world 
the  constellation  looked  like  the  figure  of  a  giant  fettered  in  heaven, 
"a  fool  so  far  as  he  trusted  in  his  bodily  strength  "  (Dillmann).  In 
later  times  he  was  called  Nimrod.  His  early  setting  came  at  the  time 
of  the  early  rains.     Cf.  with  the  passage  Job  ix.  9  and  xxxviii.  31. 

'  The  abstract  noun  meaning  deep  shadow,  LXX.  CKid,  and  rendered 
shadow  of  death  by  many  modern  versions. 

*  So  LXX.,  reading   IDCJ'   for   IK';  it  improves   the   rhythm,  and 
escapes  the  awkward  repetition  of  HCJ'. 

«  So  LXX. 

*  Possible  alternative :  make  stagnant. 

*  Vision  of  Piers  Plowman,  Passus  IV.,  1.  52.    Cf.  the  whole  passage. 

*  Uncertain;  Hitzig  takes  it  as  the  apodosis  of  the  previous  clause  : 
Ye  shall  hnve  to  take  ^roni  him  a  present  of  corn,  i.e.  as  alms. 

*  See  above,  p.  33.  »  C£  "  Pecca  fortiter." 


i68  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

your  sins — ye  that  browbeat  the  righteous,  take  bribes,  and 
bring  down  the  poor  in  the  gate  I  Therefore  the  prudent 
in  such  a  time  is  dumb,  for  an  evil  time  is  it  indeed. 

Seek  good  and  not  evil,  that  ye  may  live,  and  Jehovah 
God  of  Hosts  be  with  you,  as  ye  say  He  is.  Hate  evil 
and  love  good ;  and  in  the  gate  set  justice  on  her  feet 
again — peradventure  Jehovah  God  of  Hosts  may  have 
pity  on  the  remnant  of  Joseph.  If  in  the  Book  of  Amos 
there  be  any  passages,  which,  to  say  the  least,  do  not 
now  He  in  their  proper  places,  this  is  one  of  them.  For, 
firstly,  while  it  regards  the  nation  as  still  responsible 
for  the  duties  of  government,  it  recognises  them  as 
reduced  to  a  remnant.  To  find  such  a  state  of  affairs 
we  have  to  come  down  to  the  years  subsequent  to  734, 
when  Tiglath-Pileser  swept  into  captivity  all  Gilead  and 
Galilee — that  is,  two-thirds,  in  bulk,  of  the  territory 
of  Northern  Israel — but  left  Ephraim  untouched.  In 
answer  to  this,  it  may,  of  course,  be  pointed  out 
that  in  thus  calling  the  people  to  repentance,  so  that 
a  remnant  might  be  saved,  Amos  may  have  been 
contemplating  a  disaster  still  future,  from  which,  though 
it  was  inevitable,  God  might  be  moved  to  spare  a 
remnant.^  That  is  very  true.  But  it  does  not  meet 
this  further  difficulty,  that  the  verses  (14,  15)  plainly 
make  interruption  between  the  end  of  ver.  13  and 
the  beginning  of  ver.  16;  and  that  the  initial  therefore 
of  the  latter  verse,  while  it  has  no  meaning  in  its 
present  sequence,  becomes  natural  and  appropriate 
when  made  to  follow  immediately  on  ver.  13.  For 
all  these  reasons,  then,  I  take  vv.  14  and  15  as  a 
parenthesis,  whether  from  Amos  himself  or  from  a 
later  writer  who  can  tell  ?     But  it  ought  to  be  kept  in 

'  As,  for  instance,  the  prophet  looks  forward  to  in  iii.  12. 


Amos  V.J         THE  FALSE  PEACE   OF  RITUAL  169 

mind  that  in  other  prophetic  writings  where  judgment 
is  very  severe,  we  have  some  proof  of  the  later  insertion 
of  calls  to  repentance,  by  way  of  mitigation. 

Ver.  13  had  said  the  time  was  so  evil  that  the 
prudent  man  kept  silence.  ^  All  the  more  must  the 
Lord  Himself  speak,  as  ver.  16  now  proclaims.  There- 
fore thus  saith  Jehovah^  God  of  Hosts^  Lord:  On  all 
open  ways  lamentation,  and  in  all  streets  they  shall  be 
saying,  Ah  woe !  Ah  woe !  And  in  all  vineyards 
lamentation^  and  they  shall  call  the  ploughman  to  wailing 
and  to  lamentation  them  that  are  skilful  in  dirges — town 
and  country,  rustic  and  artist  alike — for  I  shall  pass 
through  thy  midst,  saith  Jehovah.  It  is  the  solemn 
formula  of  the  Great  Passover,  when  Egypt  was  filled 
with  wailing  and  there  were  dead  in  every  house. 

The  next  verse  starts  another,  but  a  kindred,  theme. 
As  blind  as  was  Israel's  confidence  in  ritual,  so  blind 
was  their  confidence  in  dogma,  and  the  popular  dogma 
was  that  of  the  Day  of  Jehovah. 

All  popular  hopes  expect  their  victory  to  come  in  a 
single  sharp  crisis — a  day.  And  again,  the  day  of 
any  one  means  either  the  day  he  has  appointed,  or 
the  day  of  his  display  and  triumph.  So  Jehovah's  day 
meant  to  the  people  the  day  of  His  judgment,  or  of 
His  triumph  :  His  triumph  in  war  over  their  enemies, 
His  judgment  upon  the  heathen.  But  Amos,  whose 
keynote  has  been  that  judgment  begins  at  home,  cries 
woe  upon  such  hopes,  and  tells  his  people  that  for  them 
the  day  of  Jehovah  is  not  victory,  but  rather  insidious, 
importunate,  inevitable  death.  And  this  he  describes 
as  a  man  who  has  lived,  alone  with  wild  beasts,  from 

'  God  of  Hosts,  perhaps  an  intrusion  (?)  between  *J1X  and  Hin*. 
•  I  have  ventured  to  rearrange  the  order  of  the  clauses,  which  ir 
the  original  is  evidently  dislocated. 


I70  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  jungles  of  the  Jordan,  where  the  lions  lurk,  to  the 
huts  of  the  desert  infested  by  snakes. 

Woe  unto  them  that  long  for  the  day  of  Jehovah  ! 
What  have  you  to  do  with  the  day  oj  Jehovah  ?  It  is 
darkness,  and  not  light.  As  when  a  man  flecth  from 
the  face  of  a  lion^  and  a  hear  falls  upon  him;  and  he 
comes  tnto  his  home^  and,  breathless,  leans  his  hand  upon 
the  wall,  and  a  serpent  bites  him.  And  then,  as  if  appeal- 
ing to  Pleaven  for  confirmation  :  Is  it  not  so  ?  Is  it 
not  darkness,  the  day  of  Jehovah,  and  not  light  ?  storm 
darkness,  and  not  a  ray  of  light  upon  it  ? 

Then  Amos  returns  to  the  worship,  that  nurse  of 
their  vain  hopes,  that  false  prophet  of  peace,  and  he 
hears  God  speak  more  strongly  than  ever  of  its  futility 
and  hatefulness. 

/  hate,  I  loathe  your  feasts,  and  I  will  not  smell  the 
savour  of  your  gatherings  to  sacrifice.  For  with  pagan 
folly  they  still  believed  that  the  smoke  of  their  burnt- 
offerings  went  up  to  heaven  and  flattered  the  nostrils 
of  Deity.  How  ingrained  was  this  belief  may  be 
judged  by  us  from  the  fact  that  the  terms  of  it  had 
to  be  adopted  by  the  apostles  of  a  spiritual  religion, 
if  they  would  make  themselves  understood,  and  are 
now  the  metaphors  of  the  sacrifices  of  the  Christian 
heart. ^  Though  ye  bring  to  Me  burnt-offerings  and  your 
meal-offerings  I  will  not  be  pleased,  or  your  thank- 
offerings  of  fatted  calves,  I  will  not  look  at  them.  Let 
cease  froivi  Me  the  noise  of  thy  songs ;  to  the  playing  of 
thy  viols  I  will  not  listen.  But  let  justice  roll  on  like 
water,  and  righteousness  like  an  unfailing  stream. 

Then  follows  the  remarkable  appeal  from  the  habits 
of  this  age  to  those  of  the  times  of  Israel's  simplicity. 
Was  it  flesh-  or  nieal-offerings  that  ye  brought  Me  in  the 
*  Lit.  the  house.  *  Eph.  v.  2 ;  etc 


Amos  v.]         THE  FALSE  PEACE   OF  RITUAL  l?! 

wilderner^s,  forty  years,  O  house  oj  Israel?^  That  is  to 
say,  at  the  very  time  when  God  made  Israel  His  people, 
anoi  led  them  safely  to  the  promised  land — the  time 
wl'on  of  all  others  He  did  most  for  them — He  was 
not  moved  to  such  love  and  deliverance  by  the  pro- 
pitiatory bribes,  which  this  generation  imagine  to 
be  so  availing  and  indispensable.  Nay,  those  still 
shall  not  avail,  for  exile  from  the  land  shall  now  as 
surely  come  in  spite  of  them,  as  the  possession  of 
the  land  in  old  times  came  without  them.  This  at 
least  seems  to  be  the  drift  of  the  very  obscure  verse 
which  follows,  and  is  the  unmistakable  statement  of 
the  close  of  the  oracle.  But  ye  shall  lift  up  .  .  .  your 
kinfi  and  .  .  .  your  god,  images  which  you  have  made 
for  yourselves ;  ^  and  I  will  carry  you  away  into  exile  far 

'  No  one  doubts  that  this  verse  is  interrogative.  But  the  Autho- 
rised Eng.  Ver.  puts  it  in  a  form — Have  ye  brought  unto  Me  ?  etc. — 
which  implies  blame  that  they  did  not  do  so.  Ewald  was  the  first  to 
see  that,  as  rendered  above,  an  appeal  to  the  forty  years  was  the 
real  intention  of  the  verse.  So  after  him  nearly  all  critics,  also  the 
Revised  Eng.  Ver.  :  Did  ye  bring  unto  Me?  On  the  whole  question 
of  the  possibility  of  such  an  appeal  see  above,  pp.  lOO  ff.,  and  cf. 
Jer.  vii.  22,  which  distinctly  declares  that  in  the  wilderness  God 
prescribed  no  ritual  to  Israel. 

'  Ver.  26  is  very  difficult,  for  both  the  text  and  the  rendering  of 
all  the  possible  alternatives  of  it  are  quite  uncertain.  (l)  As  to  the 
ttxt,  the  present  division  into  words  must  be  correct;  at  least  no 
other  is  possible.  But  the  present  order  of  the  words  is  obviously 
wrong.  For  your  images  is  evidently  described  by  the  relative  clause 
which  vou  have  made,  and  ought  to  stand  next  it.  What  then  is  to 
be  done  with  the  two  words  that  at  present  come  between — star  of 
your  godl  Are  they  both  a  mere  gloss,  as  Robertson  Smith  holds, 
and  therefore  to  be  struck  out?  or  should  they  precede  the  pair  of 
words,  DD''D7V  JVS,  which  they  now  follow?  This  is  the  order  of  the 
text  which  the  LXX.  translator  had  before  him,  only  for  }D  he  mis- 
read JS^T  or  |T^T  ;  /cai  dveXd^ere  tt]v  (tktjvw  tou  Mu/Kbx  kcu  rb  S-arpov 
row  Geou  vfiCiv  'Pai<pdv  ['Pe</)di',  Q],  Toys  rinrovi  avrCiv  [om.  AQ]  oOs 
^TotiJaaTe  iavToi%.     This  arrangement  has  the  further  evidence  in  its 


172  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

beyond  Damascus,  saith  Jehovah — God  of  Hosts  is  His 
Name  !^    So  this  chapter  doses  like  the  previous,  with 

favour,  that  it  brings  your  god  into  proper  parallel  with  your  king. 
The  Hebrew  text  would  then  run  thus:  — 

(2)  The  translation  of  this  text  is  equally  difficult :  not  in  the  verb 
DnSi;^'31,  for  both  the  grammar  and  the  argument  oblige  us  to  take  it 
as  future,  and  ye  shall  lift  up ;  but  in  the  two  words  DIDD  and  JVD- 
Are  these  common  nouns,  or  proper  names  of  deities  in  apposition  to 
your  king  and  your  god  1  The  LXX.  takes  ni3D  as  =  tabernacle,  and 
|V3  as  a  proper  name  (Theodotion  takes  both  as  proper  names). 
The  Auth.  Eng.  Ver.  follows  the  LXX.  (except  that  it  takes  king 
for  the  name  il/o/ocA).  Schrader  (Stud.  u.  Krit.,  1874,  324;  K.A.T., 
442  f.)  takes  them  as  the  consonants  of  Sakkut,  a  name  of  the  Assyrian 
god  Adar,  and  of  Kewan,  the  Assyrian  name  for  the  planet  Saturn  :  Ye 
shall  take  up  Sakkut  your  king  and  Kewan  your  star-god,  your  images 
which  . . .  Baethgen  goes  further  and  takes  both  the  "]?D  of  D3"'3?D  and 
the  Oi?)i  of  D3''D"PV  as  Moloch  and  Selam,  proper  names,  in  combination 
with  Sakkut  and  Kewan  (Beiir.  z.  Sent.  Rel.,  239).  Now  it  is  true 
that  the  Second  Book  of  Kings  implies  that  the  worship  of  the  host 
of  heaven  existed  in  Samaria  before  its  fall  (2  Kings  xvii.  16),  but 
the  introduction  into  Samaria  of  Assj'rian  gods  (among  them  Adar) 
is  placed  by  it  after  the  fall  (2  Kings  xvii.  31),  and  besides,  Amos 
does  not  elsewhere  speak  of  the  worship  of  foreign  gods,  nor  is  the 
mention  of  them  in  any  way  necessary  to  the  argument  here.  On 
the  contrary,  even  if  Amos  were  to  mention  the  worship  of  idols  by 
Israel,  would  he  have  selected  at  this  point  the  Assyrian  ones?  (See, 
however,  Tiele,  Revue  de  tHistoire  des  Religions,  III.,  p.  211,  who 
makes  Koun  and  the  planet  Keiwan  purely  Phoenician  deities.) 
Some  critics  take  ni2D  and  }VD  as  common  nouns  in  the  construct 
state.  So  Ewald,  and  so  most  recently  Robertson  Smith  {O.T.J. C,  2) : 
the  shrine  of  your  king  and  the  stand  of  your  images.  This  is  more  in 
harmony  with  the  absence  from  the  rest  of  Amos  of  any  hint  as  to  the 
worship  of  idols,  but  an  objection  to  it,  and  a  very  strong  one,  is  that 
the  alleged  common  nouns  are  not  found  elsewhere  in  Hebrew.  In 
view  of  this  conflicting  evidence  it  is  best  therefore  to  leave  the  words 
untranslated,  as  in  the  text  above.  It  is  just  possible  that  they  maj' 
themselves  be  later  insertions,  for  the  verse  would  read  very  well 
without  them  :  And  ye  shall  lift  up  your  king  and  your  images  which 
you  have  made  to  yourselves. 

The  last  clause  is  peculiar.     Two  clauses  seem  to  have  run  into 


Amosv.,vi.]       THE  FALSE  PEACE  OF  RITUAL  i73 

the  marshalling  of  God's  armies.  But  as  there  His 
hosts  were  the  movements  of  Nature  and  the  Great 
Stars,  so  here  they  are  the  nations  of  the  world.  By 
His  rule  of  both  He  is  the  God  of  Hosts, 

3.  "At  Ease  in  Zion." 

Amos  vi. 

The  evil  of  the  national  worship  was  the  false  politi- 
cal confidence  which  it  engendered.  Leaving  the 
ritual  alone,  Amos  now  proceeds  to  assault  this  con- 
fidence. We  are  taken  from  the  public  worship  of  the 
people  to  the  private  banquets  of  the  rich,  but  again 
only  in  order  to  have  their  security  and  extravagance 
contrasted  with  the  pestilence,  the  war  and  the  cap- 
tivity, that  are  rapidly  approaching. 

Woe  unto  them  that  are  at  ease  in  Zion  * — it  is  a  proud 
and  overweening  ease  which  the  word  expresses — and 
that  trust  in  the  mount  of  Samaria  !  Men  of  mark  of  the 
first  of  the  peoples — ironically,  for  that  is  Israel's  opinion 
of  itself — and  to  them  do  the  house  of  Israel  resort  I .  .  .* 

one — saith  Jehovah,  God  oj  Hosts,  and  God  of  Hosts  is  His  Name. 
The  word  1DJJ'  =  His  Name,  may  have  been  added  to  give  the  oracle 
the  same  conclusion  as  the  oracle  at  the  end  of  the  preceding 
chapter;  and  it  is  not  to  be  overlooked  that  lOK'at  the  end  of  a  clause 
does  not  occur  elsewhere  in  the  book  outside  the  three  questioned 
Doxologies  iv.  13,  v.  8,  ix.  6.     Further,  see  below,  pp.  204  f, 

'  In  Zion:  "very  suspicious,"  Cornill.     But  see  pp.  135  f. 

'  I  remove  ver.  2  to  a  note,  not  that  I  am  certain  that  it  is  not 
by  Amos — who  can  be  dogmatic  on  such  a  point? — but  because  the 
text  of  it,  the  place  which  it  occupies,  and  its  relation  to  the  facts 
of  current  history,  all  raise  doubts.  Moreover  it  is  easily  detached 
from  the  context,  without  disturbing  the  flow  of  the  chapter,  which 
indeed  runs  more  equably  without  it.  The  Massoretic  text  gives : 
Pass  over  to  Calneh,  and  see;  and  go  thence  to  Hamath  Rabbah, 
and  come  down  to  Gath  of  the  Philistines :  are  they  better  than  thest 
kingdoms,  or  is  their  territory  larger  than  yours  ?    Presumably  thest 


174  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Ye  that  put  off  the  day  of  calann'ly  ^  and  draw  near  the 
sessions  of  injustice  ^ — an  epigram  and  proverb,  for  it 
is  the  universal  way  of  men  to  wish  and  fancy  far 
away  the  very  crisis  that  their  sins  are  hastening  on. 
Isaiah  described  this  same  generation  as  drawing 
iniquity  with  cords  of  hypocrisy,  and  sin  as  it  were 
with  a  cart-rope  1  That  lie  on  ivory  diivans  and  sprawl 
on  their  couches — another  luxurious  custom,  which 
filled  this  rude  shepherd  with  contempt — and  eat  lambs 
from  the  flock  and  calves  from  the  midst  of  the  stall ' — 

kingdoms  are  Judah  and  Israel.  But  that  can  only  mean  that  Israel 
is  the  best  of  the  peoples,  a  statement  out  of  harmony  with  the  irony 
of  ver.  I,  and  impossible  in  the  mouth  of  Amos.  Geiger,  therefore, 
proposes  to  read  :  "  Are  you  better  than  these  kingdoms — i.e.  Calneh, 
Hamath,  Gath — or  is  your  territory  larger  than  theirs  ? "  But 
this  is  also  unlikely,  for  Israel's  territory  was  much  larger  than 
Gath's.  Besides,  the  question  would  have  force  only  if  Calneh, 
Hamath  and  Gath  had  already  fallen.  Gath  had,  but  it  is  at  least 
very  questionable  whether  Hamath  had.  Therefore  Schrader  (K.A.  T., 
444)  rejects  the  whole  verse;  and  Kuenen  agrees  that  if  we  are  to 
understand  Assyrian  conquests,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  retain  the 
verses.  Bickell's  first  argument  against  the  verse,  that  it  does  not 
fit  into  the  metrical  system  of  Amos  vi.  I-7,  is  precarious ;  his  second, 
that  it  disturbs  the  grammar,  which  it  makes  to  jump  suddenly  from 
the  third  person  in  ver.  I  to  the  second  in  ver.  2,  and  back  to  the 
third  in  ver.  3,  is  not  worth  anything,  for  such  a  jump  occurs  within 
ver.  3  itself. 

'  Davidson,  Syntax,  §  100,  R.  5. 

*  DDn  n2\i} ;  LXX.  aap^aruiv  fevSQv,  on  which  hint  Hoffmann 
renders  the  verse:  "you  that  daily  demand  the  tribute  of  evil 
(cf.  Ezek.  xvi.  33),  and  every  Sabbath  extort  by  violence."  But  this  is 
both  unnecessary  and  opposed  to  viii.  5,  which  tells  us  no  trade  was 
done  on  the  Sabbath.  n3C  is  to  be  taken  in  the  common  sense  ol 
sitting  in  judgment  (rather  than  with  Wellhausen),  in  the  sense  of 
the  enthronement  of  wrong-doing. 

'  To  this  day,  in  some  parts  of  Palestine,  the  general  fold  into 
which  the  cattle  are  shut  contains  a  portion  railed  off  for  calves  and 
lambs  (cf  Dr.  M.  Blanckenhorn  of  Erlangen  in  the  Mittheilungen  u. 
Nachrichten  of  the  D.P.V.,  1895,  p.  37,  with  a  sketch).  It  must  be  this 
to  which  Amos  refers. 


Amos  vi.]        THE  FALSE  PEACE   OF  RITUAL  175 

that  is,  only  the  most  delicate  of  meats — who  prate  or 
purr  or  babble  to  the  sound  of  the  viol,  and  as  if  they 
were  David  himself  invent  for  them  instruments  of 
song;^  who  drink  wine  by  eiverfuls — waterpotfuls — and 
anoint  with  the  finest  of  oil— yet  never  do  they  grieve  at 
the  havoc  of  Joseph!  The  havoc  is  the  moral  havoc, 
for  the  social  structure  of  Israel  is  obviously  still 
secure.*  The  rich  are  indifferent  to  it ;  they  have 
vi^ealth,  art,  patriotism,  religion,  but  neither  heart  for 
the  poverty  nor  conscience  for  the  sin  of  their  people. 
We  know  their  kind  1  They  are  always  with  us,  who 
live  well  and  imagine  they  are  proportionally  clever 
and  refined.  They  have  their  political  zeal,  will  rally 
to  an  election  when  the  interests  of  their  class  or 
their  trade  is  in  danger.  They  have  a  robust  and 
exuberant  patriotism,  talk  grandly  of  commerce,  empire 
and  the  national  destiny ;  but  for  the  real  woes  and 
sores  of  the  people,  the  poverty,  the  overwork,  the 
drunkenness,  the  dissoluteness,  which  more  affect  a 
nation's  life  than  anything  else,  they  have  no  pity  and 
no  care. 

Therefore  now — the  double  initial  of  judgment — 
shall  they  go  into  exile  at  the  head  of  the  exiles,  and 
stilled  shall  be  the  revelry  of  the  dissolute — literally  the 
sprawlers,  as  in  ver.  4,  but  used  here  rather  in  the 
moral  than  in  the  physical  sense.  Sworn  hath  the 
Lord  Jehovah    by  Himself— 'tis   the   oracle   of  Jehovah 


'  Or  perhaps  melodies,  airs. 

*  Of  course,  it  is  possible  that  here  again,  as  in  v.  15  and  16,  we 
have  prophecy  later  than  the  disaster  of  734,  when  Tiglath-Pileser 
made  a  great  breach  or  havoc  in  the  body  politic  of  Israel  by  taking 
Gilead  and  Galilee  captive.  But  this  is  scarcely  probable,  for  Amos 
almost  everywhere  lays  stress  'ipon  the  moral  corruption  of  Israel,  as 
her  real  and  essential  danger. 


176  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

God  of  Hosts :  I  am  loathing^  the  pride  of  Jacob,  and  his 
palaces  do  I  hate,  and  I  will  pack  up  a  city  and  its  fuU 
ness?  .  .  .  For,  behold,  Jehovah  is  commanding,  and  He 
will  smite  the  great  house  into  ruins  and  the  small  house 
into  splinters.  The  collapse  must  come,  postpone  '\t 
as  their  fancy  will,  for  it  has  been  worked  for  and  is 
inevitable.  How  could  it  be  otherwise  ?  Shall  horses 
run  on  a  cliff",  or  the  sea  be  ploughed  by  oxen  ^ — that  ye 
should  turn  justice  to  poison  and  the  fruit  of  righteous- 
ness to  wormwood!  Ye  that  exult  in  Lo-Debar  and 
say,  By  our  own  strength  have  we  taken  to  ourselves 
Karnaim.  So  Gratz  rightly  reads  the  verse.  The 
Hebrew  text  and  all  the  versions  take  these  names  as 
if  they  were  common  nouns — Lo-Debar,  a  thing  of 
nought ;  Karnaim,  a  pair  of  horns — and  doubtless  it  was 
just  because  of  this  possible  play  upon  their  names, 
that  Amos  selected  these  two  out  of  all  the  recent 
conquests  of  Israel.  Karnaim,  in  full  Ashteroth 
Karnaim,  Astarte  of  Horns,  was  that  immemorial 
fortress  and  sanctuary  which  lay  out  upon  the  great 
plateau  of  Bashan  towards  Damascus  ;  so  obvious  and 
cardinal  a  site  that  it  appears  in  the  sacred  history 
both  in  the  earliest  recorded  campaign  in  Abraham's 
time  and  in  one  of  the  latest  under  the  Maccabees.* 
Lo-Debar  was  of  Gilead,  and  probably  lay  on  that 
last  rampart  of  the  province  northward,  overlooking 
the    Yarmuk,    a    strategical    point    which    must    have 

'  nxriD  for  2i;no 

*  Some  words  must  have  dropped  out  here.  For  these  and  the 
following  verses  9  and  10  on  the  pestilence  see  pp.  1 78  ff. 

*  So  Michaelis,  DJ  11^33  for  D^i'??? 

*  Gen.  xiv.  5 ;  i  Mace.  v.  In  the  days  of  Eusebius  and  Jerome 
(4th  century)  there  were  two  places  of  the  name  :  one  of  them  doubt- 
less the  present  Tell  Ashtara  south  of  El-Merkez,  the  other  distant 
from  that  fourteen  Roman  miles. 


Amosvi.]        THE  FALSE  PEACE  OF  RITUAL  177 

often  been  contested  by  Israel  and  Aram,  and  with 
which  no  other  Old  Testament  name  has  been  identi- 
fied.^ These  two  fortresses,  with  many  others,  Israel 
had  lately  taken  from  Aram  ;  but  not,  as  they  boasted, 
by  their  own  strength.  It  was  only  Aram's  pre-occupa- 
tion  with  Assyria  now  surgent  on  the  northern  flank, 
which  allowed  Israel  these  easy  victories.  And  this 
same  northern  foe  would  soon  overwhelm  themselves. 
For,  behold,  I  am  to  raise  up  against  you,  O  house  of 
Israel — His  the  oracle  of  fehovah  God  of  the  hosts  ^ — a 
Nation,  and  they  shall  oppress  you  from  the  Entrattce  of 
Hamath  to  the  Torrent  of  the  'Arabah.  Every  one  knows 
the  former,  the  Pass  between  the  Lebanons,  at  whose 
mouth  stands  Dan,  northern  limit  of  Israel ;  but  it  is 
hard  to  identify  the  latter.  If  Amos  means  to  in- 
clude Judah,  we  should  have  expected  the  Torrent  of 
Egypt,  the  present  Wady  el  'Arish  ;  but  the  Wady  of 
the  'Arabah  may  be  a  coiTesponding  valley  in  the 
eastern  watershed  issuing  in  the  'Arabah.  If  Amos 
threatens  only  the  Northern  Kingdom,  he  intends  some 
wady  running  down  to  that  Sea  of  the  'Arabah,  the 
Dead  Sea,  which  is  elsewhere  given  as  the  limit  of 
Israel.' 

'  Along  this  ridge  ran,  and  still  runs,  one  of  the  most  important 
highways  to  the  East,  that  from  Beth-Shan  by  Gadera  to  Edrei. 
About  seven  miles  east  from  Gadera  lies  a  village,  Ibdar,  "  with  a 
good  sprhig  and  some  ancient  remains"  (Schumacher,  N.  Ajhin,  loi). 
Lo-Debar  is  mentioned  in  2  Sam.  ix.  45  ;  xvii.  27  ;  and  doubtless 
the  Lidebir  of  Josh.  xiii.  26  on  the  north  border  of  Gilead  is  the 
same. 

*  With  the  article,  an  unusual  form  of  the  title,  LXX.  here  Kvpioi 
rdv  Svvdfiewy. 

*  2  Kings  xiv.  25.  The  Torrent  of  the  'Arabah  can  scarcely  be  the 
Torrent  of  the  'Arabim  of  Isa.  xv.  7,  for  the  latter  was  outside  Israel's 
territory,  and  the  border  between  Moab  and  Edom.  The  LXX 
render  Torrent  of  the  West,  rQi>  bvaixCov 

VOL.  L  '12 


178  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

The  Assyrian  flood,  then,  was  about  to  break,  and 
the  oracles  close  with  the  hopeless  prospect  of  the 
whole  land  submerged  beneath  it. 

4.  A  Fragment  from  the  Plague. 

In  the  above  exposition  we  have  omitted  two  very 
curious  verses,  9  and  10,  which  are  held  by  some 
critics  to  interrupt  the  current  of  the  chapter,  and  to 
reflect  an  entirely  different  kind  of  calamity  from  that 
which  it  predicts.  I  do  not  think  these  critics  right, 
for  reasons  I  am  about  to  give ;  but  the  verses  are  so 
remarkable  that  it  is  most  convenient  to  treat  them 
by  themselves  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  chapter. 
Here  they  are,  with  the  verse  immediately  in  front  of 
them. 

/  am  loathing  the  pride  of  Jacob,  and  his  palaces  I 
hate.  And  I  will  give  up  a  city  and  its  fulness  to  .  .  . 
(perhaps  siege  or  pestilence  ?).  And  it  shall  come  to 
pass,  if  there  be  left  ten  men  in  one  house,  and  they 
die^.  .  .  that  his  cousin  ^  and  the  man  to  burn  him  shall 
lift  him  to  bring  the  body^  out  of  the  house,  and  they 
shall  say  to  one  who  is  in  the  recesses  of  the  house,* 
Are  there  any  more  with  thee  ?  And  he  shall  say,  Not 
one  .  .  .  and  they  shall  say,  Hush  !  {Jor  one  must  not 
make  mention  of  the  name  of  Jehovah). 

This  grim  fragment  is  obscure  in  its  relation  to  the 

'  Here  there  is  evidently  a  gap  in  the  text.  The  LXX.  insert 
<a2  iToXei^drja-oi'Tai  oi  KaTaXoitroi ;  perhaps  therefore  the  text  originally 
ran  and  the  survivors  die. 

'  Or  uncle -i\\3X  is,  a  distant  relative,  presumably  because  all  the 
near  ones  are  dead. 

'  Literally  bones. 
LXX.  Toh  irpoearrfKbai'.  evidently  in  ignorance  of  the  reading  or 
the  meaning. 


Amos  vi.  9,  lo.]    THE  FALSE  PEACE  OF  RITUAL  179 

context.  But  the  death  of  even  so  large  a  household 
as  ten — the  funeral  left  to  a  distant  relation — the  dis- 
posal of  the  bodies  by  burning  instead  of  the  burial 
customary  among  the  Hebrews  ^ — sufficiently  reflect  the 
kind  of  calamity.  It  is  a  weird  little  bit  of  memory, 
the  recollection  of  an  eye-witness,  from  one  of  those 
great  pestilences  which,  during  the  first  half  of  the 
eighth  century,  happened  not  seldom  in  Western  Asia.^ 
But  what  does  it  do  here?  Wellhausen  says  that 
there  is  nothing  to  lead  up  to  the  incident ;  that  before 
it  the  chapter  speaks,  not  of  pestilence,  but  only  of 
political  destruction  by  an  enemy.  This  is  not  accurate. 
The  phrase  immediately  preceding  may  mean  either  / 
will  shut  up  a  city  and  its  fulness,  in  which  case  a  siege 
is  meant,  and  a  siege  was  the  possibility  both  of  famine 
and  pestilence;  or  I  will  give  up  the  city  and  its  fulness 
.  .  .  ,  in  which  case  a  word  or  two  may  have  been 
dropped,  as  words  have  undoubtedly  been  dropped  at 
the  end  of  the  next  verse,  and  one  ought  perhaps  to 
add  to  the  pestilence}  The  latter  alternative  is  the 
more  probable,  and  this  may  be  one  of  the  passages, 
already  alluded  to,*  in  which  the  want  of  connection 
with  the  preceding  verses  is  to  be  explained,  not  upon 
the   favourite   theory   that   there   has   been   a   violent 

'  The  burning  of  a  body  was  regarded,  as  we  have  seen  (Amos  ii.  l), 
as  a  great  sacrilege  ;  and  was  practised,  outside  times  of  pestilence 
only  in  cases  of  great  criminals:  Lev.  xx.  14  ;  xxi.  9;  Josh.  vii.  25. 
Doughty  {Arabia  Deserta,  68)  mentions  a  case  in  which,  in  Medina,  a 
Persian  pilgrim  was  burned  to  death  by  an  angry  crowd  for  defiling 
Mohammed's  tomb. 

*  The  Assyrian  inscriptions  record  at  least  three — in  803,  765,  759. 

■  As  in  Psalm  Ixxviii.  50.  T*5prij  to  give  up,  is  so  seldom  used 
absolutely  (Deut.  xxxii.  30  is  poetry  and  elliptic)  that  we  may  well 
believe  it  was  followed  by  words  signifying  to  what  the  city  was  to 
be  given  up.  *  Pp.  141  f. 


i8o  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

intrusion  into  the  text,  but  upon  the  too  much  neglected 
hypothesis  that  some  words  have  been  lost. 

The  uncertainty  of  the  text,  however,  does  not 
weaken  the  impression  of  its  ghastly  realism :  the 
unclean  and  haunted  house ;  the  kinsman  and  the 
body-burner  afraid  to  search  through  the  infected 
rooms,  and  calling  in  muffled  voice  to  the  single 
survivor  crouching  in  some  far  corner  of  them,  Are 
there  any  more  with  thee?  his  reply.  None — himself 
the  next  1  Yet  these  details  are  not  the  most  weird. 
Over  all  hangs  a  terror  darker  than  the  pestilence. 
Shall  there  be  evil  in  a  city  and  Jehovah  not  have  done  it  ? 
Such,  as  we  have  heard  from  Amos,  was  the  settled 
faith  of  the  age.  But  in  times  of  woe  it  was  held  with 
an  awful  and  a  craven  superstition.  The  whole  of  life 
was  believed  to  be  overhung  with  loose  accumulations 
of  Divine  anger.  And  as  in  some  fatal  hollow  in  the 
high  Alps,  where  any  noise  may  bring  down  the 
impending  masses  of  snow,  and  the  fearful  traveller 
hurries  along  in  silence,  so  the  men  of  that  superstitious 
age  feared,  when  an  evil  like  the  plague  was  imminent, 
even  to  utter  the  Deity's  name,  lest  it  should  loosen 
some  avalanche  of  His  wrath.  And  he  said,  Htishl  for^ 
adds  the  comment,  one  must  not  make  mention  of  the 
name  of  Jehovah. 

This  reveals  another  side  of  the  popular  religion 
which  Amos  has  been  attacking.  We  have  seen  it 
as  the  sheer  superstition  of  routine ;  but  we  now 
know  that  it  was  a  routine  broken  by  panic.  The 
God  who  in  times  of  peace  was  propitiated  by  regular 
supplies  of  savoury  sacrifice  and  flattery,  is  conceived, 
when  His  wrath  is  roused  and  imminent,  as  kept 
quiet  only  by  the  silence  of  its  miserable  objects. 
The  false  peace  of  ritual  is  tempered  by  panic. 


CHAPTER  X 

DOOM  OR  DISCIPLINE  f 
Amos  viii.  4 — ix. 

WE  now  enter  the  Third  Section  of  the  Book  of 
Amos :  chaps,  vii. — ix.  As  we  have  ah-eady 
treated  the  first  part  of  it — the  group  of  four  visions, 
which  probably  formed  the  prophet's  discourse  at 
Bethel,  with  the  interlude  of  his  adventure  there 
(vii. — viii.  3)  ^ — we  may  pass  at  once  to  what  remains  : 
from  viii.  4  to  the  end  of  the  book.  This  portion 
consists  of  groups  of  oracles  more  obscure  in  their 
relations  to  each  other  than  any  we  have  yet  studied, 
and  probably  containing  a  number  of  verses  which  are 
not  from  Amos  himself.  They  open  in  a  denunciation 
of  the  rich,  which  echoes  previous  oracles,  and  soon 
pass  to  judgments  of  a  kind  already  threatened,  but 
now  with  greater  relentlessness.  Then,  just  as  all  is 
at  the  darkest,  lights  break ;  exceptions  are  made  ; 
the  inevitable  captivity  is  described  no  more  as  doom, 
but  as  discipline ;  and,  with  only  this  preparation  for 
a  change,  we  are  swept  out  on  a  scene,  in  which, 
although  the  land  is  strewn  with  the  ruins  that  have 
been  threatened,  the  sunshine  of  a  new  day  floods 
them ;    the    promise  of    restoration    is  given ;    Nature 

'  See  Chapter  VI.,  Section  3. 
181 


i83  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

herself  will  be  regenerated,  and  the  whole  life  of  Israel 
planted  on  its  own  ground  again. 

Whether  it  was  given  to  Amos  himself  to  behold 
this  day — whether  these  last  verses  of  the  book  were 
his  "  Nunc  Dimittis,"  or  the  hope  of  a  later  generation, 
which  found  his  book  intolerably  severe,  and  mingled 
with  its  judgments  their  own  new  mercies — we  shall 
try  to  discover  further  on.  Meanwhile  there  is  no 
doubt  that  we  start  with  the  authentic  oracles  of  the 
prophet.  We  know  the  ring  of  his  voice.  To  the 
tyranny  of  the  rich,  which  he  has  so  often  lashed,  he 
now  adds  the  greed  and  fraud  of  the  traders  ;  and  he 
paints  Israel's  doom  in  those  shapes  of  earthquake, 
eclipse  and  famine  with  which  his  own  generation 
had  recently  become  familiar.  Note  that  in  this  first 
group  Amos  employs  only  physical  calamities,  and 
says  nothing  of  war  and  captivity.  If  the  standard 
which  we  have  already  applied  to  the  growth  of  his 
doctrine  be  correct,  these  ought  therefore  to  be  counted 
among  his  earlier  utterances.  War  and  captivity  follow 
in  chap.  ix.  That  is  to  say,  this  Third  Section  follows 
the  same  line  of  development  as  both  the  First  and 
the  Second. 

I.  Earthquake,  Eclipse  and  Famine. 

Amos  viii.  4-14. 

Hear  this,  ye  who  trample  the  needy,  and  would  put 
an  end  to  ^  the  lowly  of  the  land,  saying,  When  will 
the  Neiv-Moon  be  over,  that  we  may  sell  grain,  and  the 
Sabbath,  that  we  may  open  corn  (by  making  small  the 
measure,  but  large  the  weight,  and  falsifying  the  frau- 
dulent balances  ;  buying  the  wretched  for  silver,  and  the 

'  The  phiase  is  uncertain. 


Amosviii.4-i4-]       DOOM  OR  DISCIPLINE  7  183 

needy  for  a  pair  of  shoes  /),  and  that  we  may  sell  as  grain 
the  refuse  of  the  corn  !  The  parenthesis  puzzles,  but  is 
not  impossible :  in  the  speed  of  his  scorn,  A.mos  might 
well  interrupt  the  speech  of  the  merchants  by  these 
details  of  their  fraud,*  flinging  these  in  their  teeth 
as  they  spoke.  The  existence  at  this  date  of  the 
New-Moon  and  Sabbath  as  days  of  rest  from  business 
is  interesting ;  but  even  more  interesting  is  the  peril 
to  which  they  lie  open.  As  in  the  case  of  the  Nazirites 
and  the  prophets,  we  see  how  the  religious  institutions 
and  opportunities  of  the  people  are  threatened  by 
worldliness  and  greed.  And,  as  in  every  other  relevant 
passage  of  the  Old  Testament,  we  have  the  interests 
of  the  Sabbath  bound  up  in  the  same  cause  with  the 
interests  of  the  poor.  The  Fourth  Commandment 
enforces  the  day  of  rest  on  behalf  of  the  servants  and 
bondsmen.  When  a  later  prophet  substitutes  for 
religious  fasts  the  ideals  of  social  service,  he  weds 
with  the  latter  the  security  of  the  Sabbath  from  all 
business.^  So  here  Amos  emphasises  that  the  Sabbath 
is  threatened  by  the  same  worldliness  and  love  of 
money  which  tramples  on  the  helpless.  The  interests 
of  the  Sabbath  are  the  interests  of  the  poor :  the 
enemies  of  the  Sabbath  are  the  enemies  of  the  poor. 
And  all  this  illustrates  our  Saviour's  saying,  that  the 
Sabbath  was  made  for  man. 

'  Wellhausen  thinks  that  the  prophet  could  not  have  put  the 
parenthesis  in  the  mouth  of  the  traders,  and  therefore  regards  it  as 
an  intrusion  or  gloss.  I>ut  this  is  hypercriticisra.  The  last  clause, 
however,  may  be  a  mere  clerical  repetition  of  ii.  6. 

*  Isa.  Iviii.  See  the  exposition  of  the  passage  in  the  writer's 
Isaiah  xl. — Ixvi.  (Expositor's  Bible  Series),  pp.  417  ff. :  "  Our  prophet, 
while  exalting  the  practical  service  of  man  at  the  expense  of  certaia 
religious  forms,  equally  exalts  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath;  ...  he 
places  the  keeping  of  the  Sabbath  on  a  level  with  the  practice  of  love." 


l84  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

But,  as  in  the  rest  of  the  book,  judgment  again 
follows  hard  on  sin.  Sworn  hath  Jehovah  by  the  pride 
of  Jacob  ^  Never  shall  I  forget  their  deeds.  It  is  as  before. 
The  chief  spring  of  the  prophet's  inspiration  is  his 
burning  sense  of  the  personal  indignation  of  God 
against  crimes  so  abominable.  God  is  the  God  of 
the  poor,  and  His  anger  rises,  as  we  see  the  anger 
of  Christ  arise,  heavy  against  their  tyrants  and  oppres- 
sors. Such  sins  are  intolerable  to  Him.  But  the 
feeling  of  their  intolerableness  is  shared  by  the  land 
itself,  the  very  fabric  of  nature ;  the  earthquake  is  the 
proof  of  it.  For  all  this  shall  not  the  land  tremble  and 
her  every  inhabitajit  mourn  ?  and  she  shall  rise  like  the 
Nile  in  mass,  and  heave  and  sink  like  the  Nile  of  Egypt} 

To  the  earthquake  is  added  the  eclipse :  one  had 
happened  in  803,  and  another  in  763,  the  memory  of 
which  probably  inspired  the  form  of  this  passage.  And 
it  shall  be  in  that  day — V/s  the  oracle  of  the  Lord  Jehovah 
• — that  I  shall  bring  down  the  sun  at  noon,  and  cast  dark- 
ness on  the  earth  in  broad  day}  And  I  ivill  turn  your 
festivals  into  mow  ning,  and  all  your  songs  to  a  dirge. 
And  I  will  bring  up  upon  all  loins  sackcloth  and  on 
every  head  baldness,  and  I  will  make  it  like  the  mourning 
for  an  only  son,  and  the  end  of  it  as  a  bitter  day. 

But  the  terrors  of  earthquake  and  eclipse  are  not 
sufficient  for  doom,  and  famine  is  drawn  upon. 

Lo,  days  are  coming — V/s  the  oracle  of  the  Lord 
Jehovah — that  I  will  send  famine  on  the  land,  not  a 
famine  of  bread  nor  a  drouth  of  water,  but  of  hearing 
the  words  of  Jehovah.     And  they  shall  wander  from  sea 

'  She  shall  rise,  etc. — The  clause  is  almost  the  same  as  in  ix.  5^,  and 
the  text  differs  from  the  LXX.,  which  omits  and  heave.  Is  it  an 
insertion  ? 

*  Literally  in  the  day  of  light. 


Amos viii. 4-14]       DOOM  OR  DISCIPLINE?  185 

to  sea,  and  from  the  dark  North  to  the  Sunrise  shall  they 
run  to  and  fro,  to  seek  the  word  of  Jehovah,  and  they  shall 
not  find  it;  .  .  .  who  swear  by  Samaria's  Guilt — the 
golden  calf  in  the  house  of  the  kingdom  at  Bethel  ^  — and 
say,  As  liveth  thy  God,  0  Dan  I  and,  As  liveth  the  way 
to  Beersheba  I  and  they  shall  fall  and  not  rise  any  more. 
I  have  omitted  ver.  13:  in  that  day  shall  the  fair  maids 
faint  and  the  youths  for  thirst ;  and  I  append  my  reasons 
in  a  note.  Some  part  of  the  received  text  must  go,  for 
while  vv.  1 1  and  1 2  speak  of  a  spiritual  drought,  the 
drought  of  13  is  physical.  And  ver.  14  follows  12 
better  than  it  follows  13.  The  oaths  mentioned  by 
Bethel,  Dan,  Beersheba,  are  not  specially  those  of  young 
men  and  maidens,  but  of  the  whole  nation,  that  run 
from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other,  Dan  to  Beer- 
sheba, seeking  for  some  word  of  Jehovah.^  One  of  the 
oaths.  As  liveth  the  way  to  Beersheba,^  is  so  curious  that 

'  That  is,  Samaria  is  used  in  the  wider  sense  of  the  kingdom,  not 
the  capital,  and  there  is  no  need  for  Wellhausen's  substitution  of 
Bethel  for  it. 

^  This  in  answer  to  Gunning  (^De  Godspraken  van  Amos,  1885), 
Wellh.  in  loco,  and  KOnig  (EinkiiuMg,  p.  304,  </),  who  reckon  vv.  II 
and  12  to  be  the  insertion  :  the  latter  on  the  additional  ground  that 
the  formula  of  ver.  13,  in  that  day,  points  back  to  ver.  9;  but  not  to  the 
Lo,  days  are  coming  of  ver.  II.  But  thus  to  miss  out  vv.  11  and  12 
leaves  us  with  greater  difficulties  than  before.  For  without  them 
!;ow  are  we  to  explain  the  thirst  of  ver.  13.  It  is  left  unintroduced  ; 
there  is  no  hint  of  a  drought  in  9  and  10.  It  seems  to  me  then  that, 
since  we  must  omit  some  verse,  it  ought  to  be  ver.  13;  and  this  the 
rather  that  if  omitted  it  is  not  missed.  It  is  just  the  kind  of  general 
statement  that  would  be  added  by  an  unthinking  scribe;  and  it  does 
not  readily  connect  with  ver.  14,  while  ver.  12  does  do  so.  For  why 
should  youths  and  maids  be  specially  singled  out  as  swearing  by 
Samaria,  Dan  and  Beersheba  ?  These  were  the  oaths  of  the  whole 
people,  to  whom  vv.  1 1  and  12  refer,  I  see  a  very  clear  case,  therefore, 
for  omitting  ver.  13. 

*  LXX.  here  gives  a  mere  repetition  of  the  preceding  oath. 


i86  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

some  have  doubted  if  the  text  be  correct.  But  strange 
as  it  may  appear  to  us  to  speak  of  the  life  of  the  Hfeless, 
this  often  happens  among  the  Semites.  To-day  Arabs 
"swear  wa  hydi,  'by  the  life  of/  even  of  things 
inanimate  ;  *  By  the  life  of  this  fire,  or  of  this  coffee.'  "  ^ 
And  as  Amos  here  tells  us  that  the  Israelite  pilgrims 
swore  by  the  way  to  Beersheba,  so  do  the  Moslems 
affirm  their  oaths  by  the  sacred  way  to  Mecca. 

Thus  Amos  returns  to  the  chief  target  of  his  shafts — 
the  senseless,  corrupt  worship  of  the  national  sanc- 
tuaries. And  this  time — perhaps  in  remembrance  of 
how  they  had  silenced  the  word  of  God  when  he  brought 
it  home  to  them  at  Bethel — he  tells  Israel  that,  with  all 
their  running  to  and  fro  across  the  land,  to  shrine  after 
shrine  in  search  of  the  word,  they  shall  suffer  from 
a  famine  and  drouth  of  it.  Perhaps  this  is  the  most 
effective  contrast  in  which  Amos  has  yet  placed  the 
stupid  ritualism  of  his  people.  With  so  many  things 
to  swear  by  ;  with  so  many  holy  places  that  once  were 
the  homes  of  Vision,  Abraham's  Beersheba,  Jacob's 
Bethel,  Joshua's  Gilgal — nay,  a  whole  land  over  which 
God's  voice  had  broken  in  past  ages,  lavish  as  the  rain ; 
with,  too,  all  their  assiduity  of  sacrifice  and  prayer,  they 
should  nevertheless  starve  and  pant  for  that  living 
word  of  the  Lord,  which  they  had  silenced  in  His 
prophet. 

Thus,  men  may  be  devoted  to  religion,  may  be 
loyal  to  their  sacred  traditions  and  institutions,  may 
haunt  the  holy  associations  of  the  past  and  be  very 
assiduous  with  their  ritual — and  yet,  because  of  their 
worldliness,  pride  and  disobedience,  never  feel  that 
moral  inspiration,  that  clear  call  to  duty,  that  comfort 

*  Doughty :  Arabia  Deserta  I.  269. 


Amos  ix.  1-6.]         DOOM  OR  DISCIPLINE  T  187 

in  pain,  that  hope  in  adversity,  that  good  conscience 
at  all  times,  which  spring  up  in  the  heart  Hke  living 
water.  Where  these  be  not  experienced,  orthodoxy, 
zeal,  lavish  ritual,  are  all  in  vain. 

2.    Nemesis. 

Amos  ix.  1-6. 

There  follows  a  Vision  in  Bethel,  the  opening  of 
which,  /  saw  the  Lord^  immediately  recalls  the  great 
inauguration  of  Isaiah.  He  also  saw  the  Lord;  but 
how  different  the  Attitude,  how  other  the  Word  I  To 
the  statesman-prophet  the  Lord  is  enthroned^  surrounded 
by  the  court  of  heaven ;  and  though  the  temple  rocks 
to  the  intolerable  thunder  of  their  praise,  they  bring 
to  the  contrite  man  beneath  the  consciousness  of  a 
life-long  mission.  But  to  Amos  the  Lord  is  standing 
and  alone — to  this  loaely  prophet  God  is  always  alone 
— and  His  message  may  be  summed  up  in  its  initial 
word.  Smite.  There — Government :  hierarchies  of 
service,  embassies,  clemencies,  healings,  and  though 
at  first  devastation,  thereafter  the  indestructible  hope 
of  a  future.  Here — Judgment :  that  Figure  of  Fate 
which  terror's  fascinated  eye  ever  sees  alone  ;  one  final 
blow  and  irreparable  ruin.  And  so,  as  with  Isaiah  we 
saw  how  constructive  prophecy  may  be,  with  Amos 
we  behold  only  the  preparatory  havoc,  the  levelling 
and  clearing  of  the  ground  of  the  future. 

/  have  seen  the  Lord  standing  ovet  the  Altar,  and 
He  said,  Smite  the  capital — of  the  pillar — that  the  very 
thresholds^  quake,  and  break  them  on  the  head  of  all 
of  them  I     It  is  a  shock  that  makes  the  temple  reel 

'  Since  it  is  the  capital  that  has  been  struck,  and  the  command  is 


l88  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

from  roof-tree  to  basement.  The  vision  seems  sub- 
sequent to  the  prophet's  visit  to  Bethel ;  and  it  gathers 
his  whole  attack  on  the  national  worship  into  one 
decisive  and  irreparable  blow.  The  last  of  them  will 
I  slay  with  the  sword:  there  shall  not  flee  away  of  them 
one  fugitive :  there  shall  not  escape  of  them  a  single 
survivor!  Neither  hell  nor  heaven,  mountain-top  nor 
sea-bottom,  shall  harbour  one  of  them.  If  they  break 
through  to  Sheol,  thence  shall  My  hand  take  them;  and 
if  they  climb  to  heaven,  thence  shall  I  bring  them  down. 
IJ  they  hide  in  Carmel's  top,  thence  will  I  find  them  ouf 
and  fetch  them;  and  if  they  conceal  themselves  from 
before  Mine  eyes  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  thence  shall  I 
charge  the  Serpent  and  he  shall  bite  them;  and  if  they  go 
into  captivity  before  their  foes — to  Israel  as  terrible  a 
distance  from  God's  face  as  Sheol  itself  1 — thence  will 
I  charge  the  sword  and  it  shall  slay  them;  and  I  will  set 
Mine  eye  upon  them  for  evil  and  not  for  good. 

It  is  a  ruder  draft  of  the  Hundred  and  Thirty-Ninth 
Psalm ;  but  the  Divine  Pursuer  is  Nemesis,  and  not 
Conscience. 

And  the  Lord,  Jehovah  oj  the  Hosts;  Who  toucheth 
the  earth  and  it  meltcth,  and  all  its  inhabitants  mourn, 
and  it  rises  like  the  Nile,  all  of  it  together,  and  sinks 
like  the  Nile  of  Egypt;  Who  buildeth  His  stories  in  the 
heavens,  and  His  vault  on  the  earth  He  foundeth ;  Who 
calleth  to  the  waters  of  the  sea  and  poureth  them  forth  on 
the  face  of  the  earth— Jehovah  of  Hosts  is  His  Name} 


given  to  break  the  thresholds  on  the  head  of  all  of  them,  many  translate 
lintels  or  architraves  instead  of  thresholds  {e.g.  Hitzig,  and  Guthe  in 
Kautzsch's  Bibel).     But  the  word  D^SSp  always    means   thresholds, 
and  the  blow  here  is  fundamental. 
'  LXX.  adds  of  Hosts:  on  the  whole  passage  see  next  chapter. 


Amos ix.  7- 1 5]        DOOM  OR  DISCIPLINE  ?  189 


3.   The  Voices  of  Another  Dawn. 

Amos  ix.  7-15. 

And  now  we  are  come  to  the  part  where,  as  it  seems, 
voices  of  another  day  mingle  with  that  of  Amos,  and 
silence  his  judgments  in  the  chorus  of  their  unbroken 
hope.  At  first,  however,  it  is  himself  without  doubt 
who  speaks.  He  takes  up  the  now  familiar  truth, 
that  when  it  comes  to  judgment  for  sin,  Israel  is  no 
dearer  to  Jehovah  than  any  other  people  of  His  equal 
Providence. 

Are  ye  not  unto  Me,  O  children  of  Israel — Uis  the  oracle 
of  fehovah — just  like  the  children  of  Kiishites  ?  mere 
black  folk  and  far  away  I  Did  I  not  bring  up  Israel 
from  Egypt,  and  the  Philistines  from  Caphtor,  and  Aram 
from  Kir?  Mark  again  the  universal  Providence  which 
Amos  proclaims :  it  is  the  due  concomitant  of  his 
universal  morality.  Once  for  all  the  religion  of  Israel 
breaks  from  the  characteristic  Semitic  belief  that  gave 
a  god  to  every  people,  and  limited  both  his  pov/er  and 
his  interests  to  that  people's  territory  and  fortunes. 
And  if  we  remember  how  everything  spiritual  in  the 
religion  of  Israel,  everything  in  its  significance  for 
mankind,  was  rendered  possible  only  because  at  this 
date  it  broke  from  and  abjured  the  particularism  in 
which  it  had  been  born,  we  shall  feel  some  of  the 
Titanic  force  of  the  prophet,  in  whom  that  break  was 
achieved  with  an  absoluteness  which  leaves  nothing  to 
be  desired.  But  let  us  also  emphasise,  that  it  was 
by  no  mere  method  of  the  intellect  or  observation  of 
history  that  Amos  was  led  to  assert  the  unity  of  the 
Divine  Providence.  The  inspiration  in  this  was  a 
moral  one :    Jehovah  was  ruler  and  guide  of  all  the 


igo  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

families  of  mankind,  because  He  was  exalted  in  right- 
eousness ;  and  the  field  in  which  that  righteousness  was 
proved  and  made  manifest  was  the  life  and  the  fate  of 
Israel.  Therefore  to  this  Amos  now  turns.  Lo,  the 
eyes  of  the  Lord  Jehovah  are  on  the  sinful  kingdom,  and 
I  will  destroy  it  from  the  face  of  the  ground.  In  other 
words,  Jehovah's  sovereignty  over  the  world  was  not 
proved  by  Israel's  conquest  of  the  latter,  but  by  His 
unflinching  application  of  the  principles  of  righteousness, 
at  whatever  cost,  to  Israel  herselt. 

Up  to  this  point,  then,  the  voice  of  Amos  is  unmis- 
takable, uttering  the  doctrine,  so  original  to  him,  that 
in  the  judgment  of  God  Israel  shall  not  be  specially 
favoured,  and  the  sentence,  we  have  heard  so  often 
from  him,  of  her  removal  from  her  land.  Remember, 
Amos  has  not  yet  said  a  word  in  mitigation  of  the 
sentence :  up  to  this  point  of  his  book  it  has  been 
presented  as  inexorable  and  final.  But  now  to  a  state- 
ment ol  it  as  absolute  as  any  that  has  gone  before, 
there  is  suddenly  added  a  qualification  :  nevertheless  1 
will  not  utterly  destroy  the  house  of  Jacob — 'tis  the  oracle 
of  Jehovah.  And  then  there  is  added  a  new  picture 
of  exile  changed  from  doom  to  discipline,  a  process  of 
sifting  by  which  only  the  evil  in  Israel,  all  the  sinners 
of  My  people,  shall  perish,  but  not  a  grain  of  the  good. 
For,  lo,  I  am  giving  command,  and  I  will  toss  the  house 
of  Israel  among  all  the  nations,  like  something  that  is 
tossed  in  a  sieve,  but  not  a  pebble  ^  shall  fall  to  earth.  By 
the  sword  shall  die  all  the  sitiuers  of  My  people,  they  who 
say,  The  calamity  shall  not  reach  nor  anticipate  us.^ 

•  We  should  have  expected  a  grain,  but  the  word  "lll^  o^'y  means 
small  stone :  of.  2  Sam.  xvii.  13.  The  LXX.  has  here  fftivrpi/ifux, 
fracture,  ruin.     Cf.  Z.A.T.W.,  III.  125. 

The  text  has  been  disturbed  here ;  the  verbs  are  in  forms  not 


Amos  ix.  7-1 S-3         DOOM  OR  DISCIPLINE?  191 

Now  as  to  these  qualifications  of  the  hitherto 
unmitigated  judgments  of  the  book,  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  there  is  nothing  in  their  language  to  lead  us  to 
take  them  from  Amos  himself.  On  the  contrary,  the 
last  clause  describes  what  he  has  always  called  a 
characteristic  sin  of  his  day.  Our  only  difficulties  are 
that  hitherto  Amos  has  never  qualified  his  sentences 
of  doom,  and  that  the  change  now  appears  so 
suddenly  that  the  two  halves  of  the  verse  in  which  it 
does  so  absolutely  contradict  each  other.  Read  them 
again,  ver.  8  :  Lo,  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  Jehovah  are  on 
the  sinful  nation^  and  I  will  destroy  it  from  off  the 
face  of  the  ground — nevertheless  destroying  I  shall  not 
destroy  the  house  of  Jacob :  'tis  the  oracle  of  Jehovah. 
Can  we  believe  the  same  prophet  to  have  uttered  at 
the  same  time  these  two  statements  ?  And  is  it 
possible  to  believe  that  prophet  to  be  the  hitherto 
unwavering,  unqualifying  Amos  ?  Noting  these  things, 
let  us  pass  to  the  rest  of  the  chapter.  We  break  from 
all  shadows ;  the  verses  are  verses  of  pure  hope.  The 
judgment  on  Israel  is  not  averted  ;  but  having  taken 
place  her  ruin  is  regarded  as  not  irreparable. 

In  that  day — the  day  Amos  has  threatened  of  overthrow 
and  ruin — /  will  raise  again  the  fallen  hut  of  David  and 
will  close  up  its  breaches,  and  his  ruins  I  will  raise,  and 
I  will  build  it  up  as  in  the  days  of  old}  that  they  may 
possess  the  remnant  of  Edom  and  all  the  nations  upon 

possible  to  the  sense.  For  K'\'!r)  read  either  y^^Pi  with  Hitzig  or 
5/'jn  with  Wellhaiisen.  D^'JIpR,  Hiph.,  is  not  impossible  in  an  in- 
transitive sense,  but  probably  Wellhaiisen  is  right  in  reading  Pi, 
^?.i5^.  The  reading  '\V\)J  which  the  Greek  suggests  and  HoffmanD 
and  Wellhausen  adopt  is  not  so  appropriate  to  the  preceding  verb 
as  Wny3  of  the  text. 

'  The  text  reads  their  breaches,  and  some  accordingly  point  njl^  Am/, 


192  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

ivhom  My  Name  has  been  called — that  is,  as  once  their 
Possessor — 7/s  the  oracle  of  Jehovah,  He  who  is  about 
to  do  this. 

The.  fallen  hut  of  David  undoubtedly  means  the  fall 
of  the  kingdom  of  Judah.  It  is  not  language  Amos 
uses,  or,  as  it  seems  to  me,  could  have  used,  of  the  fall 
of  the  Northern  Kingdom  only.^  Again,  it  is  undoubted 
that  Amos  contemplated  the  fall  of  Judah :  this  is 
implicit  in  such  a  phrase  as  the  whole  family  that  I 
brought  up  from  Egypt. ^  He  saw  then  the  day  and  the 
ruins  of  which  ver.  1 1  speaks.  The  only  question  is, 
can  we  attribute  to  him  the  prediction  of  a  restoration 
of  these  ruins  ?  And  this  is  a  question  which  must 
be  answered  in  face  of  the  facts  that  the  rest  of  his 
book  is  unrelieved  by  a  single  gleam  of  hope,  and  that 
his  threat  of  the  nation's  destruction  is  absolute  and 
final.  Now  it  is  significant  that  in  face  of  those  facts 
Cornill  (though  he  has  changed  his  opinion)  once  believed 
it  was  "  surely  possible  for  Amos  to  include  restoration 
in  his  prospect  of  ruin,"  as  (he  might  have  added)  other 
prophets  undoubtedly  do.  I  confess  I  cannot  so  readily 
get  over  the  rest  of  the  book  and  its  gloom ;  and  am 
the  less  inclined  to  be  sure  about  these  verses  being 
Amos'  own  that  it  seems  to  have  been  not  unusual  for 
later  generations,  for  whom  the  daystar  was  beginning  to 
rise,  to  add  their  own  inspired  hopes  to  the  unrelieved 
threats  of  their  predecessors  of  the  midnight.  The 
mention  of  Edom  does  not  help  us  much  :  in  the 
da3's  of  Amos  after   the   partial    conquest    by   Uzziah 

as  if  it  were  the  plural  huts  (Hoffmann,  Z.A.T.W.,  18S3,  125 ;  Schwally, 
id.,  1890,  226,  n.  I  ;  Gulhe  in  Kautzsch's  Bibel).  The  LXX.  has  the 
sing.,  and  it  is  easy  to  see  how  the  plur.  fern,  suffix  ir.ay  have  risen 
from  confusion  with  the  following  conjunction. 

•  This  against  Cornill,  Einleitiing,  176.  *  iii.  I, 


Amos  ix.  7-15]         DOOM  OR  DISCIPLINE?  I93 

the  promise  of  the  rest  of  Edom  was  singularly 
appropriate.  On  the  other  hand,  what  interest  had  so 
purely  ethical  a  propliet  in  the  mere  addition  of  territory  ? 
To  this  point  we  shall  have  to  return  for  our  final 
decision.  We  have  still  the  closing  oracle — a  very 
pleasant  piece  of  music,  as  if  the  birds  had  come  out 
after  the  thunderstorm,  and  the  wet  hills  were  glistening 
in  the  sunshine. 

Z,o,  days  are  coming — His  the  oracle  of  Jehovah — when 
the  ploughman  shall  catch  up  the  reaper,  and  the  grape- 
treader  Jiim  that  sireweth  the  seed.  The  seasons  shall 
jostle  each  other,  harvest  following  hard  upon  seed- 
time, vintage  upon  spring.  It  is  that  "  happy 
contention  of  seasons"  which  Josephus  describes  as 
the  perpetual  blessing  of  Galilee.^  And  the  mountains 
shall  drip  with  new  wine,  and  all  the  hills  shall  flow  down. 
And  I  will  bring  back  the  captivity  of  My  people  Israel^ 
and  they  shall  build  the  ivaste  cities  and  dwell  in  them, 
and  plant  vineyards  and  drink  the  wine  thereof,  and  make 
gardens  and  eat  their  fruits.  And  I  will  plant  them  on 
their  own  ground ;  and  they  shall  not  be  uprooted  any 
more  from  their  own  ground  which  I  have  given  to  them, 
saith  Jehovah  thy  God}  Again  we  meet  the  difficulty : 
does  the  voice  that  speaks  here  speak  with  captivity 
already  realised  ?  or  is  it  the  voice  of  one  who  projects 
himself  forward  to  a  day,  which,  by  the  oath  of  the 
Lord  Himself,  is  certain  to  come  ? 

We  have  now   surveyed  the   whole  of  this  much- 

'  III.  Wars,  X.  8.  With  the  above  verses  of  the  Book  of  Amos 
Lev.  xxvi.  5  has  been  coinpared  :  "your  threshing  shall  reach  to  the 
vintage  and  the  vintage  to  the  sowing  time."  But  there  is  no  reason 
to  suppose  that  either  of  two  so  natural  passages  depends  on  the 
other.  «  LXX.  God  of  Hosts. 

VOL.  L  13 


194  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

doubted,  much-defended  passage.  I  have  stated  fully 
the  arguments  on  both  sides.  On  the  one  hand,  we 
have  the  fact  that  nothing  in  the  language  of  the  verses, 
and  nothing  in  their  historical  allusions,  precludes 
their  being  by  Amos;  we  have  also  to  admit  that, 
having  threatened  a  day  of  ruin,  it  was  possible  for 
Amos  to  realise  by  his  mind's  eye  its  arrival,  and 
standing  at  that  point  to  see  the  sunshine  flooding  the 
ruins  and  to  prophesy  a  restoration.  In  all  this  there 
is  nothing  impossible  in  itself  or  inconsistent  with  the 
rest  of  the  book.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  the 
impressive  and  incommensurable  facts :  Jirst^  that  this 
change  to  hope  comes  suddenly,  without  preparation  and 
without  statement  of  reasons,  at  the  very  end  of  a  book 
whose  characteristics  are  not  only  a  final  and  absolute 
sentence  of  ruin  upon  the  people,  and  an  outlook  of 
unrelieved  darkness,  but  scornful  discouragement  of 
every  popular  vision  of  a  prosperous  future  ;  and,  second, 
that  the  prophetic  books  contain  numerous  signs  that 
later  generations  wove  their  own  brighter  hopes  into 
the  abrupt  and  hopeless  conclusions  of  prophecies  of 
judgment. 

To  this  balance  of  evidence  is  there  anything  to 
add  ?  I  think  there  is ;  and  that  it  decides  the  ques- 
tion. All  these  prospects  of  the  future  restoration 
of  Israel  are  absolutely  without  a  moral  feature.  They 
speak  of  return  from  captivity,  of  political  restoration,  of 
supremacy  over  the  Gentiles,  and  of  a  revived  Nature, 
hanging  with  fruit,  dripping  with  must.  Such  hopes 
are  natural  and  legitimate  to  a  people  who  were  long 
separated  from  their  devastated  and  neglected  land, 
and  whose  punishment  and  penitence  were  accomplished. 
But  they  are  not  natural  to  a  prophet  like  Amos. 
Imagine  him  predicting  a  future  like  this  I     Imagine 


Amosix.7-iS-]         DOOM  OR  DISCIPLINE?  19S 

him  describing  the  consummation  of  his  people's  history, 
without  mentioning  one  of  those  moral  triumphs  to 
rally  his  people  to  which  his  whole  passion  and  energy 
had  been  devoted.  To  me  it  is  impossible  to  hear  the 
voice  that  cried,  Let  justice  roll  on  like  waters  and 
righteousness  like  a  perennial  stream,  in  a  peroration  which 
is  content  to  tell  of  mountains  dripping  with  must  and 
of  a  people  satisfied  with  vineyards  and  gardens.  These 
are  legitimate  hopes ;  but  they  are  the  hopes  of  a 
generation  of  other  conditions  and  of  other  deserts 
than  the  generation  of  Amos. 

If  then  the  gloom  of  this  great  book  is  turned  into 
light,  such  a  change  is  not  due  to  Amos. 


CHAPTER  XI 

COMMON-SENSE  AND    THE  REIGN  OF  LAW 
Amos  iii.  3-8;  iv.  6-13  ;  v.  8,  9;  vi.  12  ;  viii.  8  ;  ix.  5,  6. 

FOOLS,  when  they  face  facts,  which  is  seldom, 
face  them  one  by  one,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
either  in  ignorant  contempt  or  in  panic.  With  this 
inordinate  folly  Amos  charged  the  religion  of  his  day. 
The  superstitious  people,  careful  of  every  point  of 
ritual  and  very  greedy  of  omens,  would  not  ponder 
real  facts  nor  set  cause  to  effect.  Amos  recalled  them 
to  common  life.  Does  a  bird  fall  upon  a  snare ^  except 
there  be  a  loop  on  her  ?  Does  the  trap  itself  rise  from 
the  ground,  except  it  be  catching  something — something 
alive  in  it  that  struggles,  and  so  lifts  the  trap  ?  Shall 
the  alarum  be  bloivn  in  a  city,  and  the  people  not  tremble  ? 
Daily  life  is  impossible  without  putting  two  and  two 
together.  But  this  is  just  what  Israel  will  not  do  with 
the  sacred  events  of  their  time.  To  religion  they  will 
not  add  common-sense. 

For  Amos  himself,  all  things  which  happen  are  in 
sequence  and  in  sympathy.  He  has  seen  this  in  the 
simple  life  of  the  desert ;  he  is  sure  of  it  throughout 
the  tangle  and  hubbub  of  history.  One  thing  explains 
another  ;  one  makes  another  inevitable.  When  he  has 
illustrated  the  truth  in  common  life,  Amos  claims  it  for 
especially  four  of  the  great  facts  of  the  time.  The  sins 
of  society,  of  which  society  is  careless;  the  physical 

196 


Amos.]   COMMON-SENSE  AND  THE  REIGN  OF  LAIV       197 

calamities,  which  they  survive  and  forget ;  the  ap- 
proach of  Assyria,  which  they  ignore ;  the  word  of 
the  prophet,  which  they  silence, — all  these  belong  to 
each  other.  Drought,  Pestilence,  Earthquake,  Invasion 
conspire — and  the  Prophet  holds  their  secret. 

Now  it  is  true  that  for  the  most  part  Amos  describes 
this  sequence  of  events  as  the  personal  action  of  Jehovah. 
Shall  evil  befall,  and  Jehovah  not  have  done  it?  .  .  .  1 
have  smitten  you.  .  .  .  I  will  raise  up  against  you  a 
Nation.  .  .  .  Prepare  to  meet  thy  Gody  O  Israel  I  ^  Yet 
even  where  the  personal  impulse  of  the  Deity  is  thus 
emphasised,  we  feel  equal  stress  laid  upon  the  order 
and  the  inevitable  certainty  of  the  process.  Amos 
nowhere  uses  Isaiah's  great  phrase  :  a  God  of  Mishpat^ 
a  God  of  Order  or  Law.  But  he  means  almost  the  same 
thing  :  God  works  by  methods  vv^hich  irresistibly  fulfil 
themselves.  Nay  more.  Sometimes  this  sequence 
sweeps  upon  the  prophet's  mind  with  such  force  as 
to  overwhelm  all  his  sense  of  the  Personal  within  it. 
The  Will  and  the  Word  of  the  God  who  causes  the 
thing  are  crushed  out  by  the  "  Must  Be  "  of  the  thing 
itself  Take  even  the  descriptions  of  those  historical 
crises,  which  the  prophet  most  explicitly  proclaims  as 
the  visitations  of  the  Almighty.  In  some  of  the  verses 
all  thought  of  God  Himself  is  lost  in  the  roar  and 
foam  with  which  that  tide  of  necessity  bursts  up 
through  them.  The  fountains  of  the  great  deep  break 
loose,  and  while  the  universe  trembles  to  the  shock,  it 
seems  that  even  the  voice  of  the  Deity  is  overwhelmed. 
In  one  passage,  immediately  after  describing  Israel's 
ruin  as  due  to  Jehovah's  word,  Amos  asks  how  could 
it  have  happened  otherwise : — 

'  iii.  6b)  iv.  9:  vi.  14;  iv,  lib. 


THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 


Shall  horses  run  up  a  cliff,  or  oxen  plough  the  sea  ?  that 
ye  turn  justice  into  poison,  and  the  fruit  of  righteousness 
into  wormwood}  A  moral  order  exists,  which  it  is  as 
impossible  to  break  without  disaster  as  it  would  be 
to  break  the  natural  order  by  driving  horses  upon 
a  precipice.  There  is  an  inherent  necessity  in  the 
sinners'  doom.  Again,  he  says  of  Israel's  sin  :  Shall  not 
the  Land  tremble  for  this  ?  Yea,  it  shall  rise  up  together 
like  the  Nile,  and  heave  and  sink  like  the  Nile  of  Egypt} 
The  crimes  of  Israel  are  so  intolerable,  that  in  its  own 
might  the  natural  frame  of  things  revolts  against  them. 
In  these  great  crises,  therefore,  as  in  the  simple  instances 
adduced  from  everyday  life,  Amos  had  a  sense  of  what 
we  call  law,  distinct  from,  and  for  moments  even 
overwhelming,  that  sense  of  the  personal  purpose  of 
God,  admission  to  the  secrets  of  which  had  marked 
his  call  to  be  a  prophet,' 

These  instincts  we  must  not  exaggerate  into  a 
system.  There  is  no  philosophy  in  Amos,  nor  need 
we  wish  there  were.  Far  more  instructive  is  what  we 
do  find — a  virgin  sense  of  the  sympathy  of  all  things, 
the  thrill  rather  than  the  theory  of  a  universe.  And 
this  faith,  which  is  not  a  philosophy,  is  especially 
instructive  on  these  two  points  :  that  it  springs  from 
the  moral  sense ;  and  that  it  embraces,  not  history  only, 
but  nature. 

It  springs  from  the  moral  sense.  Other  races  have 
arrived  at  a  conception  of  the  universe  along  other 
lines  :  some  by  the  observation  of  physical  laws  valid 
to  the  recesses  of  space  ;  some  by  logic  and  the  unity 
of  Reason.     But  Israel  found  the  universe  through  the 

'  vi.  12.  *  viii.  8. 

•  iii.  7  :  Jehovah  God  doeih  nothing,  but  He  hath  revealed  His  secret 
to  His  servants  the  prophets. 


Amos.]    COMMON-SENSE  AND  THE  REIGN  OF  LAW       199 

conscience.  It  is  a  historical  fact  that  the  Unity  of 
God,  the  Unity  of  History  and  the  Unity  of  the  World, 
did,  in  this  order,  break  upon  Israel,  through  conviction 
and  experience  of  the  universal  sovereignty  of  righteous- 
ness. We  see  the  beginnings  of  the  process  in  Amos. 
To  him  the  sequences  which  Vi^ork  themselves  out 
through  history  and  across  nature  are  moral.  Right- 
eousness is  the  hinge  on  which  the  world  hangs ; 
loosen  it,  and  history  and  nature  feel  the  shock. 
History  punishes  the  sinful  nation.  But  nature,  too, 
groans  beneath  the  guilt  of  man  ;  and  in  the  Drought, 
the  Pestilence  and  the  Earthquake  provides  his 
scourges.  It  is  a  belief  which  has  stamped  itself 
upon  the  language  of  mankind.  What  else  is  "  plague  " 
than  "  blow  "  or  "  scourge  "  ? 

This  brings  us  to  the  second  point — our  prophet's 
treatment  of  Nature. 

Apart  from  the  disputed  passages  (which  we  shall 
take  afterwards  by  themselves)  we  have  in  the  Book  of 
Amos  few  glimpses  of  nature,  and  these  always  under 
a  moral  light.  There  is  not  in  any  chapter  a  landscape 
visible  in  its  own  beauty.  Like  all  desert-dwellers, 
who  when  they  would  praise  the  works  of  God  lift 
their  eyes  to  the  heavens,  Amos  gives  us  but  the 
outlines  of  the  earth — a  mountain  range,^  or  the 
crest  of  a  forest,'  or  the  bare  back  of  the  land,  bent 
from  sea  to  sea.'  Nearly  all  his  figures  are  drawn 
from  the  desert — the  torrent,  the  wild  beasts,  the 
wormwood.*  If  he  visits  the  meadows  of  the  shep- 
herds, it  is  with  the  terror  of  the  people's  doom ;  ^  if 
the  vineyards  or  orchards,  it  is  with  the  mildew  and 


'  i.  2;  iii.  9;  ix.  3.  •  viii.  12.  •  i.  2. 

•  ii.  9.  •  V.  24 ;  19,  20,  etc. ;  7 ;  vi.  12. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


the  locust ;  ^  if  the  towns,  it  is  with  drought,  eclipse 
and  earthquake.^  To  him,  unlike  his  fellows,  unlike 
especially  Hosea,  the  whole  land  is  one  theatre  of 
judgment ;  but  it  is  a  theatre  trembling  to  its  founda- 
tions with  the  drama  enacted  upon  it.  Nay,  land  and 
nature  are  themselves  actors  in  the  drama.  Physical 
forces  are  inspired  with  moral  purpose,  and  become 
the  ministers  of  righteousness.  This  is  the  converse 
of  Elijah's  vision.  To  the  older  prophet  the  message 
came  that  God  was  not  in  the  fire  nor  in  the  earth- 
quake nor  in  the  tempest,  but  only  in  the  still  small  voice. 
But  to  Amos  the  fire,  the  earthquake  and  the  tempest 
are  all  in  alliance  with  the  Voice,  and  execute  the  doom 
which  it  utters.  The  difference  will  be  appreciated  by 
us,  if  we  remember  the  respective  problems  set  to 
prophecy  in  those  two  periods.  To  Elijah,  prophet 
of  the  elements,  wild  worker  by  fire  and  water,  by 
life  and  death,  the  spiritual  had  to  be  asserted  and 
enforced  by  itself.  Ecstatic  as  he  was,  Elijah  had  to 
learn  that  the  Word  is  more  Divine  than  all  physical 
violence  and  terror.  But  Amos  understood  that  for 
his  age  the  question  was  very  different.  Not  only 
was  the  God  of  Israel  dissociated  from  the  powers 
of  nature,  which  were  assigned  by  the  popular  mind 
to  the  various  Baalim  of  the  land,  so  that  there  was 
a  divorce  between  His  government  of  the  people  and 
the  influences  that  fed  the  people's  life;  but  morality 
itself  was  conceived  as  provincial.  It  was  narrowed 
to  the  national  interests  ;  it  was  summed  up  in  mere 
rules  of  police,  and  these  were  looked  upon  as  not 
so  important  as  the  observances  of  the  ritual.  Therefore 
Amos  was  driven  to   show   that  nature  and  morality 


'  iv.  9  flF. 


*  iv.  6-1 1 ;  vi.  II ;  viii.  8ff. 


Amos.]   COMMON-SENSE  AND  THE  REIGN  OF  LAW      201 

are  one.  Morality  is  not  a  set  of  conventions. 
"  Morality  is  the  order  of  things."  Righteousness 
is  on  the  scale  of  the  universe.  All  things  tremble 
to  the  shock  of  sin  ;  all  things  work  together  for  good 
to  them  tliat  fear  God. 

With  this  sense  of  law,  of  moral  necessity,  in  Amos 
we  must  not  fail  to  connect  that  absence  of  all  appeal 
to  miracle,  which  is  also  conspicuous  in  his  book. 

We  come  now  to  the  three  disputed  passages : — 

iv.  13  : — For,  lo !  He  Who  formed  the  hills}  and 
createth  the  wind,  ^  and  declareth  to  tnan  what  His  ^ 
mind  is;  Who  niaketh  the  dawn  into  darkness,  and 
marcheth  on  the  heights  of  the  land — fehovah,  God  of 
Hosts,  is  His  Name. 

V.  8,  9 : — Maker  of  the  Pleiades  and  Orion,*  turn- 
ing to  morning  the  murk,  and  day  into  night  He 
darkeneth;  Who  calleth  for  the  waters  of  the  sea,  and 
ponreth  them  forth  on  the  face  of  the  earth — fehovah  His 
Name ;  Who  flasheth  ruin  on  the  strong^  and  destruction 
Cometh  dotvn  on  the  fortress} 

ix.  5,  6  : — Aftd  the  Lord  Jehovah  of  the  Hosts,  Who 
touchcth  the  earth  and  it  rocketh,  and  all  mourn  that 
dwell  on  it,  and  it  riseth  like  the  Nile  together,  and  sinketh 
like  the  Nile  of  Egypt;  Who  hath  builded  in  the  heavens 
His  ascents,  and  founded  His  vault  upon  the  earth  ;  Who 
calleth  to  the  waters  of  the  sea,  and  poureth  them  on  the 
face  of  the  earth— Jehovah^  His  Name. 

These  sublime  passages  it  is  natural  to  take  as  the 


'  LXX.  the  thunder. 

•  Or  spirit. 

'  I.e.  God's;  a  more  natural  rendering  than  to  take  his  (as  Hitzig 
does)  as  meaning  man's. 

*  See  above,  pp.  166  f.  «.  •  UXyi.  Jehovah  of  Host*. 
'  Text  of  last  clause  uncertain  ;  see  above,  p.  167. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


triple  climax  of  the  doctrine  we  have  traced  through 
the  Book  of  Amos.  Are  they  not  the  natural  leap  of  the 
soul  to  the  stars?  The  same  shepherd's  eye  which  has 
marked  sequence  and  effect  unfailing  on  the  desert  soil, 
does  it  not  now  sweep  the  clear  heavens  above  the 
desert,  and  find  there  also  all  things  ordered  and 
arrayed?  The  same  mind  which  traced  the  Divine 
processes  down  history,  which  foresaw  the  hosts  of 
Assyria  marshalled  for  Israel's  punishment,  which  felt 
the  overthrow  of  justice  shock  the  nation  to  their  ruin, 
and  read  the  disasters  of  the  husbandman's  year  as  the 
vindication  of  a  law  higher  than  the  physical — does  it 
not  now  naturally  rise  beyond  such  instances  of  the 
Divine  order,  round  which  the  dust  of  history  rolls,  to 
the  lofty,  undimmed  outlines  of  the  Universe  as  a 
whole,  and,  in  consummation  of  its  message,  declare 
that  "  all  is  Law,"  and  Law  intelligible  to  man  ? 

But  in  the  way  of  so  attractive  a  conclusion  the 
literary  criticism  of  the  book  has  interposed.  It  is 
maintained  ^  that,  while  none  of  these  sublime  verses 
are  indispensable  to  the  argument  of  Amos,  some  of 
them  actually  interrupt  it,  so  that  when  they  are 
removed  it  becomes  consistent;  that  such  ejaculations  in 
praise  of  Jehovah's  creative  power  are  not  elsewhere 
met  with  in  Hebrew  prophecy  before  the  time  of  the 
Exile ;  that  they  sound  very  like  echoes  of  the  Book  of 
Job  ;  and  that  in  the  Septuagint  version  of  Hosea  we 
actually  find  a  similar  doxology,  wedged  into  the  middle 
of  an  authentic  verse  of  the  prophet.  ^  To  these 
arguments  against  the  genuineness  of  the  three  famous 


'  First  in  1875  by  Duhm,  Theol.  der  Proph.,  p.  119;  and  after  him 
by  Oort,  Theol.  Tjidschrtft,  1880,  pp.  Ii6f. ;  Wellhausen,  inlocis;  Stade 
Gesch.f  I.  571 ;  Coruill,  Einleitung,  176.  *  Hosea  xiii.  4. 


Amos.]   COMMOi^-SENSE  AND  THE  REIGN  OF  LAW      203 

passages,  other  critics,  not  less  able  and  not  less  free, 
like  Robertson  Smith  and  Kuenen,^  have  replied  that 
such  ejaculations  at  critical  points  of  the  prophet's 
discourse  "  are  not  surprising  under  the  general  con- 
ditions of  prophetic  oratory  "  ;  and  that,  while  one  of 
the  doxologies  does  appear  to  break  the  argument  ^  of 
the  context,  they  are  all  of  them  thoroughly  in  the  spirit 
and  the  style  of  Amos.  To  this  point  the  discus- 
sion has  been  carried ;  it  seems  to  need  a  closer 
examination. 

We  may  at  once  dismiss  the  argument  which  has 
been  drawn  from  that  obvious  intrusion  into  the  Greek 
of  Hosea  xiii.  4.  Not  only  is  this  verse  not  so  suited 
to  the  doctrine  of  Hosea  as  the  doxologies  are  to  the 
doctrine  of  Amos  ;  but  while  they  are  definite  and 
sublime,  it  is  formal  and  flat — "Who  made  firm  the 
heavens  and  founded  the  earth,  Whose  hands  founded 
all  the  host  of  heaven,  and  He  did  not  display  them 
that  thou  shouldest  walk  after  them."  The  passages 
in  Amos  are  vision ;  this  is  a  piece  of  catechism 
crumbling  into  homily. 

Again — an  argument  in  favour  of  the  authenticity 
of  these  passages  may  be  drawn  from  the  character 
of  their  subjects.  We  have  seen  the  part  which  the 
desert  played  in  shaping  the  temper  and  the  style  of 
Amos.  But  the  works  of  the  Creator,  to  which  these 
passages  lift  their  praise,  are  just  those  most  fondly 
dwelt  upon  by  all  the  poetry  of  the  desert.  The 
Arabian  nomad,  when  he  magnifies  the  power  of  God, 
finds  his  subjects  not  on  the  bare  earth  abo  it  him,  but 
in  the  brilliant  heavens  and  the  heavenly  processes. 


'  Smith,   Prophets   of  Israel,    p.   399 ;   Kuenen,  Hist.    Krit.   Einl, 
(Germ.  Ed.),  II.  347.  *  v.  8,  9. 


204  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Again,  the  critic  who  affirms  that  the  passages  in 
Amos  "in  every  case  sensibly  disturb  the  connection,"* 
exaggerates.  In  the  case  of  the  first  of  them,  chap.  iv. 
13,  the  disturbance  is  not  at  all  "sensible";  though  it 
must  be  admitted  that  the  oracle  closes  impressively 
enough  without  it.  The  last  of  them,  chap.  ix.  5,  6 — • 
which  repeats  a  clause  already  found  in  the  book^ — is 
as  much  in  sympathy  with  its  context  as  most  of  the 
oracles  in  the  somewhat  scattered  discourse  of  that  last 
section  of  the  book.  The  real  difficulty  is  the  second 
doxology,  chap.  v.  8,  9,  which  does  break  the  connection, 
and  in  a  sudden  and  violent  way.  Remove  it,  and  the 
argument  is  consistent.  We  cannot  read  chap.  v. 
without  feeling  that,  whether  Amos  wrote  these  verses 
or  not,  they  did  not  originally  stand  where  they  stand 
at  present. 

Now,  taken  with  this  dispensableness  of  two  of  the 
passages  and  this  obvious  intrusion  of  one  of  them,  the 
following  additional  fact  becomes  ominous.  Jehovah  is 
His  Name  (which  occurs  in  two  of  the  passages),^  or 
Jehovah  of  Hosts  is  His  Name  (which  occurs  at  least  in 
one),*  is  a  construction  which  does  not  happen  elsewhere 
in  the  book,  except  in  a  verse  where  it  is  awkward 
and  where  we  have  already  seen  reason  to  doubt  its 
genuineness.*  But  still  more,  the  phrase  does  not  occur 
in  any  other  prophet,  till  we  come  down  to  the  oracles 
v/hich  compose  Isaiah  xl. — Ixvi.  Here  it  happens 
thrice — twice  in  passages  dating  from  the  Exile,*  and 
once  in  a  passage  suspected  by  some  to  be  of  still  later 

»  Cornill,  Einl.,  176.  ""  Cf.  viii.  8. 

•  V.  8  ;  ix.  6,  though  here  I.XX.  read  Jehovah  of  Hosts  is  His  Name, 

•  iv.  13.     See  previous  note. 

•  V.  27.     See  above,  pp.  172  f.  m.  :  cf.  Hosea  xii.  6, 

•  xlvii.  4  and  liv.  5. 


Amos.]   COMMON-SENSE  AND  THE  REIGN  OF  LAW       205 

date.*  In  the  Book  of  Jeremiah  the  phrase  is  found  eight 
times  ;  but  either  in  passages  already  on  other  grounds 
judged  by  many  critics  to  be  later  than  Jeremiah,^  or 
where  by  itself  it  is  probably  an  intrusion  into  the  text.' 
Now  is  it  a  mere  coincidence  that  a  phrase,  which,  out- 
side the  Book  of  Amos,  occurs  only  in  writing  of  the 
time  of  the  Exile  and  in  passages  considered  for  other 
reasons  to  be  post-exilic  insertions — is  it  a  mere  coin- 
cidence that  within  the  Book  of  Amos  it  should  again 
be  found  only  in  suspected  verses  ? 

There  appears  to  be  in  this  more  than  a  coincidence  ; 
and  the  present  writer  cannot  but  feel  a  very  strong 
case  against  the  traditional  belief  that  these  doxologies 
are  original  and  integral  portions  of  the  Book  of  Amos. 
At  the  same  time  a  case  which  has  failed  to  convince 
critics  like  Robertson  Smith  and  Kuenen  cannot  be 
considered  conclusive,  and  we  are  so  ignorant  of  many 
of  the  conditions  of  prophetic  oratory  at  this  period 
that  dogmatism  is  impossible.  For  instance,  the  use 
by  Amos  of  the  Divine  titles  is  a  matter  over  which 
uncertainty  still  lingers ;  and  any  further  argument 
on  the  subject  must  include  a  fuller  discussion  than 
space  here  allows  of  the  remarkable  distribution  ol 
those  titles  throughout  the  various  sections  of  the 
book.* 

'  xlviii.  2 :  cf.  Duhm,  in  loco,  and  Cheyne,  Introduction  to  the  Book 
of  Isaiah,  301. 

*  X.  16 ;  xxxi.  35  ;  xxxii.  18  ;  1.  34  (perhaps  a  quotation  from  Isa. 
xlvii.  4) ;  li.  19,  57. 

»  xlvi.  18,  where  the  words  10C>  n"l>?3V  fail  in  LXX. ;  xlviii.  15  b, 
where  the  clause  in  which  it  occurs  is  wanting  in  the  LXX. 

*  But  I  have  room  at  least  for  a  bare  statement  of  these  remarkable 
facts : — 

The  titles  for  the  God  of  Israel  used  in  the  Book  of  Amos  are 
hese:  (l)  Thy  God,  O  Israel,  hvT^''  yrh\<',  (2)  Jehovah,7\'\r\'';  (3) 


2o6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

But  if  it  be  not  given  to  us  to  prove  this  kind  of 
authenticity — a  question  whose  data  are  so  obscure, 
yet  whose  answer  fortunately  is  of  so  Httle  significance 
— let  us  gladly  welcome  that  greater  Authenticity 
whose  undeniable  proofs  these  verses  so  splendidly 
exhibit.  No  one  questions  their  right  to  the  place 
which  some  great  spirit  gave  them  in  this  book — their 
suitableness  to  its  grand  and  ordered  theme,  their 
pure  vision    and  their   eternal  truth.      That  common- 


Lord  Jehovah,  HIH''  ^nx  ;  (4)  Lord  Jehovah  •/  the  Hosts,  Hin*  'JIX 
niNn^;  (5)  Jehovah  God  of  Hosts  or  of  the  Hosts,  niS'3V  ^h'pS'  nin» 
or  mwS3Vn. 

Now  in  the  First  Section,  chaps,  i.,  ii.,  it  is  interesting  that  we 
find  none  of  the  variations  which  are  compounded  with  Hosts,  r\)ii2)i. 
By  itself  nin"  (especially  in  the  phrase  Thus  saith  Jehovah,  "IDN  HS 
nin^)  is  general;  arid  once  only  (i.  8)  is  Lord  Jehovah  employed. 
The  phrase,  oracle  of  Jehovah,  mn*  D^{D  is  also  rare  ;  it  occurs  only 
twice  (ii.  Ii,  16),  and  then  only  in  the  passage  dealing  with  Israel, 
and  not  at  all  in  the  oracles  against  foreign  nations. 

In  Sections  II.  and  111.  the  simple  mn*  is  again  most  frequently 
used.  But  we  find  also  Lord  Jehovah,  mn*  *J1X  (iii.  7,  8  ;  iv.  2,  5 ; 
V.  3,  with  mn^  alone  in  the  parallel  ver.  4;  vi.  8  ;  vii.  I,  2,  4  bis, 
5,  6;  viii.  I,  3,  9,  11),  used  either  indifferently  with  niH^;  or  in  verses 
where  it  seems  more  natural  to  emphasise  the  sovereignty  of  Jehovah 
than  His  simple  Name  (as,  e.g.,  where  He  swears,  iv.  2,  vi.  8,  yet  when 
the  same  phrase  occurs  in  viii.  7  niiT'  alone  is  used);  or  in  the  solemn 
Visions  of  the  Third  Section  (but  not  in  the  Narrative) ;  and  some- 
times we  find  in  the  Visions  Lord,  *J1N,  alone  without  niH^  (vii.  7,  8  ; 
ix.  1).  The  titles  containing  niN3^'  or  nii<2^  Tlbx  occur  nine 
times.  Of  these  five  are  in  passages  which  we  have  seen  other 
reasons  to  suppose  are  insertions :  two  of  the  Doxologies — iv.  13, 
niXaV  Sn!?X  nin\  and  ix.  5,  niNS:; n  nin>  '•:nN  (in  addition  the  LXX. 
read  in  ix.  6  niXQV  nin*),  and  in  v.  14,  15  (see  p.  168)  and  27  (see 
p.  172),  in  all  three  mX3^*  Tl/X  niH*.  The.  four  genuine  passages 
are  iii.  13,  where  we  find  n.1X3^*n  "TIPN  mH^  preceded  by  "'31X  ;  v.  16, 
where  we  have  nif<3V  \n'?N  HIH''  followed  by  ^HN  ;  vi.  8,  VI^N  nin» 
mX2V,  and  vi.  14,  niXaV  ^^'?N  mn\  Throughout  the  last  two 
sections  of  the  book  D^3  is  used  vitb  all  these  forms  of  the  Divine 


Amos.]   COMMON-SENSE  .-.ND  THE  REIGN  OF  LAW      207 

sense,  and  that  conscience,  which,  moving  among 
the  events  of  earth  and  all  the  tangled  processes 
of  history,  find  everywhere  reason  and  righteousness 
at  work,  in  these  verses  claim  the  Universe  for  the 
same  powers,  and  see  in  stars  and  clouds  and  the 
procession  of  day  and  night  the  One  Eternal  God  Who 
dedareth  to  man  what  His  mind  is. 


MOSEA 


VOL.  I,  14 


*  For  leal  love  have  I  desired  and  not  sacrifice 
And  the  knowledge  of  God  rather  than  bumt-ofilerings.' 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE  BOOK  OF  HOSEA 

THE  Book  of  Hosea  consists  of  two  unequal  sec- 
tions, chaps,  i. — iii.  and  chaps,  iv. — xiv.,  which 
differ  in  the  dates  of  their  standpoints,  to  a  large  extent 
also  in  the  details  of  their  common  subjects,  but  still 
more  largely  in  their  form  and  style.  The  First  Section 
is  in  the  main  narrative ;  though  the  style  rises  to  the 
pitch  of  passionate  pleading  and  promise,  it  is  fluent 
and  equable.  Ii  one  verse  be  omitted  and  three 
others  transposed,^  the  argument  is  continuous.  In 
the  Second  Section,  on  the  contrary,  we  have  a  stream 
of  addresses  and  reflections,  appeals,  upbraidings,  sar- 
casms, recollections  of  earlier  history,  denunciations 
and  promises,  which,  with  Httle  logical  connection 
and  almost  no  pauses  or  periods,  start  impulsively 
from  each  other,  and  for  a  large  part  are  expressed 
in  elliptic  and  ejaculatory  phrases.  In  the  present 
restles'=^ness  of  Biblical  Criticism  it  would  have  been 
surprising  if  this  difference  of  style  had  not  prompted 
some  minds  to  a  difference  of  authorship.  Gratz  ^  has 
distinguished  two  Hoseas,  separated  by  a  period  of  fifty 
years.  But  if,  as  we  shall  see,  the  First  Section  reflects 
the  end  of  the  reign  of  Jeroboam  II.,  who  died  about 
743,  then  the  next  few  years,  with  their  revolutionary 

•  Sec  below,  pp.  213  t.  *  Geschichte,  pp.  93  ff.,  214  ff.,  439  £ 

211 


THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 


changes  in  Israel,  are  sufficient  to  account  for  the 
altered  outlook  of  the  Second  Section  ;  while  the  altered 
style  is  fully  explained  by  difference  of  occasion  and 
motive.  In  both  sections  not  only  are  the  religious 
principles  identical,  and  many  of  the  characteristic 
expressions,^  but  there  breathes  throughout  the  same 
urgent  and  jealous  temper,  which  renders  Hosea's 
personality  so  distinctive  among  the  prophets.  Within 
this  unity,  of  course,  we  must  not  be  surprised  to  find, 
as  in  the  Book  of  Amos,  verses  which  cannot  well  be 
authentic. 

First  Section  :  Hosea's  Prophetic  Life. 

With  the  removal  of  some  of  the  verses  the  argu- 
ment becomes  clear  and  consecutive.  After  the  story 
of  the  wife  and  children  (i.  2-9),  who  are  symbols  of 
the  land  and  people  of  Israel  in  their  apostasy  from 
God  (2,  4,  6,  9),  the  Divine  voice  calls  on  the  living 
generation  to  plead  with  their  mother  lest  destruction 
come  (ii.  2-5,  Eng. ;  ii.  4-7,  Heb.^),  but  then  passes 
definite  sentence  of  desolation  on  the  land  and  of  exile 
on  the  people  (6-13,  Eng. ;  8-15,  Heb.),  which  however 
is  not  final  doom,  but  discipline,^  with  the  ultimate 
promise  of  the  return  of  the  nation's  youth,  their 
renewed  betrothal  to  Jehovah  and  the  restoration  of 
nature  (14-23).  Then  follows  the  story  of  the  pro- 
phet's restoration  of  his  wife,  also  with  discipline 
(chap.  iii.). 

Notice  that,  although  the  story  of  the  wife's  fall 
has  preceded  the  declaration  of  Israel's  apostasy,  it  is 

'  A  list  of  the  more  obvious  is  given  by  Kuenen,  p.  324. 
•  The  first  chapter  in  the  Hebrew  closes  with  ver.  9. 
'  Cf.  this  vdth  Amos;  above,  pp.  1926". 


THE  BOOK  OF  HOSE  A  213 

Israel's  restoration  which  prceedes  the  wife's.  The 
ethical  significance  of  this  order  we  shall  illustrate  in 
the  next  chapter. 

In  this  section  the  disturbing  verses  are  i.  7  and 
the  group  of  three — i.  lo,  11,  ii.  i  (Eng. ;  but  ii.  1-3 
Heb.).  Chap.  i.  7  introduces  Judah  as  excepted  from 
the  curse  passed  upon  Israel ;  it  is  so  obviously  intru- 
sive in  a  prophecy  dealing  only  with  Israel,  and  it  so 
clearly  reflects  the  deliverance  of  Judah  from  Senna- 
cherib in  701,  that  we  cannot  hold  it  for  anything  but 
an  insertion  of  a  date  subsequent  to  that  deliverance, 
and  introduced  by  a  pious  Jew  to  signalise  Judah's  fate 
in  contrast  with  Israel's.^ 

The  other  three  verses  (i.  10,  11,  ii.  i,  Eng. ;  ii.  1-3, 
Heb.)  introduce  a  promise  of  restoration  before  the 
sentence  of  judgment  is  detailed,  or  any  ethical  con- 
ditions of  restoration  are  stated.  That  is,  they  break 
and  tangle  an  argument  otherwise  consistent  and  pro- 
gressive from  beginning  to  end  of  the  Section.  Every 
careful  reader  must  feel  them  out  of  place  where  they 
lie.  Their  awkwardness  has  been  so  much  appre- 
ciated that,  while  in  the  Hebrew  text  they  have 
been  separated  from  chap,  i.,  in  the  Greek  they  have 
been  separated  from  chap.  ii.  That  is  to  say,  some 
have  felt  they  have  no  connection  with  what  precedes 
them,  others  none  with  what  follows  them ;  while  our 
English  version,  by  distributing  them  between  the  two 

*  KOnig's  arguments  {Einleitung,  309)  in  favour  of  the  possibility 
of  the  genuineness  of  the  verse  do  not  seem  to  me  to  be  conclusive. 
He  thinks  the  verse  admissible  because  Judah  had  sinned  less  than 
Israel;  the  threat  in  w.  4-6  is  limited  to  Israel;  the  ^hrast  Jehovah 
their  God  is  so  peculiar  that  it  is  difficult  to  assign  it  to  a  mere  ex- 
pander of  the  text ;  and  if  it  was  a  later  hand  that  put  in  the  verse, 
why  did  he  not  alter  the  judgments  against  Judaea,  which  occur  further 
on  in  the  book  ? 


214  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

chapters,  only  makes  more  sensible  their  superfluity. 
If  they  really  belong  to  the  prophecy,  their  proper 
place  is  after  the  last  verse  of  chap,  ii,*  This  is 
actually  the  order  in  which  part  of  it  and  part  of  them 
are  quoted  by  St,  Paul.^  At  the  same  time,  when  so 
arranged,  they  repeat  somewhat  awkwardly  the  language 
of  ii.  23,  and  scarcely  form  a  climax  to  the  chapter. 
There  is  nothing  in  their  language  to  lead  us  to  doubt 
that  they  are  Hosea's  own ;  and  ver.  1 1  shows  that 
they  must  have  been  written  at  least  before  the  cap- 
tivity of  Northern  Israel.^ 

The  only  other  suspected  clause  in  this  section  is 
that  in  iii.  5,  and  David  their  king;*  but  if  it  be  struck 
out  the  verse  is  rendered  awkward,  if  not  impossible, 
by  the  immediate  repetition  of  the  Divine  name,  which 
would  not  have  been  required  in  the  absence  of  the 
suspected  clause.^ 

The  text  of  the  rest  of  the  section  is  remarkably 
free  from  obscurities.  The  Greek  version  offers  few 
variants,  and  most  of  these  are  due  to  mistranslation.* 
In  iii.  I  for  loved  0/ a  husband  it  reads  loving  evil. 

Evidently  this  section  was  written  before  the  death 
of  Jeroboam  II.  The  house  of  Jehu  still  reigns;  and 
as  Hosea  predicts  its  fall  by  war  on  the  classic  battle- 
ground of  Jezreel,  the  prophecy  must  have  been  written 

"  So  Cheyne  and  others,  Kuenen  adhering.  Konig  agrees  that  they 
have  been  removed  from  their  proper  place  and  the  text  corrupted. 

^  Rom.  ix.  25,  26,  which  first  give  the  end  of  Hosea  ii.  23  (Heb.  25), 
and  then  the  end  of  i.  10  (Heb.  ii.  2).     See  below,  p.  249,  n.  2. 

'  721  B.C. 

*  Stade,  Gesch.,  I.  577  ;  Cornill,  Einleitung,  who  also  would  exclude 
no  king  and  no  prince  in  iii.  4. 

*  This  objection,  however,  does  not  hold  against  the  removal  of 
merely  and  David,  leaving  their  king. 

*  ii.  7,  II,  14,  17  (Heb.).  In  i.  4  B-text  reads  'lovSa.  for  Nin\  while 
Qmq  have  '1-qov. 


THE  BOOK  OF  HOSE  A  215 

before  the  actual  fall,  which  took  the  form  of  an 
internal  revolt  against  Zechariah,  the  son  of  Jeroboam. 
WJ'.h  this  agrees  the  tone  of  the  section.  There  are 
the  same  evils  in  Israel  which  Amos  exposed  in  the 
prosperous  years  of  the  same  reign  ;  but  Hosea  appears 
to  realise  the  threatened  exile  from  a  nearer  standpoint. 
It  is  probable  also  that  part  of  the  reason  of  his  abilit}' 
to  see  his  way  through  the  captivity  to  the  people's 
restoration  is  due  to  a  longer  familiarity  with  the 
approach  of  captivity  than  Amos  experienced  before  he 
wrote.  But,  of  course,  for  Hosea's  promise  of  restoration 
there  were,  as  we  shall  see,  other  and  greater  reasons  of 
a  religious  kind.^ 

Second  Section  :  Chaps,  iv. — xiv. 

When  we  pass  into  these  chapters  we  feel  that  the 
times  are  changed.  The  dynasty  of  Jehu  has  passed  : 
kings  are  falling  rapidly:   Israel  devours  its  rulers:^ 

'  In  determining  the  date  of  the  Book  of  Hosea  the  title  in  chap.  i.  is 
of  no  use  to  us  :  The  Word  of  Jehovah  which  ivas  to  Hosea  ben  Be'eri 
in  the  days  of  Usstah,  Jotham,  Ahaz,  Hezekiah,  kings  of  Judah,  and 
in  the  days  of  Jeroboam  ben  Joash,  king  of  Israel.  This  title  is  trebly 
suspicious.  First:  the  given  reigns  of  Judah  and  Israel  do  not 
correspond ;  Jeroboam  was  dead  before  Uzziah.  Second :  there  is 
no  proof  either  in  the  First  or  Second  Section  of  the  book  that  Hosea 
prophesied  after  the  reign  of  Jotham.  Third  :  it  is  curious  that  in 
the  case  of  a  prophet  of  Northern  Israel  kings  of  Judah  should  be 
statf>d  first,  and  four  of  them  be  given  while  only  one  king  of  his 
own  country  is  placed  beside  them.  On  these  grounds  critics  are 
probably  correct  who  take  the  title  as  it  stands  to  be  the  work  of 
some  later  Judaean  scribe  who  sought  to  make  it  correspond  to  the 
titles  of  the  Books  of  Isaiah  and  Micah.  He  may  have  been  the  same 
who  added  chap.  i.  7.  The  original  form  of  the  title  probably  was 
The  Word  of  God  which  was  to  Hosea  son  of  Be'eri  in  the  days  of 
Jeroboam  ben  Joash,  king  of  Israel,  and  designed  only  for  the  First 
Section  of  the  book,  chaps,  i. — iii. 

*  vii.  7.    There  are  also   other  passages  which,  while  they  may 


2l6  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 


there  is  no  loyalty  to  the  king  ;  he  is  suddenly  cut  off;* 
all  the  princes  are  revolters.^  Round  so  despised  and 
so  unstable  a  throne  the  nation  tosses  in  disorder. 
Conspiracies  are  rife.  It  is  not  only,  as  in  Amos,  the 
the  sins  of  the  luxurious,  of  them  that  are  at  ease  in 
Zion,  which  are  exposed  ;  but  also  literal  bloodshed : 
highway  robbery  with  murder,  abetted  by  the  priests ; ' 
the  thief  breaketh  in  and  the  robber-troop  maketh  a 
raid.*  Amos  looked  out  on  foreign  nations  across  a  quiet 
Israel ;  his  views  of  the  world  are  wide  and  clear ;  but 
in  the  Book  of  Hosea  the  dust  is  up,  and  into  what  is 
happening  beyond  the  frontier  we  get  only  glimpses. 
There  is  enough,  however,  to  make  visible  another  great 
change  since  the  days  of  Jeroboam.  Israel's  self- 
reliance  is  gone.  She  is  as  fluttered  as  a  startled  bird  : 
They  call  unto  Egypt,  they  go  unto  Assyria.^  Their 
wealth  is  carried  as  a  gift  to  King  Jareb,®  and  they 
evidently  engage  in  intrigues  with  Egypt.  But  every- 
thing is  hopeless  :  kings  cannot  save,  for  Ephraim  is 
seized  by  the  pangs  of  a  fatal  crisis  J 

This  broken  description  reflects — and  all  the  more 
faithfully  because  of  its  brokenness — the  ten  years 
which  followed  on  the  death  of  Jeroboam  II.  about 
743.'  His  son  Zechariah,  who  succeeded  him,  was 
in  six  months  assassinated  by  Shallum  ben  Jabesh, 
who  within   a  month  more  was  himself  cut  down  by 

be  referred,  as  they  stand,  to  the  whole  succession  of  illegitimate 
dynasties  in  Northern  Israel  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  that 
kingdom,  more  probably  reflect  the  same  ten  years  of  special 
anarchy  and  disorder  after  the  death  of  Jeroboam  II.  See  vii.  3  ff . ; 
viii.  4,  where  the  illegitimate  kingmaking  is  coupled  with  the  idolatry 
of  the  Northern  Kingdom;  xiii.  10,  li. 

'  X.  3,  7,  8,  15.  •  vi.  8,  9.  •  vii,  ll.  *  xiii,  12 1, 

*ix.  15.  *  vii.  I,  *  X.  6, 

•  The  chronology  of  these  years  is  exceedingly  uncertain.    Jeroboam 


THE  BOOK  OF  HOSE  A  217 

Menahem  ben  Gadi.^  Menahem  held  the  throne  for 
six  or  seven  years,  but  only  by  sending  to  the  King 
of  Assyria  an  enormous  tribute  which  he  exacted 
from  the  wealthy  magnates  of  Israel.^  Discontent 
must  have  followed  these  measures,  such  discontent 
w'ith  their  rulers  as  Hosea  describes.  Pekahiah 
ben  Menahem  kept  the  throne  for  little  over  a  year 
after  his  father's  death,  and  was  assassinated  by  his 
captain,'  Pekah  ben  Remaliah,  with  fifty  Gileadites, 
and  Pekah  took  the  throne  about  y^G.  This  second 
and  bloody  usurpation  may  be  one  of  those  on  which 
Hosea  dwells  ;  but  if  so  it  is  the  last  historical  allusion 
in  his  book.  There  is  no  reference  to  the  war  of 
Pekah  and  Rezin  against  Ahaz  of  Judah  which  Isaiah 
describes,*  and  to  which  Hosea  must  have  alluded  had 
he  been  still  prophesying.^  There  is  no  allusion  to 
its  consequence  in  Tiglath-Pileser's  conquest  of  Gilead 

was  dead  about  743;  in  738  Menahem  gave  tribute  to  Assyria;  in 
734  Tiglath-Pileser  had  conquered  Aram,  Gilead  and  Galilee  in 
response  to  King  Ahaz,  who  had  a  year  or  two  before  been  attacked 
by  Rezin  of  Aram  and  Pekah  of  Israel. 

'  2  Kings  XV.  8- 16.  It  may  be  to  this  appearance  of  three  kings 
within  one  month  that  there  was  originally  an  allusion  in  the  now 
obscure  verse  of  Hosea,  v.  7. 

*  2  Kings  XV.  17-22. 

*  Or  prince,  ~\^  :  of.  Hosea's  denunciation  of  the  D^ltJ'  as  rebels. 

*  Isa.  vii. ;  2  Kings  xv.  37,  38. 

*  Some  have  found  a  later  allusion  in  chap.  x.  14 :  like  unto  the 
destruction  of  (?)  Shahiian  (of  ?)  Beth' Arbe'l.  Puse}'^,  p.  5  b,  and  others 
take  this  to  allude  to  a  destruction  of  the  Galilean  Arbela,  the  modern 
Irbid,  by  Salmanassar  IV.,  who  ascended  the  Assyrian  throne  in  727 
and  besieged  Samaria  in  724  ff.  But  since  the  construction  of  the 
phrase  leaves  it  doubtful  whether  the  name  Shalman  is  that  of  the 
agent  or  object  of  the  destruction,  and  whether,  if  the  agent,  he  be 
one  of  the  Assyrian  Salmanassars  or  a  Moabite  King  Salman  c.  "JTP  B.C., 
it  is  impossible  to  make  use  of  the  verse  in  fixing  the  date  of  the 
Book  of  Hosea.     See  further,  p.  289.     Wellhausen  omits. 


2l8  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

and  Galilee  in  734 — 733.  On  the  contrary,  these 
provinces  are  still  regarded  as  part  of  the  body  politic 
of  Israel.^  Nor  is  there  any  sign  that  Israel  have 
broken  with  Assyria ;  to  the  last  the  book  represents 
them  as  fawning  on  the  Northern  Power.^ 

In  all  probability,  then,  the  Book  of  Hosea  was 
closed  before  734  B.C.  The  Second  Section  dates 
from  the  years  behind  that  and  back  to  the  death  of 
Jeroboam  II.  about  743,  while  the  First  Section,  as  we 
saw,  reflects  the  period  immediately  before  the  latter. 

We  come  now  to  the  general  style  of  chaps,  iv. — xiv. 
The  period,  as  we  have  seen,  was  one  of  the  most 
broken  of  all  the  history  of  Israel ;  the  political  outlook, 
the  temper  of  the  people,  were  constantly  changing. 
Hosea,  who  watched  these  kaleidoscopes,  had  himself 
an  extraordinarily  mobile  and  vibrant  mind.  There 
could  be  no  greater  contrast  to  that  fixture  of  conscience 
which  renders  the  Book  of  Amos  so  simple  in  argu- 
ment, so  firm  in  style.^  It  was  a  leaden  plummet 
which  Amos  saw  Jehovah  setting  to  the  structure  of 
Israel's  life,*  But  Hosea  felt  his  own  heart  hanging 
at  the  end  of  the  line  ;  and  this  was  a  heart  that  could 
never  be  still.     Amos  is  the  prophet  of  law ;  he  sees  the 

'  V,  I  ;  vi.  8;  xii.  12:  cf.  W.  R.  Smith,  Prophets,  156. 
'  Cf.  W.  R.  Smith,  I.e. 

*  Cf.  W.  R.  Smith,  Prophets,  157:  Hosea's  "language  and  the 
movement  of  his  thoughts  are  far  removed  from  the  simplicity  and 
self-control  which  characterise  the  prophecy  of  Amos.  Indignation 
and  sorrows,  tenderness  and  severity,  faith  in  the  sovereignty  of 
Jehovah's  love,  and  a  despairing  sense  of  Israel's  infidelity  are  woven 
together  in  a  sequence  which  has  no  logical  plan,  but  is  determined 
by  the  battle  and  alternate  victory  of  contending  emotions ;  and 
the  swift  transitions,  the  fragmentary  unbalanced  utterance,  the 
half-developed  allusions,  that  make  his  prophecy  so  difficult  to  the 
commentator,  express  the  agony  of  this  inward  conflict." 

*  See  above,  p.  1 14, 


THE  BOOK  OF  HOSEA  ai9 

Divine  processes  work  themselves  out,  irrespective  of  the 
moods  and  intrigues  of  the  people,  with  which,  after  all, 
he  was  little  familiar.  So  each  of  his  paragraphs  moves 
steadily  forward  to  a  climax,  and  every  climax  is  Doom 
— the  captivity  of  the  people  to  Assyria,  You  can 
divide  his  book  by  these  things ;  it  has  its  periods, 
strophes  and  refrains.  It  marches  like  the  hosts  of 
the  Lord  of  hosts.  But  Hosea  had  no  such  un- 
hampered vision  of  great  laws.  He  was  too  familiar 
with  the  rapid  changes  of  his  fickle  people  ;  and  his 
affection  for  them  was  too  anxious.  His  style  has 
all  the  restlessness  and  irritableness  of  hunger  about 
it — the  hunger  of  love.  Hosea's  eyes  are  never  at 
rest.  He  seeks,  he  welcomes,  for  moments  of  extra- 
ordinary fondness  he  dwells  upon  every  sign  of  his 
people's  repentance.  But  a  Divine  jealousy  succeeds, 
and  he  questions  the  motives  of  the  change.  You  feel 
that  his  love  has  been  overtaken  and  surprised  by  his 
knowledge ;  and  in  fact  his  whole  style  might  be 
described  as  a  race  between  the  two — a  race  varying 
and  uncertain  up  to  almost  the  end.  The  transitions 
are  very  swift.  You  come  upon  a  passage  of  exquisite 
tenderness  :  the  prophet  puts  the  people's  penitence  in 
his  own  words  with  a  sympathy  and  poetry  that  are 
sublime  and  seem  final.  But  suddenly  he  remembers 
how  false  they  are,  and  there  is  another  light  in  his 
eyes.  The  lustre  of  their  tears  dies  from  his  verses, 
like  the  dews  of  a  midsummer  morning  in  Ephraim  ; 
and  all  is  dry  and  hard  again  beneath  the  brazen  sun 
of  his  amazement.  What  shall  I  do  unto  thee,  Ephraim  ? 
What  shall  I  do  unto  thee,  Judah  ?  Indeed,  this  figure 
of  his  own  is  insufficient  to  express  the  suddenness 
with  which  Hosea  lights  up  some  intrigue  of  the  states- 
men of  the  day,  or  some  evil  habit  of  the  priests,  or 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


some  hidden  orgy  of  the  common  people.  Rather  than 
the  sun  it  is  the  lightning — the  lightning  in  pursuit  of 
a  serpent. 

The  elusiveness  of  the  style  is  the  greater  that  many 
passages  do  not  seem  to  have  been  prepared  for  public 
delivery.  They  are  more  the  play  of  the  prophet's 
mind  than  his  set  speech.  They  are  not  formally 
addressed  to  an  audience,  and  there  is  no  trace  in 
them  of  oratorical  art. 

Hence  the  language  of  this  Second  Section  of  the 
Book  of  Hosea  is  impulsive  and  abrupt  beyond  all 
comparison.  There  is  little  rhythm  in  it,  and  almost 
no  argument.  Few  metaphors  are  elaborated.  Even 
the  brief  parallelism  of  Hebrew  poetry  seems  too  long 
for  the  quick  spasms  of  the  writer's  heart.  "  Osee," 
said  Jerome,^  "  commaticus  est,  et  quasi  per  sententias 
loquitur."  He  speaks  in  little  clauses,  often  broken 
off;  he  is  impatient  even  of  copulas.  And  withal  he 
uses  a  vocabulary  full  of  strange  words,  which  the 
paucity  of  parallelism  makes  much  the  more  difficult. 

To  this  original  brokenness  and  obscurity  of  the 
language  are  due,  first,  the  great  corruption  of  the  text ; 
second,  the  difficulty  of  dividing  it ;  third,  the  uncer- 
tainty of  deciding  its  genuineness  or  authenticity. 

I.  The  Text  of  Hosea  is  one  of  the  most  dilapidated 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  in  parts  beyond  possibility 
of  repair.  It  is  probable  that  glosses  were  found  neces- 
sary at  an  earlier  period  and  to  a  larger  extent  than  in 
most  other  books :  there  are  evident  traces  of  some ; 
yet  it  is  not  always  possible  to  disentangle  them.*  The 
value  of  the  Greek  version  is  curiously  mixed.  The 
authors  had  before  them  much  the  same  difficulties  as 

J  Fraf.  in  Duod.  Prophetaa,  '  Especially  in  chap.  vii. 


THE  BOOK  OF  HOSEA  221 

we  have,  and  they  made  many  more  for  themselves. 
Some  of  their  mistranslations  are  outrageous :  they 
occur  not  only  in  obscure  passages,  where  they  may 
be  pardoned ;  *  but  even  where  there  are  parallel  terms 
with  which  the  translators  show  themselves  familiar.* 
Sometimes  they  have  translated  word  by  word,  without 
any  attempt  to  give  the  general  sense  ;  and  as  a  whole 
their  version  is  devoid  both  of  beauty  and  compactness. 
Yet  not  infrequently  they  supply  us  with  a  better  read- 
ing than  the  Massoretic  text.  Occasionally  they  divide 
words  properly  which  the  latter  misdivides.'  They 
often  give  more  correctly  the  easily  confused  pronominal 
suffixes;*  and  the  copula.'  And  they  help  us  to  the 
true  readings  of  many  other  words.'  Here  and  there 
an  additional  clause  in  the  Greek  is  plethoric,  perhaps 
copied  by  mistake  from  a  similar  verse  in  the  context.'^ 
All  of  these  will  be  noticed  separately  as  we  reach  them. 
But,  even  after  these  and  other  aids,  we  shall  find  that 
the  text  not  infrequently  remains  impracticable. 

2.  As  great  as  the  difficulty  of  reaching  a  true  text 

'  As  in  xi.  2  b. 

*  This  is  especially  the  case  in  x.  II-13  ;  xi.  4;  xiv.  5, 

»  E.g.  vi.  Sb:  M.T.  KV*  IIN  TDQSTO.  which  is  nonsense ;  LXX. 
-I1N3    ^t3DK'»,  My  judgment  shall  go  forth   like  light,      xi.  2 :  M.T. 

Dn^so ;  LXX.  on  ^JSO. 

•f  r..  .    ,  ....... 

*  iv.  4,  VDV  for  "[DV ;  8,  DB'SJ  for  BJ— perhaps ;  13,  n?V  for  n?V  ; 
V.  2;  vi.  2  (possibly) ;  viii.  4,  read  -ima*;  ix.  2;  xi.  2,  3 ;  xi.  5,  6, 
where  for  N7  read  )7 ;  10,  read  "J]?. ;  xii.  9 ;  xiv.  9  a,  V  for  17, 
On  the  other  hand,  they  are  either  improbable  or  quite  wrong,  as  in 
V.  26;  vi.  2  (but  the  LXX.  may  be  right  here);  vil  1*;  xi.  i,  4; 
xiL  5  ;  xiii.  14,  15  (ten). 

*  V.  5  (so  as  to  change  the  tense :  and  Judah  shall  stumble) ; 
xii.  3,  etc. 

*  vi.  3;  viii.  10,  13;  ix.2;  x.  4,  13*,  15  (probably);  xii  2;  xiii. 9; 
xiv.  3.     Wrong  tense,  xii.  1 1.     Cf.  also  vi.  3, 

*  E.g.  viii.  13. 


222  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

in  this  Second  Section  of  the  book  is  the  difficulty  of 
Dividing  it.     Here  and  there,  it  is  true,  the  Greek  helps 
us   to   improve   upon    the    division   into  chapters   and 
verses  of  the  Hebreu^  text,  which  is  that  of  our  own 
English  version.     Chap.  vi.  1-4  ought  to  follow  imme- 
diately on  to  the  end  of  chap,  v.,  with  the  connecting 
word  saying.     The  last  few  words  of  chap.  vi.  go  with 
the  first  two  of  chap,  vii.,  but  perhaps  both  are  gloss. 
The  openings  of  chaps,  xi.  and  xii.  are  better  arranged 
in  the  Hebrew  than  in  the  Greek.     As  regards  verses 
we  shall  have  to  make  several  rearrangements.^     But 
beyond  this  more    or   less   conventional  division  into 
chapters  and  verses  our  confidence  ceases.     It  is  im- 
possible to  separate  the  section,  long  as  it  is,  into  sub- 
sections,  or  into   oracles,  strophes   or   periods.     The 
reason  of  this  we  have  already  seen,  in  the  turbulence 
of  the  period  reflected,  in  the  divided  interests  and  abrupt 
and  emotional  style  of  the  author,  and  in  the  probability 
that  part  at  least  of  the  book   was  not  prepared  for 
public     speaking.      The    periods    and    climaxes,     the 
refrains,  the  catchwords    by  which  we   are  helped   to 
divide  even  the  confused  Second  Section  ot  the  Book 
of  Amos,  are  not  found  in  Hosea.     Only  twice  does  the 
exordium  of  a  spoken  address  occur  :  at  the  beginning 
of  the  section  (chap.  iv.  i),  and  at  what  is  now  the  open- 
ing of  the  next  chapter  (v.  i).     The  phrase  His  the  oracle 
of  Jehovah,  which  occurs  so  periodically  in  Amos,  and 
thrice  in  the  second  chapter  of  Hosea,  is  found  only 
once  in  chaps,  iv. — xiv.     Again,  the  obvious  climaxes  or 
perorations,  of  which  we  found  so  many  in  Amos,  are 
very  few,^  and  even  when  they  occur  the  next  verses 
start  impulsively  from  them,  without  a  pause. 

'  Cf.  the  Hebrew  and  Greek,  of  «.^.,  iv.  lO,  il,  12;  vi.  9,  lo;  viii.  5,6; 
ix  8,  9.  *  viii.  13  (14  must  be  omitted);  ix.  17. 


THE  BOOK   OF  HOSEA  223 

In  spite  of  these  difficullies,  since  the  section  is  so 
long,  attempts  at  division  have  been  made.  Ewald 
distinguished  three  parts  in  three  different  tempers : 
First,  iv. — vi.  1 1  a,  God's  Plaint  against  His  people ; 
Second,  vi.  1 1  b — ix.  9,  Their  Punishment ;  Third,  ix.  10 
— xiv.  10,  Retrospect  of  the  earlier  history — warning 
and  consolation.  Driver  also  divides  into  three  sub- 
sections, but  differently  :  First,  iv. — viii.,  in  which 
Israel's  Guilt  predominates;  Second,  ix. — xi.  il,  in 
which  the  prevailing  thought  is  their  Punishment ; 
Third,  xi.  12 — xiv.  lO,  in  which  both  lines  of  thought 
are  continued,  but  followed  by  a  glance  at  the  brighter 
future.^  What  is  common  to  both  these  arrangements 
is  the  recognition  of  a  certain  progress  from  feelings 
about  Israel's  guilt  which  prevail  in  the  earlier  chap- 
ters, to  a  clear  vision  of  the  political  destruction 
awaiting  them  ;  and  finally  more  hope  of  repentance 
in  the  people,  with  a  vision  of  the  blessed  future  that 
must  follow  upon  it.  It  is,  however,  more  accurate  to 
say  that  the  emphasis  of  Hosea's  prophesying,  instead 
of  changing  from  the  Guilt  to  the  Punishment  of  Israel, 
changes  about  the  middle  of  chap.  vii.  from  their  Moral 
Decay  to  their  Political  Decay,  and  that  the  description 
of  the  latter  is  modified  or  interrupted  by  Two  Visions 
of  better  things  :  one  of  Jehovah's  early  guidance  of  the 
people,  with  a  great  outbreak  of  His  Love  upon  them,  in 
chap.  xi. ;  and  one  of  their  future  Return  to  Jehovah 
and  restoration  in  chap.  xiv.  It  is  on  these  features 
that  the  division  of  the  following  Exposition  is  arranged. 

3.  It  will  be  obvious  that  with  a  text  so  corrupt, 
with  a  style  so  broken  and  incapable  of  logical  division, 
questions  of  Authenticity  are  raised  to  a  pitch  of  the 

'  Introd,  284. 


224  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

greatest  difficulty.  Allusion  has  been  made  to  the 
number  of  glosses  which  must  have  been  found  neces- 
sary from  even  an  early  period,  and  of  some  of  which 
we  can  discern  the  proofs.^  We  will  deal  with  these 
as  they  occur.  But  we  may  here  discuss,  as  a  whole, 
another  class  of  suspected  passages — suspected  for  the 
same  reason  that  we  saw  a  number  in  Amos  to  be, 
because  of  their  reference  to  Judah.  In  the  Book  of 
Hosea  (chaps,  iv. — xiv.)  they  are  twelve  in  number. 
Only  one  of  them  is  favourable  (iv.  1 5)  :  Though  Israel 
play  the  harlot^  let  not  Judah  sin.  Kuenen^  argues  that 
this  is  genuine,  on  the  ground  that  the  peculiar  verb 
to  sin  or  take  guilt  to  oneself  is  used  several  other 
times  in  the  book,^  and  that  the  wish  expressed  is  in 
consonance  with  what  he  understands  to  be  Hosea's 
favourable  feeling  towards  Judah.  Yet  Hosea  nowhere 
else  makes  any  distinction  between  Ephraim  and  Judah 
in  the  matter  of  sin,  but  condemns  both  equally ;  and  as 
iv.  1 5  f.  are  to  be  suspected  on  other  grounds  as  well, 
I  cannot  hold  this  reference  to  Judah  to  be  beyond 
doubt.  Nor  is  the  reference  in  viii.  14  genuine :  And 
Israel  forgat  her  Maker  and  built  temples^  and  Judah 
multiplied  fenced  cities,  but  I  will  send  fire  on  his  cities 
and  it  shall  devour  her  palaces.  Kuenen*  refuses  to 
reject  the  reference  to  Judah,  on  the  ground  that 
without  it  the  rhythm  of  the  verse  is  spoiled  ;  but  the 
fact  is  the  whole  verse  must  go.  Chap.  v.  13  forms  a 
climax,  which  v.  14  only  weakens;  the  style  is  not  like 
Hosea's  own,  and  indeed  is  but  an  echo  of  verses  of 


'  E.g.  iv.  15  (?) ;  vi.  11 — vii.  i  (?);  vii.  4;  viii.  2  ;  zii.  <k 

•  EM.,  323. 

•  DK'N,  V.  15 ;  X.  2;  xiii.  I ;  xiv.  I. 

•  P.  313- 


THE  BOOK  OF  HOSEA  225 

Amos.^  Nor  can  we  be  quite  sure  about  v.  5  :  Israel 
and  Ephraim  shall  stumble  by  their  iniquities,  and  (LXX.) 
stumble  also  shall  Judah  with  them;  or  vi.  10,  li  :  In 
Bethel  I  have  seen  horrors :  there  playest  thou  the  harlot, 
Ephraim ;  there  Israel  defiles  himself;  also  Judah  .  .  . 
(the  rest  of  the  text  is  impracticable).  In  both  these 
passages  Judah  is  the  awkward  third  of  a  paralleHsm, 
and  is  introduced  by  an  also,  as  if  an  afterthought. 
Yet  the  afterthought  may  be  the  prophet's  own ;  for 
in  other  passages,  to  which  no  doubt  attaches,  he  fully 
includes  Judah  in  the  sinfulness  of  Israel.  Cornill 
rejects  x.  ii,  Judah  must  plough,  but  I  cannot  see  on 
what  grounds  ;  as  Kuenen  says,  it  has  no  appearance 
of  being  an  intrusion.'^  In  xii.  3  Wellhausen  reads 
Israel  for  Judah,  but  the  latter  is  justified  if  not  rendered 
necessary  by  the  reference  to  Judah  in  ver.  i,  which 
Wellhausen  admits.  Against  the  other  references 
— V.  10,  The  princes  of  Judah  are  as  removers  of 
boundaries  ;  v.  12,  I  shall  be  as  the  moth  to  Ephraim, 
and  a  worm  to  the  house  of  Judah  ;  v.  13,  And  Ephraim 
saw  his  disease,  and  Judah  his  sore  ;  v.  14,  For  I  am  as 
a  roaring  lion  to  Ephraim,  and  as  a  young  lion  to  the 
house  of  Judah ;  vi.  4,  What  shall  I  do  to  thee,  Ephraim  ? 
what  shall  I  do  to  thee,  Judah  ? — there  are  no  apparent 
objections ;  and  they  are  generally  admitted  by  critics. 
As  Kuenen  says,  it  would  have  been  surprising  if  Hosea 
had  made  no  reference  to  the  sister  kingdom.  His 
judgment  of  her  is  amply  justified  by  that  of  her  own 
citizens,  Isaiah  and  Micah. 

Other  short  passages   of  doubtful   authenticity  will 
be  treated  as  we  come  to  them  ;  but  again  it  may  be 

'  viii.  14  is  also  rejected  by  Wellhausen  and  Cornill. 
*  Loc.  cit. 


VOL.  I. 


IS 


226  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

emphasised  that,  in  a  book  of  such  a  style  as  this, 
certainty  on  the  subject  is  impossible. 

Finally,  there  may  be  given  here  the  only  notable 
addition  which  the  Septuagint  makes  to  the  Book  of 
Hosea.  It  occurs  in  xiii.  4,  after  /  am  Jehovah  thy 
God:  "That  made  fast  the  heavens  and  founded  the 
earth,  vi^hose  hands  founded  all  the  host  of  the  heaven, 
and  I  did  not  show  them  to  thee  that  thou  shouldest 
follow  after  them,  and  I  led  thee  up  " — -from  the  land  of 
Egypt. 

At  first  this  recalls  those  apostrophes  to  Jehovah's 
power  which  break  forth  in  the  Book  of  Amos ;  and 
the  resemblance  has  been  taken  to  prove  that  they 
also  are  late  intrusions.  But  this  both  obtrudes  itself 
as  they  do  not,  and  is  manifestly  of  much  lower 
poetical  value.     See  page  203. 


We  have  now  our  material  clearly  before  us,  and 
may  proceed  to  the  more  welcome  task  of  tracing  our 
prophet's  life,  and  expounding  his  teaching. 


CHAPTER    XIII 

THE   PROBLEM    THAT   AMOS    LEFT 

AMOS  was  a  preacher  of  righteousness  almost 
wholly  in  its  judicial  and  punitive  offices.  Ex- 
posing the  moral  conditions  of  society  in  his  day, 
emphasising  on  the  one  hand  its  obduracy  and  on 
the  other  the  intolerableness  of  it,  he  asserted  that 
nothing  could  avert  the  inevitable  doom — neither 
Israel's  devotion  to  Jehovah  nor  Jehovah's  interest 
in  Israel,  You  alone  have  I  known  of  all  the  farnilies 
of  the  ground :  therefore  will  I  visit  upon  you  all  your 
iniquities.  The  visitation  was  to  take  place  in  war 
and  in  the  captivity  of  the  people.  This  is  practically 
the  whole  message  of  the  prophet  Amos. 

That  he  added  to  it  the  promise  of  restoration  which 
now  closes  his  book,  we  have  seen  to  be  extremely 
improbable.^  Yet  even  if  that  promise  is  his  own, 
Amos  does  not  tell  us  how  the  restoration  is  to  be 
brought  about.  With  wonderful  insight  and  patience 
he  has  traced  the  captivity  of  Israel  to  moral  causes. 
But  he  does  not  show  what  moral  change  in  the  exiles 
is  to  justify  their  restoration,  or  by  what  means  such 
a  moral  change  is  to  be  effected.  We  are  left  to  infer 
the  conditions  and  the  means  of  redemption  from  the 
principles  which  Amos  enforced  while  there  yet  seemed 

'  See  above,  pp.  193  ff. 
227 


228  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

time  to  pray  for  the  doomed  people  :  Seek  the  Lord  and 
ye  shall  live}  According  to  this,  the  moral  renewal  of 
Israel  must  precede  their  restoration  ;  but  the  prophet 
seems  to  make  no  great  effort  to  effect  the  renewal. 
In  short  Amos  illustrates  the  easily-forgotten  truth 
that  a  preacher  to  the  conscience  is  not  necessarily  a 
preacher  of  repentance. 

Of  the  great  antitheses  between  which  religion 
moves,  Law  and  Love,  Amos  had  therefore  been  the 
prophet  of  Law.  But  we  must  not  imagine  that  the 
association  of  Love  with  the  Deity  was  strange  to  him. 
This  could  not  be  to  any  Israelite  who  remembered  the 
past  of  his  people — the  romance  of  their  origins  and 
early  struggles  for  freedom.  Israel  had  always  felt  the 
grace  of  their  God ;  and,  unless  we  be  wrong  about 
the  date  of  the  great  poem  in  the  end  of  Deuteronomy, 
they  had  lately  celebrated  that  grace  in  lines  of 
exquisite  beauty  and  tenderness : — 

He  found  him  in  a  desert  land, 

In  a  waste  and  a  howling  wilderness. 
He  compassed  him  about,  cared  for  him, 

Kept  him  as  the  apple  of  His  eye. 
As  an  eagle  stirreth  up  his  nest, 

Fliittereth  over  his  young, 
Sprcadeih  his  wings,  taketh  them, 

Beareth  them  up  on  his  pinions — 
So  Jehovah  alone  led  him.^ 

The  patience  of  the  Lord  with  their  waywardness 
and  their  stubbornness  had  been  the  ethical  influence 


•  V.  4. 

'  Deut.    xxxii.    IO-I2:    a  song   probably   earlier   than   the   eighth 
century.     But  some  put  it  later. 


THE  PROBLEM    THAT  AMOS  LEFT  229 

on  Israel's  life  at  a  time  when  they  had  probably 
neither  code  of  law  nor  system  of  doctrine.  Thy 
gentleness^  as  an  early  Psalmist  says  for  his  people, 
Thy  gentleness  hath  made  me  great}  Amos  is  not 
unaware  of  this  ancient  grace  of  Jehovah.  But  he 
speaks  of  it  in  a  fashion  which  shows  that  he  feels 
it  to  be  exhausted  and  without  hope  for  his  genera- 
tion. /  brought  you  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and 
led  you  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  to  possess  the 
land  of  the  Amorites.  And  I  raised  up  of  your  sons 
for  prophets  and  of  your  young  men  for  Nazirites? 
But  this  can  now  only  fill  the  cup  of  the  nation's 
sin.  You  alone  have  I  known  of  all  the  families  of  the 
earth:  therefore  will  I  visit  upon  you  all  your  iniquities} 
Jehovah's  ancient  Love  but  strengthens  now  the  justice 
and  the  impetus  of  His  Law. 

We  perceive,  then,  the  problem  which  Amos  left  to 
prophecy.  It  was  not  to  discover  Love  in  the  Deity 
whom  he  had  so  absolutely  identified  with  Law.  The 
Love  of  God  needed  no  discovery  among  a  people  with 
the  Deliverance,  the  Exodus,  the  Wilderness  and  the 
Gift  of  the  Land  in  their  memories.  But  the  problem 
was  to  prove  in  God  so  great  and  new  a  mercy  as  was 
capable  of  matching  that  Law,  which  the  abuse  of  His 
millennial  gentleness  now  only  the  more  fully  justified. 
There  was  needed  a  prophet  to  arise  with  as  keen  a 
conscience  of  Law  as  Amos  himself,  and  yet  affirm 
that  Love  was  greater  still ;  to  admit  that  Israel  were 
doomed,  and  yet  promise  their  redemption  by  processes 
as  reasonable  and  as  ethical  as  those  by  which  the  doom 
had  been  rendered  inevitable.  The  prophet  of  Conscience 
had  to  be  followed  by  the  prophet  of  Repentance. 

'  Psalm  xviii.  *  ii.  10  t.  *  iii.  2. 


230  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Such  an  one  was  found  in  Hosea,  the  son  of 
Be'eri,  a  citizen  and  probably  a  priest  of  Northern 
Israel,  whose  very  name,  Salvation,  the  synonym  of 
Joshua  and  of  Jesus,  breathed  the  larger  hope,  which 
it  was  his  glory  to  bear  to  his  people.  Before  we 
see  how  for  this  task  Hosea  was  equipped  with  the 
love  and  sympathy  which  Amos  lacked,  let  us  do  two 
things.  Let  us  appreciate  the  magnitude  of  the  task 
itself,  set  to  him  first  of  prophets ;  and  let  us  remind 
ourselves  that,  greatly  as  he  achieved  it,  the  task  was  not 
one  which  could  be  achieved  even  by  him  once  for  all, 
but  that  it  presents  itself  to  religion  again  and  again  in 
the  course  of  her  development. 

For  the  first  of  these  duties,  it  is  enough  to  recall 
how  much  all  subsequent  prophecy  derives  from  Hosea. 
We  shall  not  exaggerate  if  we  say  that  there  is  no 
truth  uttered  by  later  prophets  about  the  Divine  Grace, 
which  we  do  not  find  in  germ  in  him.  Isaiah  of 
Jerusalem  was  a  greater  statesman  and  a  more  powerful 
writer,  but  he  had  not  Hosea's  tenderness  and  insight 
into  motive  and  character.  Hosea's  marvellous  sym- 
pathy both  with  the  people  and  with  God  is  sufficient 
to  foreshadow  every  grief,  every  hope,  every  gospel, 
which  make  the  Books  of  Jeremiah  and  the  great 
Prophet  of  the  Exile  exhaustless  in  their  spiritual  value 
for  mankind.  These  others  explored  the  kingdom 
of  God :  it  was  Hosea  who  took  it  by  storm.^  He  is 
the  first  prophet  of  Grace,  Israel's  earliest  Evangelist ; 
yet  with  as  keen  a  sense  of  law,  and  of  the  inevitable- 
ness  of  ethical  discipline,  as  Amos  himself 

But  the  task  which  Hosea  accomplished  was  not  one 
that  could  be  accomplished  once  for  all.     The  interest 

'  Matt.  xi.  12. 


THE  PROBLEM  THAT  AMOS  LEFT  231 

of  his  book  is  not  merely  historical.  For  so  often  as 
a  generation  is  shocked  out  of  its  old  religious  ideals, 
as  Amos  shocked  Israel,  by  a  realism  and  a  discovery 
of  law,  which  have  no  respect  for  ideals,  however  ancient 
and  however  dear  to  the  human  heart,  but  work  their 
own  pitiless  way  to  doom  inevitable ;  so  often  must  the 
Book  of  Hosea  have  a  practical  value  for  living  men. 
At  such  a  crisis  we  stand  to-day.  The  older  Evan- 
gelical assurance,  the  older  Evangelical  ideals  have  to 
some  extent  been  rendered  impossible  by  the  realism 
to  which  the  sciences,  both  physical  and  historical,  have 
most  healthily  recalled  us,  and  by  their  wonderful 
revelation  of  Law  working  through  nature  and  society 
without  respect  to  our  creeds  and  pious  hopes.  The 
question  presses :  Is  it  still  possible  to  believe  in 
repentance  and  conversion,  still  possible  to  preach  the 
power  of  God  to  save,  whether  the  individual  or  society, 
from  the  forces  of  heredity  and  of  habit  ?  We  can  at 
least  learn  how  Hosea  mastered  the  very  similar  pro- 
blem which  Amos  left  to  him,  and  how,  with  a  moral 
realism  no  less  stern  than  his  predecessor  and  a  moral 
standard  every  whit  as  high,  he  proclaimed  Love  to  be 
the  ultimate  element  in  religion ;  not  only  because  it 
moves  man  to  a  repentance  and  God  to  a  redemption 
more  sovereign  than  any  law ;  but  because  if  neglected 
or  abused,  whether  as  love  of  man  or  love  of  God,  it 
enforces  a  doom  still  more  inexorable  than  that  required 
by  violated  truth  or  by  outraged  justice.  Love  our 
Saviour,  Love  our  almighty  and  unfailing  Father,  but, 
just  because  of  this,  Love  our  most  awful  Judge — we 
turn  to  the  life  and  the  message  ia  which  this  eternal 
theme  was  first  unfolded. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  PRODIGAL   WIFE 
HosEA  i. — iii. 

IT  has  often  been  remarked  that,  unlike  the  first 
Doomster  of  Israel,  Israel's  first  Evangelist  was 
one  of  themselves,  a  native  and  citizen,  perhaps  even 
a  priest,  of  the  land  to  which  he  was  sent.  This 
appears  even  in  his  treatment  of  the  stage  and  soil  of 
his  ministry.     Contrast  him  in  this  respect  with  Amos. 

In  the  Book  of  Amos  we  have  few  glimpses  of  the 
scenery  of  Israel,  and  these  always  by  flashes  of 
the  lightnings  of  judgment :  the  towns  in  drought  or 
earthquake  or  siege ;  the  vineyards  and  orchards  under 
locusts  or  mildew ;  Carmel  itself  desolate,  or  as  a 
hiding-place  from  God's  wrath. 

But  Hosea's  love  steals  across  his  whole  land  like 
the  dew,  provoking  every  separate  scent  and  colour, 
till  all  Galilee  lies  before  us,  lustrous  and  fragrant  as 
nowhere  else  outside  the  parables  of  Jesus.  The  Book 
of  Amos,  when  it  would  praise  God's  works,  looks  to 
the  stars.  But  the  poetry  of  Hosea  clings  about  his 
native  soil  like  its  trailing  vines.  If  he  appeals  to  the 
heavens,  it  is  only  that  they  may  speak  to  the  earth, 
and  the  earth  to  the  corn  and  the  wine,  and  the  corn  and 
the  wine  to  Jezreel.^     Even  the  wild  beasts — and  Hosea 

'  ii,  23,  Heb. 
2'^2 


Hos.  i.-iii.]    THE  STORY  OF  THE  PRODIGAL  WIFE  233 

tells  US  of  their  cruelty  almost  as  much  as  Amos — he 
cannot  shut  out  of  the  hope  of  his  love :  /  zvi'll  make 
a  covenant  for  them  with  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  with 
the  fowls  of  heaven,  and  with  iJie  creeping  tilings  of  the 
ground}  God's  love-gifts  to  His  people  are  corn  and 
wool,  flax  and  oil ;  while  spiritual  blessings  are  figured 
in  the  joys  of  them  who  sow  and  reap.  With  Hosea 
we  feel  all  the  seasons  of  the  Syrian  year :  early 
rain  and  latter  rain,  the  first  flush  of  the  young  corn, 
the  scent  of  the  vine  blossom,  the  first  ripe  fig  of  the 
fig-tree  in  her  first  season,  the  bursting  of  the  lily ;  the 
wild  vine  trailing  on  the  hedge,  the  field  of  tares, 
the  beauty  of  the  full  olive  in  sunshine  and  breeze ; 
the  mists  and  heavy  dews  of  a  summer  morning  in 
Ephraim,  the  night  winds  laden  with  the  air  of  the 
mountains,  the  scent  of  Lebanon}  Or  it  is  the  dearer 
human  sights  in  valley  and  field :  the  smoke  from  the 
chimney,  the  chaff  from  the  threshing-floor,  the  doves 
startled  to  their  towers,  the  fowler  and  his  net;  the 
breaking  up  of  the  fallow  ground,  the  harrowing  of  the 
clods,  the  reapers,  the  heifer  that  treadeth  out  the  corn ; 
the  team  of  draught  oxen  surmounting  the  steep  road, 
and  at  the  top  the  kindly  driver  setting  in  food  to  their 
jaws.' 

Where,  I  say,  do  we  find  anything  like  this  save 
in  the  parables  of  Jesus  ?  For  the  love  of  Hosea  was 
as  the  love  of  that  greater  Gahlean  :  however  high, 
however  lonely  it  soared,  it  was  yet  rooted  in  the 
common  life  below,  and  fed  with  the  unfailing  grace 
of  a  thousand  homely  sources. 

But  just  as  the  Love  which  first  showed  itself  in  the 

*  ii.  20,  Heb.  *  vi.  3,  4 ;  vii.  8 ;  ix.  10 ;  xiv.  6,  7,  8, 

*  vii.  II,  12;  X.  11;  xi.  4,  etc 


234  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

sunny  Parables  of  Galilee  passed  onward  to  Gethsemane 
and  the  Cross,  so  the  love  of  Hosea,  that  had  wakened 
with  the  spring  lilies  and  dewy  summer  mornings  of 
the  North,  had  also,  ere  his  youth  was  spent,  to 
meet  its  agony  and  shame.  These  came  upon  the 
prophet  in  his  home,  and  in  her  in  whom  so  loyal 
and  tender  a  heart  had  hoped  to  find  his  chiefest 
sanctuary  next  to  God.  There  are,  it  is  true,  some  of 
the  ugliest  facts   of  human   life  about  this  prophet's 

.  experience ;  but  the  message  is  one  very  suited  to  our 
own  hearts  and  times.  Let  us  read  this  story  of  the 
Prodigal  Wife  as  we  do  that  other  Galilean  tale  of  the 
Prodigal  Son.  There  as  well  as  here  are  harlots ;  but 
here  as  well  as  there  is  the  clear  mirror  of  the  Divine 
Love.  For  the  Bible  never  shuns  realism  when  it 
would  expose  the  exceeding  hatefulness  oi  sin  or 
magnify  the  power  of  God's  love  to  redeem.  To  an 
age  which  is  always  treating  conjugal  infidelity  either 
as  a  matter  of  comedy  or  as  a  problem  of  despair,  the 
tale  of  Hosea  and  his  wife  may  still  become,  what  it 
proved  to  his  own  generation,  a  gospel  full  of  love 

.  and  hope. 

The  story,  and  how  it  led  Hosea  to  understand 
God's  relations  to  sinful  men,  is  told  in  the  first  three 
chapters  of  his  book.  It  opens  with  the  very  startling 
sentence :  The  beginning  of  the  word  of  Jehovah  to 
Hosea : — And  Jehovah  said  to  Hosea,  Go,  take  thee  a  wife 
of  harlotry  and  children  of  harlotry :  for  the  Land  hath 
committed  great  harlotry  in  departing  from  Jehovah} 

The  command  was  obeyed.  And  he  went  and  took 
Corner,  daughter  of  Diblaim  ;  *  and  she  conceived,  and  bare 

'  Pregnant  construction,  hath  committed  great  harlotry  from  after 
Jghovah. 

•  These  personal  names  do  not  elsewhere  occur.      IDji ;    Tofup, 


Hos.  i.-iii.]     THE  STORY  OF  THE  PRODIGAL  WIFE         235 

to  him  a  son.  And  Jehovah  said  unto  him,  Call  his 
name  Jezreel ;  for  yet  a  little  and  I  shall  visit  the  blood  oj 
Jezreel  upon  the  house  of  Jehu,  and  will  bring  to  an  end 
the  kingdom  of  the  house  of  Israel ;  and  it  shall  be  on 
that  day  that  I  shall  break  the  bow  of  Israel  in  the  Vale 
of  Jezreel — the  classic  battle-field  of  Israel.^  And  she 
conceived  again,  and  bare  a  daughter;  and  He  said  to 
him,  Call  her  name  Un-Loved,  or  That-never-knew-a- 
Father' s-Pity ;  ^  for  I  will  not  again  have  pity — such  pity 
as  a  Father  hath — on  the  house  of  Israel,  that  I  shoidd 
fully  forgive  them}  And  she  weaned  Un-Pitied,  and 
conceived,  and  bare  a  son.     And  He  said,  Call  his  name 


Dv?"'!;  Ae^riXaifi,  B;  A6j8?jXa«/tt,  AQ.  They  have,  of  course,  been  inter- 
preted allegorically  in  the  interests  of  the  theory  discussed  below, 
~\'0i  has  been  taken  to  mean  "completion,"  and  interpreted  as  various 
derivatives  of  that  root:  Jerome,  "the  perfect  one";  Raschi,  "that 
fulfilled  all  evil";  Kimchi,  "fulfilment  of  punishment";  Calvin, 
"consumptio,"  and  so  on.  D''/'m  has  been  traced  to  n?3''J,  PL 
Dvll"'!  cakes  of  pressed  figs,  as  if  a  name  had  been  sought  to  con- 
nect the  woman  at  once  with  the  idol-worship  and  a  rich  sweetness; 
or  to  an  Arabic  root,  721,  to  press,  as  if  it  referred  either  to  the 
plumpness  of  the  body  (cf.  Ezek.  xvi.  7 ;  so  Hitzig)  or  to  the  woman's 
habits.  But  all  these  are  far-fetched  and  vain.  There  is  no  reason 
to  suppose  that  either  of  the  two  names  is  symbolic.  The  alternative 
(allowed  by  the  language)  naturally  suggests  itself  that  DvlT  is  the 
name  of  Gomer's  birthplace.  But  there  is  nothing  to  prove  this. 
No  such  place-name  occurs  elsewhere :  one  cannot  adduce  the 
Diblathaim  in  Moab  (Num.  xxxiii.  46!?.;  Jer.  xlviii.  2). 

'  Hist.  Geog.,  Chap.  XVIII. 

'  noriT  N'?j  probably  3rd  pers.  sing,  fem,  Pual  (in  Pause 
cf.  Prov.  xxviii.  13) ;  literally,  She  is  not  loved  or  pitied.  The  word 
means  love  as  pity:  "such  pity  as  a  father  hath  unto  his  children 
dear"  (Psalm  ciii.),  or  God  to  a  penitent  man  (Psalm  xxviii.  13). 
The  Greek  versions  alternate  between  love  and  pity.  LXX.  oiiK 
■fjXeriixivr]  St&ri  oii  fj.7]  TrpoaOrjffu  IVt  ifKfyjcxat,  for  which  the  Complutensian 
has  ayawTjcrai,  the  reading  followed  by  Paul  (Rom.  ix,  25:  cf. 
I  Peter  ii.  10). 

*  Here  ver.  7  is  to  be  omitted,  as  explained  above,  p.  213. 


236  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Not-My-People :  for  ye  are  not  My  people,  and  I — /  am 
not  yours} 

It  is  not  surprising  that  divers  interpretations  have 
been  put  upon  this  troubled  tale.  The  words  which 
introduce  it  are  so  startling  that  very  many  have  held 
it  to  be  an  allegory,  or  parable,  invented  by  the 
prophet  to  illustrate,  by  familiar  human  figures,  what 
was  at  that  period  the  still  difficult  conception  of  the 
Love  of  God  for  sinful  men.  But  to  this  well-intended 
argument  there  are  insuperable  objections.  It  implies 
that  Hosea  had  first  awakened  to  the  relations  of 
Jehovah  and  Israel — He  faithful  and  full  of  affection, 
she  unfaithful  and  thankless — and  that  then,  in  order 
to  illustrate  the  relations,  he  had  invented  the  story. 
To  that  we  have  an  adequate  reply.  In  the  first  place, 
though  it  were  possible,  it  is  extremely  improbable, 
that  such  a  man  should  have  invented  such  a  tale 
about  his  wife,  or,  if  he  was  unmarried,  about  himself. 
But,  in  the  second  place,  he  says  expressly  that  his 
domestic  experience  was  the  beginning  of  JehovaUs 
word  to  him.  That  is,  he  passed  through  it  first,  and 
only  afterwards,  with  the  sympathy  and  insight  thus 
acquired,  he  came  to  appreciate  Jehovah's  relation  to 
Israel.  Finally,  the  style  betrays  narrative  rather  than 
parable.  The  simple  facts  are  told ;  there  is  an 
absence  of  elaboration ;  there  is  no  effort  to  make 
every  detail  symbolic ;  the  names  Gomer  and  Diblaim 
are  apparently  those  of  real  persons  ;  every  attempt  to 
attach  a  symbolic  value  to  them  has  failed. 

She  was,  therefore,  no  dream,  this  woman,  but  flesh 
and  blood :  the  sorrow,  the  despair,  the  sphinx  of  the 


'  Do  not  belong  to  you ;  but  the  /  am,  HMS,  recalls  the  /  am  that 
I  am  of  Exodus. 


Hos-i.-iii.]     THE  STORY  OF  THE  PRODIGAL  WIFE         237 

prophet's  life ;    yet  a  sphinx  who  in  the  end  yielded 
her  riddle  to  love. 

Accordingly  a  large  number  of  other  interpreters 
have  taken  the  story  throughout  as  the  literal  account 
of  actual  facts.  This  is  the  theory  of  many  of  the 
Latin  and  Greek  Fathers,^  of  many  of  the  Puritans 
and  of  Dr.  Pusey — by  one  of  those  agreements  into 
which,  from  such  opposite  schools,  all  these  commenta- 
tors are  not  infrequently  drawn  by  their  common 
captivity  to  the  letter  of  Scripture.'  When  you  ask 
them,  How  then  do  you  justify  that  first  strange  word 
of  God  to  Hosea,'  if  you  take  it  literally  and  believe 
that  Hosea  was  charged  to  marry  a  woman  of  public 
shame  ?  they  answer  either  that  such  an  evil  may  be 
justified  by  the  bare  word  of  God,  or  that  it  was  well 
worth  the  end,  the  salvation  of  a  lost  soul.*  And 
indeed  this  tragedy  would  be  invested  with  an  even 
greater  pathos  if  it  were  true  that  the  human  hero 
had  passed  through  a  self-sacrifice  so  unusual,  had 
incurred  such  a  shame  for  such  an  end.  The  in- 
terpretation, however,  seems  forbidden  by  the  essence 
of  the  story.  Had  not  Hosea's  wife  been  pure  when 
he  married  her  she  could  not  have  served  as  a  type 
of  the  Israel  whose  earliest  relations  to  Jehovah  he 
describes  as  innocent.  And  this  is  confirmed  by  other 
features  of  the  book :  by  the  high  ideal  which  Hosea 
has  of  marriage,  and  by  that  sense  of  early  goodness 

*  Augustine,  Ambrose,  Theodoret,  Cyril  Alex,  and  Theodore  of 
Mopsuestia. 

*  It  is  interesting  to  read  in  parallel  the  interpretations  of  Matthew 
Henry  and  Dr.  Pusey.  They  are  very  alike,  but  the  latter  has  -the 
more  delicate  taste  of  his  age. 

»  i.  2. 

*  The  former  is  Matthew  Henry's ;  the  latter  seems  to  be  implied 
by  Pusey. 


238  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

and  early  beauty  passing  away  like  morning  mist, 
which  is  so  often  and  so  pathetically  expressed  that 
we  cannot  but  catch  in  it  the  echo  of  his  own  ex- 
perience. As  one  has  said  to  whom  we  owe,  more  than 
to  any  other,  the  exposition  of  the  gospel  in  Hosea,^ 
"  The  struggle  of  Hosea's  shame  and  grief  when  he 
found  his  wife  unfaithful  is  altogether  inconceivable 
unless  his  first  love  had  been  pure  and  full  of  trust 
in  the  purity  of  its  object." 

How  then  are  we  to  reconcile  with  this  the  state- 
ment of  that  command  to  take  a  wife  of  the  character 
so  frankly  described  ?  In  this  way — and  we  owe  the 
interpretation  to  the  same  lamented  scholar.''  When, 
some  years  after  his  marriage,  Hosea  at  last  began 
to  be  aware  of  the  character  of  her  whom  he  had 
taken  to  his  home,  and  while  he  still  brooded  upon 
it,  God  revealed  to  him  why  He  who  knoweth  all 
things  from  the  beginning  had  suffered  His  servant 
to  marry  such  a  woman  ;  and  Hosea,  by  a  very  natural 
anticipation,  in  which  he  is  imitated  by  other  prophets,' 
pushed  back  his  own  knowledge  of  God's  purpose 
to  the  date  when  that  purpose  began  actually  to  be 
fulfilled,  the  day  of  his  betrothal.  This,  though  he 
was   all  unconscious   of  its  fatal  future,  had   been  to 

'  Robertson  Smith,  Prophets  of  Israel. 

*  Apparently  it  was  W.  R.  Smith's  interpretation  which  caused 
Kuenen  to  give  up  the  allegorical  theory. 

*  Two  instances  are  usually  quoted.  The  one  is  Isaiah  vi.,  where 
most  are  agreed  that  what  Isaiah  has  stated  there  as  his  inaugural 
vision  is  not  only  what  happened  in  the  earliest  moments  of  his 
prophetic  life,  but  this  spelt  out  and  emphasised  by  his  experience 
since.  See  Isaiah  I- -XXXIX.  (Exp.  Bible),  pp.  57  f.  The  other 
instance  is  Jeremiah  xxxii.  8,  where  the  prophet  tells  us  that  he 
became  convinced  that  the  Lord  spoke  to  him  on  a  certain  occasion 
only  after  a  subsequent  event  proved  this  to  be  the  case. 


Hos.i.-Ui.]    THE  STORY  OF  THE  PRODIGAL  WIFE  rj9 

Hosea  the  beginning  of  the  word  of  the  Lord.  On 
that  uncertain  voyage  he  had  sailed  with  sealed 
orders. 

Now  this  is  true  to  nature,  and  may  be  matched 
from  our  own  experience.  "The  beginning  of  God's 
word "  to  any  of  us — where  does  it  lie  ?  Does  it 
lie  in  the  first  time  the  meaning  of  our  life  became 
articulate,  and  we  were  able  to  utter  it  to  others  ?  Ah 
no ;  it  always  lies  far  behind  that,  in  facts  and  in 
relationships,  of  the  Divine  meaning  of  which  we  are 
at  the  time  unconscious,  though  now  we  know.  How 
familiar  this  is  in  respect  to  the  sorrows  and  adversities 
of  life  :  dumb,  deadening  things  that  fall  on  us  at  the 
time  with  no  more  voice  than  clods  falling  on  coffins 
of  dead  men,  we  have  been  able  to  read  them  after- 
wards as  the  clear  call  of  God  to  our  souls.  But  what 
we  thus  so  readily  admit  about  the  sorrows  of  life  may 
be  equally  true  of  any  of  those  relations  which  we 
enter  with  light  and  unawed  hearts,  conscious  only  of 
the  novelty  and  the  joy  of  them.  It  is  most  true  of 
the  love  which  meets  a  man  as  it  met  Hosea  in  his 
opening  manhood. 

How  long  Hosea  took  to  discover  his  shame  he 
indicates  by  a  few  hints  which  he  suffers  to  break  from 
the  delicate  reserve  of  his  story.  He  calls  the  first 
child  his  own  ;  and  the  boy's  name,  though  ominous  of 
tht  nation's  fate,  has  no  trace  of  shame  upon  it.  Hosea's 
Jezreel  was  as  Isaiah's  Shear- Jashub  or  Maher-shalal- 
hash-baz.  But  Hosea  does  not  claim  the  second  child ; 
and  in  the  name  of  this  little  lass,  Lo-Ruhamah,  she- 
that-never-knew-a-father's-love,  orphan  not  by  death 
but  by  her  mother's  sin,  we  find  proof  of  the  prophet's 
awakening  to  the  tragedy  of  his  home.  Nor  does  he 
own  the  third  child,  named  Not-my-people,   that  could 


240  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

also  mean  No-kin-of-mine.  The  three  births  must  have 
taken  at  least  six  years ;  ^  and  once  at  least,  but  pro- 
bably oftener,  Hosea  had  forgiven  the  woman,  and  till 
the  sixth  year  she  stayed  in  his  house.  Then  either 
he  put  her  from  him,  or  she  went  her  own  way.  She 
sold  herself  for  money,  and  finally  drifted,  like  all  of 
her  class,  into  slavery.' 

Such  were  the  facts  of  Hosea's  grief,  and  we  have 
now  to  attempt  to  understand  how  that  grief  became 
his  gospel.  We  may  regard  the  stages  of  the  process 
as  two :  first,  when  he  was  led  to  feel  that  his  sorrow 
was  the  sorrow  of  the  whole  nation  ;  and,  second,  when 
he  comprehended  that  it  was  of  similar  kind  to  the 
sorrow  of  God  Himself. 

While  Hosea  brooded  upon  his  pain  one  of  the  first 
things  he  would  remember  would  be  the  fact,  which  he 
so  frequently  illustrates,  that  the  case  of  his  home  was 
not  singular,  but  common  and  characteristic  of  his 
day.  Take  the  evidence  of  his  book,  and  there  must 
have  been  in  Israel  many  such  wives  as  his  own.  He 
describes  their  sin  as  the  besetting  sin  of  the  nation, 
and  the  plague  of  Israel's  life.  But  to  lose  your  own 
sorrow  in  the  vaster  sense  of  national  trouble — that 
is  the  first  consciousness  of  a  duty  and  a  mission.  In 
the  analogous  vice  of  intemperance  among  oirselves 
we  have  seen  the  same  experience  operate  again  and 
again.  How  many  a  man  has  joined  the  public  war- 
fare against  that  sin,  because  he  was  aroused  to  its 
national  consequences  by  the  ruin  it  had  brought  to 
his  own  home  !  And  one  remembers  from  recent  years 
a  more  illustrious  instance,  where  a  domestic  grief — 

'  An  Eastern  woman  seldom  weans  her  child  before  the  end  of  its 
second  year.  '  iii.  2. 


flos.i.-iii.]     THE  STORY  OF  THE  PRODIGAL  WIFE  241 

it  is  true  of  a  very  different  kind — became  not  dis- 
similarly the  opening  of  a  great  career  of  service  to 
the  people  : — 

"  I  was  in  Leamington,  and  Mr.  Cobden  called  on  me.  I  was 
then  in  the  depths  of  grief — I  may  almost  say  of  despair,  for  the 
light  and  sunshine  of  my  house  had  been  extinguished.  All  that 
was  left  on  earth  of  my  young  wife,  except  the  memory  of  a 
sainted  life  and  a  too  brief  happiness,  was  lying  still  and  cold  in 
the  chamber  above  us.  Mr.  Cobden  called  on  me  as  his  friend, 
and  addressed  me,  as  you  may  suppose,  with  words  of  con- 
dolence. After  a  time  he  looked  up  and  said  :  '  There  are  thou- 
sands and  thousands  of  homes  in  England  at  this  moment  where 
wives  and  mothers  and  children  are  dying  of  hunger.  Now, 
when  the  first  paroxysm  of  your  grief  is  passed,  I  would  advise 
you  to  come  with  me,  and  we  will  never  rest  until  the  Corn  Laws 
are  repealed.' " ' 

Not  dissimilarly  was  Hosea's  pain  overwhelmed  by 
the  pain  of  his  people.  He  remembered  that  there 
were  in  Israel  thousands  of  homes  like  his  own. 
Anguish  gave  way  to  sympathy.  The  mystery  became 
the  stimulus  to  a  mission. 

But,  again,  Hosea  traces  this  sin  of  his  day  to  the 
worship  of  strange  gods.  He  tells  the  fathers  of  Israel, 
for  instance,  that  they  need  not  be  surprised  at  the 
corruption  of  their  wives  and  daughters  when  they 
themselves  bring  home  from  the  heathen  rites  the 
infection  of  light  views  of  love.*  That  is  to  say,  the 
many  sins  against  human  love  in  Israel,  the  wrong 
done  to  his  own  heart  in  his  own  home,  Hosea  connects 
with  the  wrong  done  to  the  Love  of  God,  by  His 
people's  desertion  of  Him  for  foreign  and  impure  rites. 
Hosea's  own  sorrow  thus  became  a  key  to  the  sorrow 
of  God.     Had    he   loved  this    woman,    cherished    and 

•  From  a  speech  by  John  Bright.  *  iv.  13,  14. 

VOL.  I.  16 


242  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

honoured  her,  borne  with  and  forgiven  her,  only  to 
find  at  the  last  his  love  spurned  and  hers  turned  to 
sinful  men  :  so  also  had  the  Love  of  God  been  treated 
by  His  chosen  people,  and  they  had  fallen  to  the  loose 
worship  of  idols. 

Hosea  was  the  more  naturally  led  to  compare  his 
relations  to  his  wife  with  Jehovah's  to  Israel,  by 
certain  religious  beliefs  current  among  the  Semitic 
peoples.  It  was  common  to  nearly  all  Semitic  religions 
to  express  the  union  of  a  god  with  his  land  or  with  his 
people  by  the  figure  of  marriage.  The  title  which 
Hosea  so  often  applies  to  the  heathen  deities,  Ba'al, 
meant  originally  not  "  lord  "  of  his  worshippers,  but 
"  possessor  "  and  endower  of  his  land,  its  husband  and 
fertiliser.  A  fertile  land  was  "a  land  of  Ba'al,"  or 
"  Be'ulah,"  that  is,  "possessed"  or  "  blessed  by  a  Ba'al."* 
Under  the  fertility  was  counted  not  only  the  increase 
of  field  and  flock,  but  the  human  increase  as  well ; 
and  thus  a  nation  could  speak  of  themselves  as  the 
children  of  the  Land,  their  mother,  and  of  her  Ba'al, 
their  father.*  When  Hosea,  then,  called  Jehovah  the 
husband  of  Israel,  it  was  not  an  entirely  new  symbol 
which  he  invented.  Up  to  his  time,  however,  the 
marriage  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  of  a  god  and  his  people, 
seems  to  have  been  conceived  in  a  physical  form  which 
ever  tended  to  become  more  gross ;  and  was  expressed, 
as  Hosea  points  out,  by  rites  of  a  sensual  and  debasing 
nature,  with  the  most  disastrous  effects  on  the  domestic 
morals  of  the  people.  By  an  inspiration,  whose  ethical 
character  is  very  conspicuous,  Hosea  breaks  the  phy- 
sical connection  altogether.     Jehovah's  Bride  is  not  the 

'  Cf.  the  spiritual  use  of  the  term,  Isa.  Ixii.  4. 

*  For  proof  and  exposition  of  all  this  see  Robertson  Smith,  Religion 
of  the  Semites,  92  S, 


Hos.i.-iii.]     THE  STORY  OF  THE  PRODIGAL  WIFE         243 

Land,  but  the  People,  and  His  marriage  with  her  is 
conceived  wholly  as  a  moral  relation.  Not  that  He 
has  no  connection  with  the  physical  fruits  of  the  land  : 
corn,  wine,  oil,  wool  and  flax.  But  these  are  repre- 
sented only  as  the  signs  and  ornaments  of  the  marriage, 
love-gifts  from  the  husband  to  the  wife.^  The  marriage 
itself  is  purely  moral :  /  will  betroth  her  to  Me  in  right- 
eousness and  justice,  in  leal  love  and  tender  mercies."^ 
From  her  in  return  are  demanded  faithfulness  and 
growing  knowledge  of  her  Lord. 

It  is  the  re-creation  of  an  Idea.  Slain  and  made 
carrion  by  the  heathen  religions,  the  figure  is  restored 
to  life  by  Hosea.  And  this  is  a  life  everlasting. 
Prophet  and  apostle,  the  Israel  of  Jehovah,  the  Church 
of  Christ,  have  alike  found  in  Hosea's  figure  an  un- 
failing significance  and  charm.  Here  we  cannot  trace 
the  history  of  the  figure ;  but  at  least  we  ought  to 
emphasise  the  creative  power  which  its  recovery  to 
life  proves  to  have  been  inherent  in  prophecy.  This 
is  one  of  those  triumphs  of  which  the  God  of  Israel 
said  :  Behold,  I  make  all  things  new} 

Having  dug  his  figure  from  the  mire  and  set  it  upon 
the  rock,  Hosea  sends  it  on  its  way  with  all  boldness. 
If  Jehovah  be  thus  the  husband  of  Israel,  her  first 
husband,  the  husband  of  her  youth,  then  all  her  pursuit 
of  the  Ba'alim  is  unfaithfulness  to  her  marriage  vows. 
But  she  is  worse  than  an  adulteress ;  she  is  a  harlot.  She 
has  fallen  for  gifts.     Here  the  historical  facts  wonder- 


>  ii.  &. 

*  So  best  is  rendered  "IDn,  hesedh,  which  means  always  not  merely 
an  afllction,  "lovingkindness,"  as  our  version  puts  it,  but  a  relation 
loyally  observed. 

'  An  expansion  of  this  will  be  found  in  the  present  writer's 
Isaiah  XL.—LXVI.  (Expositor's  Bible  Series),  pp.  398  S. 


244  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

fully  assisted  the  prophet's  metaphor.  It  was  a  fact 
that  Israel  and  Jehovah  were  first  wedded  in  the 
wilderness  upon  conditions,  which  by  the  very  circum- 
stances of  desert  life  could  have  little  or  no  reference 
to  the  fertility  of  the  earth,  but  were  purely  personal 
and  moral.  And  it  was  also  a  fact  that  Israel's  declen- 
sion from  Jehovah  came  after  her  settlement  in  Canaan, 
and  was  due  to  her  discovery  of  other  deities,  in  pos- 
session of  the  soil,  and  adored  by  the  natives  as  the 
dispensers  of  its  fertility.  Israel  fell  under  these 
superstitions,  and,  although  she  still  formally  acknow- 
ledged her  bond  to  Jehovah,  yet  in  order  to  get  her 
fields  blessed  and  her  flocks  made  fertile,  her  orchards 
protected  from  blight  and  her  fleeces  from  scab,  she 
went  after  the  local  Ba'alim.^  With  bitter  scorn  Hosea 
points  out  that  there  was  no  true  love  in  this :  it  was 
the  mercenariness  of  a  harlot,  selling  herself  for  gifts.' 
And  it  had  the  usual  results.  The  children  whom 
Israel  bore  were  not  her  husband's.'  The  new  gene- 
ration in  Israel  grew  up  in  ignorance  of  Jehovah,  with 
characters  and  lives  strange  to  His  Spirit.  They  were 
Lo-Ruhamah :  He  could  not  feel  towards  them  such 
pity  as  a  father  hath.*  They  were  Lo-Ammi  :  not  at 
all  His  people.  All  was  in  exact  parallel  to  Hosea's 
own  experience  with  his  wife ;  and  only  the  real  pain 
of  that  experience  could  have  made  the  man  brave 
enough  to  use  it  as  a  figure  of  his  God's  treatment 
by  Israel. 

Following  out  the  human  analogy,  the  next  step 
should  have  been  for  Jehovah  to  divorce  His  erring 
spouse.  But  Jehovah  reveals  to  the  prophet  that  this 
is  not  His  way.     For  He  is  God  and  not  man,  the  Holy 

*  ii.  13.  *  ii.  5,  13.  •  ii.  5.  *  See  above,  p.  235. 


Hos.i.-iii.]     THE  STORY  OF  THE  PRODIGAL  WIFE         245 


One  in  the  midst  of  thee.  How  shall  I  give  thee  up, 
Ephraim  ?  How  shall  I  surrender  thee,  O  Israel  ?  My 
heart  is  turned  within  Me,  My  compassions  are  kindled 
together  ! 

Jehovah  will  seek,  find  and  bring  back  the  wanderer. 
Yet  the  process  shall  not  be  easy.  The  gospel  which 
Hosea  here  preaches  is  matched  in  its  great  tender- 
ness by  its  full  recognition  of  the  ethical  requirements 
of  the  case.  Israel  may  not  be  restored  without 
repentance,  and  cannot  repent  without  disillusion  and 
chastisement.  God  will  therefore  show  her  that  her 
lovers,  the  Ba'alim,  are  unable  to  assure  to  her  the  gifts 
for  which  she  followed  them.  These  are  His  corn,  His 
wine,  His  wool  and  His  flax,  and  He  will  take  them 
away  for  a  time.  Nay  more,  as  if  mere  drought  and 
blight  might  still  be  regarded  as  some  Ba'al's  work, 
He  who  has  always  manifested  Himself  by  great  historic 
deeds  will  do  so  again.  He  will  remove  herself  from 
the  land,  and  leave  it  a  waste  and  a  desolation.  The 
whole  passage  runs  as  follows,  introduced  by  the  initial 
Therefore  of  judgment: — 

Therefore,  behold^  I  am  going  to  hedge  ^  up  her  ^  tvay 
with  thorns,  and  build  her^  a  wall,  so  that  she  find  not  her 
paths.  And  she  shall  pursue  her  paramours  and  shall 
not  come  upon  them,  seek  them  atid  shall  not  find  them ; 
and  she  shall  say,  Let  me  go  and  return  to  my  first 
husband,  for  it  ivas  better  for  me  then  than  now.  She 
knew  not,  then,  that  it  ivas  I  who  gave  her  the  corn  and 
the  wine  and  the  oil ;  yea,  silver  I  heaped  upon  her  and 

'  The  participle  Qal,  used  by  God  of  Himself  in  His  proclamations 
of  grace  or  of  punishment,  has  in  this  passage  (cf.  ver.  16)  and  else- 
where (especially  in  Deuteronomy)  the  force  of  an  immediate  future. 

"  So  LXX. ;  Mass.  Text,  thy. 

•  The  reading  n"l"lil  is  more  probable  than  iTTTi, 


246  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

gold — they  worked  it  up  for  the  Baal!^  Israel  had 
deserted  the  religion  that  was  historical  and  moral  for 
the  religion  that  was  physical.  But  the  historical 
religion  was  the  physical  one.  Jehovah  who  had 
brought  Israel  to  the  land  was  also  the  God  of  the  Land. 
He  would  prove  this  by  taking  away  its  blessings. 
Therefore  I  will  turn  and  take  away  My  corn  in  its  time 
and  My  wine  in  its  season,  and  I  will  withdraw  My  wool 
and  My  flax  that  should  have  covered  her  nakedness. 
And  now — the  other  initial  of  judgment — I  will  lay  bare 
her  shame  to  the  eyes  of  her  lovers,  and  no  man  shall 
rescue  her  from  My  hand.  And  I  will  make  an  end  of 
all  her  joyaiince,  her  pilgrimages,  her  New-Moons  and  her 
Sabbaths,  ivith  every  festival ;  and  I  will  destroy  her  vines 
and  her  figs  of  which  she  said,  "  They  are  a  gift,  mine 
own,  which  my  lovers  gave  me,"  and  I  will  turn  them  to 
jungle  and  the  wild  beast  shall  devour  them.  So  shall 
I  visit  upon  her  the  days  of  the  Baalim,  when  she  used  to 
offer  incense  to  them,  and  decked  herself  with  her  rings 
and  her  jewels  and  went  after  her  paramours,  but  Me 
she  forgat — His  the  oracle  of  Jehovah.  All  this  implies 
something  more  than  such  natural  disasters  as  those  in 
which  Amos  saw  the  first  chastisements  of  the  Lord. 
Each  of  the  verses  suggests,  not  only  a  devastation  of 
the  land  b}'  war,^  but  the  removal  of  the  people  into 
captivity.     Evidently,  therefore,    Hosea,  writing  about 

'  Or  they  made  it  into  a  Baal  image.  So  Ew.,  Hitz.,  Nowack. 
But  Wellhausen  omits  the  clause. 

'^  Wellhausen  thinks  that  up  to  ver.  14  only  physical  calamities  are 
meant,  but  the  in?^n  of  ver.  1 1,  as  well  as  others  of  the  terms  used, 
imply  not  the  blighting  of  crops  before  their  season,  but  the  carrying 
of  them  away  in  their  season,  when  they  had  fully  ripened,  by 
invaders.  The  cessation  of  all  worship  points  to  the  removal  of  the 
people  from  their  land,  which  is  also  implied,  of  course,  by  the 
promise  that  they  shall  be  sown  again  in  ver.  23. 


Hos.i.-iii.]    THE  STORY  OF  THE  PRODIGAL  WIFE         247 

745,  had  in  view  a  speedy  invasion  by  Assyria,  an 
invasion  which  was  always  followed  up  by  the  exile 
of  the  people  subdued. 

This  is  next  described,  with  all  plainness,  under  the 
figure  of  Israel's  early  wanderings  in  the  wilderness, 
but  is  emphasised  as  happening  only  for  the  end  of  the 
people's  penitence  and  restoration.  The  new  hope  is 
so  melodious  that  it  carries  the  language  into  metre. 

Therefore^  lo  !  I  am  to  woo  her,  and  I  will  bring  her  to 
the  wilderness, 

And  I  will  speak  home  to  her  heart. 

And  from  there  I  will  give  to  her  her  vineyards, 

And  the  Valley  of  Achor  for  a  doorway  of  hope. 

And  there  she  shall  answer  Me  as  in  the  days  of  her 
youth. 

And  as  the  day  when  she  came  up  from  the  land  of 
Misraim. 

To  us  the  terms  of  this  passage  may  seem  formal 
and  theological.  But  to  every  Israelite  some  of  these 
terms  must  have  brought  back  the  days  of  his  own 
wooing.  /  will  speak  home  to  her  heart  is  a  forcible 
expression,  like  the  German  "an  das  Herz"  or  the 
sweet  Scottish  "  it  cam'  up  roond  my  heart,"  and  was 
used  in  Israel  as  from  man  to  woman  when  he  won 
her.^  But  the  other  terms  have  an  equal  charm. 
The  prophet,  of  course,  does  not  mean  that  Israel 
shall  be  literally  taken  back  to  the  desert.  But  he 
describes  her  coming  Exile  under  that  ancient  figure, 
in  order  to  surround  her  penitence  with  the  associations 
of  her  innocency  and  her  youth.     By  the  grace  of  God, 


'  Cf.  Isa.  xl.  I  :  which  to  the  same  exiled  Israel  is  the  fulfilment  of 
the  promise  made  by  Hosea.  See  Isaiah  XL, — LXVI,  (Expositor's 
Bible),  pp.  75  fif. 


248  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

everything  shall  begin  again  as  at  first.  The  old  terms 
wilderness,  the  giving  of  vineyards,  Valley  of  Achor,  are, 
as  it  were,  the  wedding  ring  restored. 

As  a  result  of  all  this  (whether  the  words  be  by 
Hosea  or  another),^ 

It  shall  be  in  that  day — V/s  JehovaUs  oracle — that  thou 
shalt  call  Me,  My  husband, 

And  thou  shalt  riot  again  call  Me,  My  Bcial : 

For  I  will  take  away  the  names  of  the  Baalim  from 
her  mouth. 

And  they  shall  no  more  be  remembered  by  their  names. 
There  follows  a  picture  of  the  ideal  future,  in  which — 
how  unlike  the  vision  that  now  closes  the  Book  of 
Amos ! — moral  and  spiritual  beauty,  the  peace  of  the 
land  and  the  redemption  of  the  people,  are  wonderfully 
mingled  together,  in  a  style  so  characteristic  of  Hosea's 
heart.  It  is  hard  to  tell  where  the  rhythmical  prose 
passes  into  actual  metre. 

And  I  will  make  for  them  a  covenant  in  that  day  with 
the  wild  beasts,  and  ivith  the  birds  of  the  heavens,  and 
with  the  creeping  things  of  the  ground;  and  the  bow  and 
the  sword  and  battle  will  I  break  from  the  land,  and  I  will 
make  you  to  dwell  in  safety.  And  I  will  betroth  thee  to 
Me  for  ever,  and  I  will  betroth  thee  to  Me  in  righteousness 
and  in  justice,  in  leal  love  and  in  tender  mercies ;  and  I 
will  betroth  thee  to  Me  in  faithfulness,  and  thou  shalt  know 
Jehovah. 

And  it  shall  be  on  that  day  I  will  speak — 7/s  the  oracle 
of  Jehovah — /  will  speak  to  the  heavens,  and  they  shall 
speak  to  the  earth ;  and  the  earth  shall  speak  to  the  com 
and  the  wine  and  the  oil,  and  they  shall  speak  to  Jezreel, 
the  scattered  like  seed  across  many  lands  ;  but  I  will  sow 

*  Wellhausen  calls  ver.  18  a  gloss  to  ver.  19. 


Hos.i.  iii.]     THE  STORY  OF  THE  PRODIGAL  WIFE         249 

him^  for  Myself  in  the  land:  and  I  will  have  a  father's 
pity  upon  Un-Piticd;  and  to  Nut-My-People  I  will  sayj 
My  people  thou  art  !  and  he  shall  say,  My  God  !^ 

The  circle  is  thus  completed  on  the  terms  from  which 
we  started.  The  three  names  which  Hosea  gave  to 
the  children,  evil  omens  of  Israel's  fate,  are  reversed, 
and  the  people  restored  to  the  favour  and  love  of  their 
God. 

We  might  expect  this  glory  to  form  the  culmination 
of  the  prophecy.  What  fuller  prospect  could  be 
imagined  than  that  we  see  in  the  close  of  the  second 
chapter  ?  With  a  wonderful  grace,  however,  the  pro- 
phecy turns  back  from  this  sure  vision  of  the  restoration 
of  the  people  as  a  whole,  to  pick  up  again  the  individual 
from  whom  it  had  started,  and  whose  unclean  rag  of 
a  life  had  fluttered  out  of  sight  before  the  national 
fortunes  sweeping  in  upon  the  scene.  This  was 
needed  to  crown  the  story — this  return  to  the 
individual. 

And  fehovah  said  unto  me.  Once  more  go,  love  a  wife 
that  is  loved  of  a  paramour  and  is  an  adulteress,^  as 
Jehovah  loveth  the  children  of  Israel,  the  ivhile  they  are 
turning  to  other  gods,  and  love  raisin-cakes — probably 

'  Massoretic  Text,  her. 

*  It  is  at  this  point,  if  at  any,  that  i.  lO,  II,  ii.  I  (Eng.,  but  ii.  I-3  Heb.) 
ought  to  come  in.  It  will  be  observed,  however,  that  even  here  they 
are  superfluous  :  And  the  number  of  the  children  of  Israel  shall  be  as 
the  sand  of  the  sea,  which  cannot  be  measured  nor  counted ;  and  it  shall 
be  in  the  place  where  it  was  said  to  them,  No  People  of  Mine  are  ye  !  it 
shall  be  said  to  them,  Sons  of  the  Living  God !  And  the  children  of 
Judah  and  the  children  of  Israel  shall  be  gathered  together,  and  they  shall 
appoint  themselves  one  head,  and  shall  go  upfront  the  land :  for  great  is 
the  day  of  Jezreel.  Say  unto  your  brothers.  My  People,  and  to  your 
sisters  (LXX.  sister),  She-is-Pitied.  On  the  whole  passage  see 
above,  p.  213. 

*  Or  that  is  loved  of  her  husband  though  an  adulteress. 


2SO  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

some  element  in  the  feasts  of  the  gods  of  the  land,  the 
givers  of  the  grape.  Then  I  bought  her  to  me  Jor  fifteen 
pieces  of  silver  and  a  homer  of  barley  and  a  lethech  of 
wine}  And  I  said  to  her,  For  many  days  shall  thou 
abide  for  me  alone ;  thou  shall  not  play  the  harlot,  thou 
shall  not  be  for  any  husband ;  and  I  for  my  part  also 
shall  be  so  towards  thee.  For  the  days  are  many  that 
the  children  of  Israel  shall  abide  without  a  king  and 
without  a  prince,  without  sacrifice  and  without  ma^^ebak, 
and  without  ephod  and  teraphim}  Afterwards  the  children 
of  Israel  shall  turn  and  seek  Jehovah  their  God  and 
David  their  king,  and  shall  be  in  awe  of  Jehovah  and 
towards  His  goodness  in  the  end  of  the  days} 

Do  not  let  us  miss  the  fact  that  the  story  ol  the 
wife's  restoration  follows  that  of  Israel's,  although  the 
story  of  the  wife's  unfaithfulness  had  come  before  that 
of  Israel's  apostasy.  For  this  order  means  that,  while 
the  prophet's  private  pain  preceded  his  sympathy  with 
God's  pain,  it  was  not  he  who  set  God,  but  God  who 
set  him,  the  example  of  forgiveness.  The  man  learned 
the  God's  sorrow  out  of  his  own  sorrow ;  but  conversely 
he  was  taught  to  forgive  and  redeem  his  wife  only  by 
seeing  God  forgive  and  redeem  the  people.  In  other 
words,  the  Divine  was  suggested  by  the  human  pain ; 
yet  the  Divine  Grace  was  not  started  by  any  previous 
human  grace,  but,  on  the  contrary,  was  itself  the  pre- 
cedent and  origin  of  the  latter.  This  is  in  harmony 
with  all  Hosea's  teaching.  God  forgives  because  He  is 
God  and  not  man}     Our  pain  with  those  we  love  helps 


'  So  LXX.    The   homer  was  eight   bushels.     The   lethech   is 
measure  not  elsewhere  mentioned. 

*  On  these  see  above,  Introduction,  Chap.  III.,  p.  38. 
'  On  the  text  see  above,  p.  214.  ^  xi.  9. 


Hos.  i.-iii.J    THE  STORY  OF  THE  PRODIGAL  WIFE         251 

US  to  understand  God's  pain  ;  but  it  is  not  our  love 
that  leads  us  to  believe  in  His  love.  On  the  contrary, 
all  human  grace  is  but  the  reflex  of  the  Divine.  So 
St.  Paul :  Even  as  Christ  forgave  you,  so  also  do  ye. 
So  St.  John :  IVe  love  Him,  and  one  another,  because 
He  first  loved  us. 

But  this  return  from  the  nation  to  the  individual  has 
another  interest.  Comer's  redemption  is  not  the  mere 
formal  completion  of  the  parallel  between  her  and  her 
people.  It  is,  as  the  story  says,  an  impulse  of  the 
Divine  Love,  recognised  even  then  in  Israel  as  seeking 
the  individual.  He  who  follow^ed  Hagar  into  the 
wilderness,  who  met  Jacob  at  Bethel  and  forgat  not 
the  slave  Joseph  in  prison,^  remembers  also  Hosea's 
wife.  His  love  is  not  satisfied  with  His  Nation-Bride : 
He  remembers  this  single  outcast.  It  is  the  Shepherd 
leaving  the  ninety-and-nine  in  the  fold  to  seek  the  one 
lost  sheep. 


For  Hosea  himself  his  home  could  never  be  the  same 
as  it  was  at  the  first.  And  I  said  to  her,  For  many  days 
shalt  thou  abide,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  alone.  Thou 
shalt  not  play  the  harlot.  Thou  shalt  not  be  for  a 
husband :  and  I  on  my  side  also  shall  be  so  towards  thee. 
Discipline  was  needed  there ;  and  abroad  the  nation's 
troubles  called  the  prophet  to  an  anguish  and  a  toil 
which  left  no  room  for  the  sweet  love  or  hope  of  his 
youth.  He  steps  at  once  to  his  hard  warfare  for 
his  people ;  and  through  the  rest  of  his  book  we  never 
again  hear  him   speak  of  home,  or   of  children,  or  of 

'  As  the  stories  all  written  down  before  this  had  made  familiar  to 
Israel. 


252  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

wife.     So  Arthur   passed  from  Guinevere   to  his  last 
battle  for  his  land : — 

"  Lo !   I  forgive  thee,  as  Eternal  God 
Forgives :  do  thou  for  thine  own  soul  the  rest. 
But  how  to  take  last  leave  of  all  I  loved  ? 

m  *  *f  -If  9 

I  cannot  touch  thy  lips,  they  are  not  mine  ;  .  ,  . 
I  cannot  take  thy  hand  ;    that  too  is  flesh, 
And  in  the  flesh  thou  hast  sinned ;   and  mine  own  flesh. 
Here  looking  down  on  thine   polluted,  cries 
'  I  loathe  thee  ' ;   yet  not  less,   O  Guinevere, 
For  I  was  ever  virgin  save  for  thee, 
My  love  thro'  flesh  hath  wrought  into  my  lite 
So  far,  that  my  doom  is,  I  love  thee  still. 
Let  no  man  dream  but  that  I  love  thee  still. 
Perchance,  and  so  thou  purify  thy  soul, 
And  so  thou  lean  on  our  fair  father  Christ, 
Hereafter  in  that  world  where  all  are  pure 
We  two  may  meet  before  high  God,  and  thou 
Wilt  spring  to  me,  and  claim  me  thine,  and  know 
I  am  thine  husband,  not  a  smaller  soul.  .  .  . 

Leave  me  that, 
I  charge  thee,  my  last  hope.     Now  must  I  henca 
Thro'  the  thick  night  I  hear  the  trumpet  blow." 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE   THICK  NIGHT  OF  ISRAEL 
HosEA  iv. — xiv. 

IT  was  indeed  a  "  thick  night  "  into  which  this  Arthur 
of  Israel  stepped  from  his  shattered  home.  The 
mists  drive  across  Hosea's  long  agony  with  his  people, 
and  what  we  see,  we  see  blurred  and  broken.  There 
is  stumbling  and  clashing ;  crowds  in  drift ;  confused 
rallies ;  gangs  of  assassins  breaking  across  the  high- 
ways ;  doors  opening  upon  lurid  interiors  full  of 
drunken  riot.  Voices,  which  other  voices  mock,  cry 
for  a  dawn  that  never  comes.  God  Himself  is  Laughter, 
Lightning,  a  Lion,  a  Gnawing  Worm.  Only  one  clear 
note  breaks  over  the  confusion — the  trumpet  summon- 
ing to  war. 

Take  courage,  O  great  heart !  Not  thus  shall  it 
always  be  1  There  wait  thee,  before  the  end,  of  open 
Visions  at  least  two — one  of  Memory  and  one  of  Hope, 
one  of  Childhood  and  one  of  Spring.  Past  this  night, 
past  the  swamp  and  jungle  of  these  fetid  years,  thou 
shalt  see  thy  land  in  her  beauty,  and  God  shall  look 
on  the  face  of  His  Bride. 


Chaps,    iv. — xiv.  are   almost  indivisible.      The   two 
Visions  just  mentioned,  chaps,  xi.  and   xiv.  3-9,  may 

253 


254  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

be  detached  by  virtue  of  contributing  the  only  strains 
of  gospel  which  rise  victorious  above  the  Lord's  con- 
troversy with  His  people  and  the  troubled  story  of 
their  sins.  All  the  rest  is  the  noise  of  a  nation  falling 
to  pieces,  the  crumbling  of  a  splendid  past.  And  as 
decay  has  no  climax  and  ruin  no  rhythm,  so  we  may 
understand  why  it  is  impossible  to  divide  with  any 
certainty  Hosea's  record  of  Israel's  fall.  Some  arrange- 
ment we  must  attempt,  but  it  is  more  or  less  artificial, 
and  to  be  undertaken  for  the  sake  of  our  own  minds, 
that  cannot  grasp  so  great  a  collapse  all  at  once. 
Chap.  iv.  has  a  certain  unity,  and  is  followed  by  a 
new  exordium,  but  as  it  forms  only  the  theme  of  which 
the  subsequent  chapters  are  variations,  we  may  take 
it  with  them  as  far  as  chap,  vii.,  ver.  7  ;  after  which 
there  is  a  slight  transition  from  the  moral  signs  of 
Israel's  dissolution  to  the  political — although  Hosea 
still  combines  the  religious  offence  of  idolatry  with 
the  anarchy  of  the  land.  These  form  the  chief  interest 
to  the  end  of  chap.  x.  Then  breaks  the  bright  Vision 
of  the  Past,  chap,  xi.,  the  temporary  victory  of  the 
Gospel  of  the  Prophet  over  his  Curse.  In  chaps,  xii. — 
xiv.  2  we  are  plunged  into  the  latter  once  more,  and 
reach  in  xiv.  3  ff.  the  second  bright  Vision,  the  Vision  of 
the  Future.  To  each  of  these  phases  of  Israel's  Thick 
Night — we  can  hardly  call  them  Sections — we  may 
devote  a  chapter  of  simple  exposition,  adding  three 
chapters  more  of  detailed  examination  of  the  main 
doctrines  we  shall  have  encountered  on  our  way — the 
Knowledge  of  God,  Repentance,  and  the  Sin  against 
Love. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

A  PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  I.  MORALLY 
HosEA  iv. — vii.  7. 

PURSUING  the  plan  laid  down  in  the  last  chapter, 
we  now  take  the  section  of  Hosea's  discourse 
which  lies  between  chap.  iv.  i  and  chap.  vii.  7. 
Chap.  iv.  is  the  only  really  separable  bit  of  it ;  but 
there  are  also  slight  breaks  at  v.  15  and  vii.  2.  So  we 
may  attempt  a  division  into  four  periods  :  i.  Chap,  iv., 
which  states  God's  general  charge  against  the  people ; 
2.  Chap.  V.  1-14,  which  discusses  the  priests  and 
princes;  3.  Chaps,  v.  15 — vii.  2,  which  abjures  the 
people's  attempts  at  repentance ;  and  4.  Chap.  vii.  3-7, 
which  is  a  lurid  spectacle  of  the  drunken  and  profli- 
gate court.  All  these  give  symptoms  of  the  moral 
decay  of  the  people, — the  family  destroyed  by  impurity, 
and  society  by  theft  and  murder ;  the  corruption  of  the 
spiritual  guides  of  the  people  ;  the  debauchery  of  the 
nobles ;  the  sympathy  of  the  throne  with  evil, — with 
the  despairing  judgment  that  such  a  people  are  incap- 
able even  of  repentance.  The  keynotes  are  these  : 
No  troth,  leal  love,  nor  knowledge  of  God  in  the  land. 
Priest  and  Prophet  stumble.  Ephraim  and  Jiidah 
stumble.  I  am  as  the  moth  to  Ephraim.  What  can 
I  make  of  thee,  Ephraim  ?  When  I  would  heal  them, 
their  guilt  is  only  the  more  exposed.     Morally,  Israel  is 

255 


2S6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

rotten.  The  prophet,  of  course,  cannot  help  adding 
signs  of  their  poHtical  incoherence.  But  these  he  deals 
with  more  especially  in  the  part  of  his  discourse  which 
follows  chap.  vii.  7. 

I.  The  Lord's  Quarrel  with  Israel. 

HosEA  iv. 

Hear  the  word  of  Jehovah,  sons  of  Israel  I  ^  Jehovah 
hath  a  quarrel  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  land,  for  there 
is  no  troth  nor  leal  love  nor  knowledge  of  God  in  the 
land.  Perjury"^  and  murder  and  theft  and  adultery!'^ 
They  break  out,  and  blood  strikes  upon  blood. 

That  stable  and  well-furnished  life,  across  which, 
while  it  was  still  noon,  Amos  hurled  his  alarms — how 
quickly  it  has  broken  up  !  If  there  be  still  ease  in  Zion, 
there  is  no  more  security  in  Samaria.^  The  great 
Jeroboam  is  dead,  and  society,  which  in  the  East  de- 
pends so  much  on  the  individual,  is  loose  and  falling 
to  pieces.  The  sins  which  are  exposed  by  Amos  were 
those  that  lurked  beneath  a  still  strong  government, 
but  Hosea  adds  outbreaks  which  set  all  order  at 
defiance.  Later  we  shall  find  him  describing  house- 
breaking, highway  robbery  and  assassination.  There- 
fore doth  the  land  wither,  and  every  one  of  her  denizens 
languisheth,  even  to  the  beast  of  the  field  and  the  fowl  of 
the  heaven;  yea,  even  the  fish  of  the  sea  are  sivept  up 
in  the  universal  sickness  of  man  and  nature  :  for  Hosea 
feels,  like  Amos,  the  liability  of  nature  to  the  curse 
upon  sin. 

'  'D  formally  introduces  the  charge, 

•  Lit.  swearing  and  falsehood. 

•  Ninth,  sixth,  eighth  and  seventh  of  the  Decalogue. 

•  Amos  vL  I. 


Hos.  iv.]  A   PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  I.  MORALLY  257 

Yet  the   guilt  is  not  that  of  the  whole   people,  but 

of  their  religious  guides.     Let  none  find  fault  and  none 

upbraid,  for  My  people  are  but  as  their  priestlings}     O 

Priest,  thou  hast  stumbled  to-day :  and  stumble  to-night 

shall  the  prophet  with  thee.    One  order  of  the  nation's 

ministers   goes    staggering   after   the   other  1      And  I 

will  destroy  thy  Mother,  presumably  the  Nation  herself 

Perished  are  My  people  for  lack  of  knowledge.    But  how  ? 

By  the  sin  of  their  teachers.     Because  thou,  O  Priest, 

hast  rejected  knowledge,  I  reject  thee  from  being  priest  to 

Me;  and  as  thou  hast  forgotten  the  Torah  of  thy  God,  I 

forget  thy  children  ^ — /  on  My  side.     As  many  as  they  be, 

so  many  have  sinned  against  Me.     Every  jack-priest  of 

them  is  culpable.      They  have  turned^  their  glory  into 

shame.      They  feed  on  the  sin  of  My  people,  and  to  the 

guilt   of  these   lift  up   their  appetite !     The    more    the 

people  sin,  the  more  merrily  thrive  the  priests  by  fines 

and  sin-offerings.     They  live  upon  the  vice  of  the  day, 

'  iv.  4.  According  to  the  excellent  emendation  of  Beck  (quoted  by 
WQnsche,  p.  142),  who  instead  of  3nn330i;i  proposes  V1DDD  '•Dyi, 
for  the  first  word  of  which  there  is  support  in  the  LXX.  6  Xa6s  ilov. 
The  second  word,  "ID3,  is  used  for  priest  only  in  a  bad  sense  by 
Hosea  himself,  x.  5,  and  in  2  Kings  xxiii.  5  of  the  calf-worship  and 
in  Zech.  i.  4  of  the  Baal  priesthood.  As  Wellhausen  remarks,  this 
emendation  restores  sense  to  a  passage  that  had  none  before. 
"Ver,  4  cannot  be  directed  against  the  people,  but  must  rather  furnish 
the  connection  for  ver.  5,  and  efi'ect  the  transference  from  the  reproof 
of  the  people  (w.  1-3)  to  the  reproof  of  the  priests  (5  fi".)."  The 
letters  |nD''  which  are  left  over  in  ver.  4  by  the  emendation  are  then 
justly  improved  by  Wellhausen  (following  Zunz)  into  the  vocative 
\!\'2T\  and  taken  with  the  following  verse. 

*  The  application  seems  to  swerve  here.  Thy  children  would  seem 
to  imply  that,  for  this  clause  at  least,  the  whole  people,  and  not  the 
priests  only,  were  addressed.  But  Robertson  Smith  takes  thy  mother 
as  equivalent,  not  to  the  nation,  but  to  the  priesthood. 

'  A  reading  current  among  Jewish  writers  and  adopted  by  Geiger, 
Urschrift,  316. 

VOL.  I.  ly 


258  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

and  have  a  vested  interest  in  its  crimes.  English 
Langland  said  the  same  thing  of  the  friars  of  his  time. 
The  contention  is  obvious.  The  priests  have  given 
themselves  wholly  to  the  ritual ;  they  have  forgotten 
that  their  office  is  an  intellectual  and  moral  one. 
We  shall  return  to  this  when  treating  of  Hosea's 
doctrine  of  knowledge  and  its  responsibilities.  Priest- 
hood, let  us  only  remember,  priesthood  is  an  intellectual 
trust. 

Thus  it  comes  to  be — like  people  like  priest:  they  also 
have  fallen  under  the  ritual,  doing  from  lust  what  the 
priests  do  from  greed.  But  I  will  visit  upon  them 
their  ways,  and  their  deeds  will  I  requite  to  them. 
For  they—ihoze  shall  eat  attd  not  be  satisfied^  these 
shall  play  the  harlot  and  have  no  increase,  because  they 
have  left  off  heeding  Jehovah.  This  absorption  in  ritual 
at  the  expense  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  elements 
of  religion  has  insensibly  led  them  over  into  idolatry, 
with  all  its  unchaste  and  drunken  services.  Harlotry^ 
wine  and  new  tvine  take  away  the  brains  !  *  The  result 
is  seen  in  the  stupidity  with  which  they  consult  their 
stocks  for  guidance.  My  people !  of  its  bit  of  wood 
it  asketh  counsel,  and  its  staff  telleth  to  it  the  oracle  ! 
For  a  spirit  of  harlotry  hath  led  them  astray,  and  they 
have  played  the  harlot  from  their  God.  Upon  the  head- 
lands of  the  hills  they  sacrifice,  and  on  the  heights  offer 
incense,  under  oak  or  poplar  or  terebinth,  for  the  shade  of 
them  is  pleasant.  On  headlands,  not  summits,  for  here 
no  trees  grow ;  and  the  altar  was  generally  built  under 
a  tree  and  near  water  on  some  promontory,  from  which 
the   flight    of  birds    or   of  clouds   might  be   watched. 


'  Heb.  the  heart,  which  ancient  Israel  conceived  as  the  seat  of  the 
intellect. 


Hos.  iv.]         A  PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  I.  MORALLY  259 

Wherefore — because  of  this  your  frequenting  of  the 
heathen  shrines — your  daughters  play  the  harlot  and 
your  daughters-in-law  commit  adultery.  I  will  not  come 
with  punishment  upon  your  daughters  because  they  play 
the  harlot,  nor  upon  your  daughters-in-law  because  they 
commit  adultery.  Why  ?  For  they  themselves,  the 
fathers  of  Israel — or  does  he  still  mean  the  priests  ? — 
go  aside  with  the  harlots  and  sacrifice  with  the  common 
women  of  the  shrines  !  It  is  vain  for  the  men  of  a 
nation  to  practise  impurity,  and  fancy  that  nevertheless 
they  can  keep  their  w^omankind  chaste.  So  the  stupid 
people  fall  to  ruin  ! 

{Though  thou  play  the  harlot,  Israel,  let  not  Judah 
bring  guilt  on  herself  And  come  not  to  Gilgal,  and  go 
not  up  to  Beth-Aven,  and  take  not  your  oath  at  the  Well- 
of-the-Oath,  Beer-Sheba/  By  the  life  of  Jehovah  !  This 
obvious  parenthesis  may  be  either  by  Hosea  or  a  later 
writer ;  the  latter  is  more  probable.'^) 

Yea,  like  a  wild  heifer  Israel  has  gone  wild.  How 
now  can  Jehovah  feed  them  like  a  lamb  in  a  broad 
meadow  ?  To  treat  this  clause  interrogatively  is  the 
only  way  to  get  sense  out  of  it,'  Wedded  to  idols  is 
Ephraim :  leave  him  alone.  The  participle  means 
mated  or  leagued.  The  corresponding  noun  is  used  of 
a  wife  as  the  mate  of  her  husband  *  and  of  an  idolater 
as  the  mate  of  his  idols/  The  expression  is  doubly 
appropriate  here,  since  Hosea  used  marriage  as  the 
figure  of  the  relation  of  a  deity  to  his  worshippers. 
Leave  him  alone — he  must  go  from  bad  to  worse.  Their 
drunkenness  over,  they  take  to  harlotry :   her  rulers  have 

'  Wellhausen  thinks  this  third  place-name  (cf.  Amos  v.  5)  has  been 
dropped.     It  certainly  seems  to  be  understood. 

*  But  see  above,  p.  224.  *  Mai.  ii.  4. 

So  all  critics  since  Hitzig.  •  Isa.  xliv.  II. 


26o  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

fallen  in  love  with  shame,  or  they  love  shame  more  than 
their  pride}  But  in  spite  of  all  their  servile  worship 
the  Assyrian  tempest  shall  sweep  them  away  in  its 
trail.  A  wind  hath  wrapt  them  up  in  her  skirts;  and 
they  shall  be  put  to  shame  by  their  sacrifices. 

This  brings  the  passage  to  such  a  climax  as  Amos 
loved  to  crown  his  periods.  And  the  opening  of  the 
next  chapter  offers  a  new  exordium. 

2.  Priests  and  Princes  Fail. 

HOSEA   V.   I -14. 

The  line  followed  in  this  paragraph  is  almost  parallel 
to  that  of  chap,  iv.,  running  out  to  a  prospect  of  invasion. 
But  the  charge  is  directed  solely  against  the  chiefs  of 
the  people,  and  the  strictures  of  chap.  vii.  7  ff.  upon 
the  political  folly  of  the  rulers  are  anticipated. 

Hear  this,  O  Priests,  and  hearken.  House  of  Israel,  and^ 
House  of  the  King,  give  ear.  For  on  you  is  the  sentence  ! 
You,  who  have  hitherto  been  the  judges,  this  time 
shall  be  judged, 

A  snare  have  ye  become  at  Mizpeh,  and  a  net  spread 
out  upon  Tabor,  and  a  pit  have  they  made  deep  upon 
Shittim;^  but  I  shall  be  the  scourge  of  them  all.  I  know 
Ephraim,  and  Israel  is  not  hid  from  Me — for  now  hast 
thou  played  the  harlot,  Ephraim,  Israel  is  defiled.  The 
worship   on    the    high    places,    whether   nominally    of 

'  The  verse  is  very  uncertain.  LXX.  read  a  different  and  a  fuller 
text  from  Ephraim  in  the  previous  verse  to  harlotry  in  this:  "Ephraim 
hath  set  up  for  himself  stumbling-blocks  and  chosen  Canaanites." 
In  the  first  of  alternate  readings  of  the  latter  half  of  the  verse  omit 
13n  as  probably  a  repetition  of  the  end  of  the  preceding  word  ;  the 
second  alternative  is  adapted  from  LXX.,  which  for  iT'J^JD  must 
have  read  n:U"<JO. 

'  So  by  slightly  altering  the  consonants.     But  the  text  is  uncertain. 


Hos.  V.I-I4.]     A  PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  I.  MORALLY      261 

Jehovah  or  not,  was  sheer  service  of  Ba'alim.  It  was 
in  the  interest  both  of  the  priesthood  and  of  the  rulers 
to  multiply  these  sanctuaries,  but  they  were  only  traps 
for  the  people.  Their  deeds  will  not  let  them  return 
to  their  God ;  for  a  harlot  spirit  is  in  their  midst ^ 
and  Jehovah,  for  all  their  oaths  by  Him,  they  have 
not  known.  But  the  pride  of  Israel  shall  testify  to  his 
face;  and  Israel  and  Ephraim  shall  stumble  by  their  guilt 
— stumble  also  shall  Judah  with  them.  By  Israel's  pride 
many  understand  God.  But  the  term  is  used  too  op- 
probriously  by  Amos  to  allow  us  to  agree  to  this.  The 
phrase  must  mean  that  Israel's  arrogance,  or  her  proud 
prosperity,  by  the  wounds  which  it  feels  in  this  time  of 
national  decay,  shall  itself  testify  against  the  people — 
a  profound  ethical  symptom  to  which  we  shall  return 
when  treating  of  Repentance.^  Yet  the  verse  may  be 
rendered  in  harmony  with  the  context ;  the  pride  of 
Israel  shall  be  humbled  to  his  face.  With  their  sheep 
and  their  cattle  they  go  about  to  seek  Jehovah,  and  shall 
not  find  Him  ;  He  halh  drawn  off  from  them.  They 
have  been  unfaithful  to  Jehovah,  for  they  have  begotten 

'  Note  on  the  Pride  of  Israel. — Jlixi  means  grandeur,  and  is  (l)  so 
used  of  Jehovah's  majesty  (Micah  v.  3  ;  Isa.  ii.  10,  19,  21 ;  xxiv.  14),  and 

(2)  of  the  greatness  of  human  powers  (Zech.  x.  Ii  ;  Ezek.  xxxii.  12). 
In  Psahn  xlvii.  5  it  is  parallel  to  the  land  of  Israel  (cf.  Nahum  ii.  3). 

(3)  In  a  grosser  sense  the  word  is  used  of  the  rank  vegetation  of  Jordan 
(Eng.  wrongly  swelling)  (Jen  xii.  5  ;  Zech.  xi.  3  :  cf.  Job  xxxviii.  II). 
It  would  appear  to  be  this  grosser  sense  of  rankness,  arrogance,  in 
which  Amos  vi.  8  takes  it  as  parallel  to  the  palaces  of  Israel  which 
Jehovah  loathes  and  will  destroy.  In  Amos  viii.  7  the  phrase  may  be 
used  in  scorn  ;  yet  some  take  it  even  there  of  God  Himself  (Buhl, 
last  ed.  of  Gesenius'  Lexicon^. 

Now  in  Hosea  it  occurs  twice  in  the  phrase  given  above — HJI^I 
V:23  h^^-W  |1X3  (v.  5,  vii.  10).  LXX.,  Targum  and  some  Jewish 
exegetes  take  nJU  as  a  W  verb,  to  be  humbled,  and  this  suits  both 
contexts.     But   the  word    VJ33    to  his  face    almost    compels   us  to 


262  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

strange  children.  A  generation  has  grown  up  who  are 
not  His.  Now  may  a  month  devour  them  with  their 
portions !  Any  month  may  bring  the  swift  invader. 
Hark  1  the  alarum  of  war  1  How  it  reaches  to  the  back 
of  the  land  1 

Blow  the  trumpet  in  Gibeah,  the  clarion  in  Ramah  ; 
Raise  the  slogan,  Beth-Aven :   "  After  thee,   Ben- 
jamin !  "  ^ 

Ephraim  shall  become  desolation  in  the  day  of  rebuke  ! 
Among  the  tribes  of  Israel  I  have  made  known  what  is 
certain  ! 

At  this  point,  ver.  lO,  the  discourse  swerves  from  the 
religious  to  the  political  leaders  of  Israel ;  but  as  the 
princes  were  included  with  the  priests  in  the  exordium 
(ver.  i),  we  can  hardly  count  this  a  new  oracle.^ 

77!^  princes  of  Jiidah  are  like  landmark-removers — 
commonest  of  cheats  in  Israel — upon  them  will  I  pour 
out  My  tvrath  like  water.  Ephraim  is  oppressed,  crushed 
is  his  right,  for  he  wilfully  went  after  vanity.^  And  I  am 
as  the  moth  to  Ephraim,  and  as  rottenness  to  the  house  of 

take  njy  as  a  w  verb,  to  witness  against  (ct.  Job  xvi.  8 ;  Jer.  xiv.  7). 
Hence  Wellhausen  renders  "With  his  arrogance  Israel  witnesseth 
against  himself,"  and  contirms  the  plaint  of  Jehovah— the  arrogance 
being  the  trust  in  the  ritual  and  the  feeling  of  no  need  to  turn  from 
that  and  repent  (of.  vii.  10).  Orelli  quotes  Amos  vi.  8  and 
Nahum  IL  3,  and  says  injustice  cleaves  to  all  Israel's  splendour,  so 
it  testifies  against  him. 

But  the  context,  which  in  both  cases  speaks  of  Israel's  gradual 
decay,  demands  rather  the  interpretation  that  Israel's  material 
grandeur  shows  unmistakable  signs  of  breaking  down.  For  the 
ethical  development  of  this  interpretation,  see  below,  pp.  337  f. 

'  Probably  the  ancient  war-cry  of  the  clan.     Cf.  Judg.  v.  14. 

*  Yet  ver.  9  goes  with  ver.  8  (so  Wellhausen),  and  not  with 
ver.  10  (so  Ewald).  *  For  Vi  read  KIK'. 


Hos.  V.  iS-vii.  2.]  A  PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  I.  MORALLY   263 

Judah.  Both  kingdoms  have  begun  to  fall  to  pieces, 
for  by  this  time  Uzziah  of  Judah  also  is  dead,  and  the 
weak  politicians  are  in  charge  whom  Isaiah  satirised. 
And  Ephraim  saw  his  sickness,  and  Judah  his  sore;  ana 
Ephraim  went  to  Asshur  and^  sent  to  King  Jareb — King 
Combative,  King  Pick-Quarrel,'^  a  nickname  for  the 
Assyrian  monarch.  The  verse  probably  refers  to  the 
tribute  which  Menahem  sent  to  Assyria  in  738.  If  so, 
then  Israel  has  drifted  full  five  years  into  her  "  thick 
night."  But  He  cannot  heal  you,  nor  dry  up  your  sore. 
For  I,  Myself,  am  like  a  lion  to  Ephraim,  and  like  a 
young  lion  to  the  house  of  Judah.  I,  I  rend  and  go  My 
way ;  I  carry  off  and  there  is  none  to  deliver.  It  is  the 
same  truth  which  Isaiah  expressed  with  even  greater 
grimness.^  God  Himself  is  His  people's  sore ;  and 
not  all  their  statecraft  nor  alliances  may  heal  what  He 
inflicts.  Priests  and  Princes,  then,  have  alike  failed. 
A  greater  failure  is  to  follow. 

3.  Repentance  Fails. 

Hose  A  v.  15— vii.  2. 

Seeing  that  their  leaders  are  so  helpless,  and  feeling 
their  wounds,  the  people  may  themselves  turn  to  God 
for  healing,  but  that  will  be  with  a  repentance  so  shallow 
as  also  to  be  futile.  They  have  no  conviction  of  sin, 
nor  appreciation  of  how  deeply  their  evils  have  eaten. 

This  too  facile  repentance  is  expressed  in  a  prayer 
which  the  Christian  Church  has  paraphrased  into  one 

'  Wellhausen  inserts  Judah,  with  that  desire  to  complete  a  parallel 
which  seems  to  me  to  be  overdone  by  so  many  critics.  If  Judah  be 
inserted  we  should  need  to  bring  the  date  of  these  verses  down  to  the 
reign  of  Ahaz  in  734. 

^  Guthe  :  "King  Fighting-Cock." 

•  See  Isaiah  I.— XXXIX.  (Expositor's  Bible),  pp.  242  ff. 


264  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  its  most  beautiful  hymns  of  conversion.  Yet  the 
introduction  to  this  prayer,  and  its  own  easy  assurance 
of  how  soon  God  will  heal  the  wounds  He  has  made, 
as  well  as  the  impatience  with  which  God  receives  it, 
oblige  us  to  take  the  prayer  in  another  sense  than  the 
hymn  which  has  been  derived  from  it.^  It  offers  but 
one  more  symptom  of  the  optimism  of  this  light- 
hearted  people,  whom  no  discipline  and  no  judgment 
can  impress  with  the  reality  of  their  incurable  decay. 
They  said  of  themselves,  The  bricks  are  fallen^  let  us 
build  with  stones,^  and  now  they  say  just  as  easily  and 
airily  of  their  God,  He  hath  torn  only  that  He  may  heal : 
we  are  fallen,  but  He  will  raise  us  up  again  in  a  day  or 
two.     At  first  it  is  still  God  who  speaks. 

/  am  going  My  way,  I  am  returning  to  My  own  place^ 
until  they  feel  their  guilt  and  seek  My  face.  When  trouble 
comes  upon  them,  they  will  soon  enough  seek  Me, 
saying :  * — 

"  Come  and  let  us  return  to  Jehovah  : 
For  He  hath  rent,  that  He  may  heal  us, 
And  hath  wounded,^  that  He  may  bind  us  up. 
He  will  bring  us  to  life  in  a  couple  of  days ; 
On  the  third  day  He  will  raise  us  up  again, 
That  we  may  live  in  His  presence. 


'  Cheyne  indeed  (Introduction  to  Robertson  Smith's  Prophets  of 
Israel)  takes  the  prayer  to  be  genuine,  but  an  intrusion.  His 
reasons  do  not  persuade  me.  But  at  least  it  is  clear  that  there  is 
a  want  of  connection  between  the  prayer  and  what  follows  it,  unless 
the  prajer  be  understood  in  the  sense  explained  above. 

*  Isaiah  ix.  10. 

*  Cf.  Isaiah  xviii.  4. 

*  Saying:  so  the  LXX.  adds  and  thereby  connects  chap,  v.  with 
chap,  vi  '  Read  '^^. 


Hos.  V.  is-vii.  2.]   A   PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  I.  MORALLY  265 

Let  us  know,  let  us  follow  up^  to  know,  Jehovah; 
As  soon  as  we  seek  Hitn,  we  shall  find  Him? 
And  He  shall  come  to  us  like  the  winter-rain^ 
Like  the  spring-rain,  pouring  on  the  land  !  " 

But  how  is  this  fair  prayer  received  by  God  ? 
With  incredulity,  with  impatience.  What  can  I  make 
cf  thee,  Ephraim  ?  what  can  I  make  of  thee,  Judah  ? 
since  your  love  is  like  the  morning  cloud  and  like  the  dew 
so  early  gone.  Their  shallow  hearts  need  deepening. 
Have  they  not  been  deepened  enough  ?  Wherefore 
I  have  hewn  them  by  the  prophets,  I  have  slain  them  by 
the  words  of  My  mouth,  and  My  judgment  goeth  forth  like 
the  lightning}  For  leal  love  have  I  desired,  and  not 
sacrifice;  and  the  knowledge  of  God  more  than  burnt- 
offerings. 

That  the  discourse  comes  back  to  the  ritual  is  very 
intelligible.  For  what  could  make  repentance  seem  so 
easy  as  the  belief  that  forgiveness  can  be  won  by 
simply  offering  sacrifices  ?  Then  the  prophet  leaps 
upon  what  each  new  year  of  that  anarchy  revealed 
afresh — the  profound  sinfulness  of  the  people. 

But  they  in  human  fashion  *  have  transgressed  the 
covenant!  There — he  will  now  point  out  the  very 
spots — have  they  betrayed^  Me  !     Gilcad  is  a  city  of  evil- 


'  Literally  hunt,  pursue.  It  is  the  same  word  as  is  used  of  the  un- 
faithful Israel's  pursuit  of  the  Ba'alim.  chap.  ii.  9. 

^  So  by  a  rearrangement  of  consonants  (IHX^'DJ  p  IJIHii'D)  and 
the  help  of  the  LXX.  (eypjjcro^ev  avrbv)  Giesebreclit  (^Beitrdge,  p.  208) 
proposes  to  read  the  clause,  which  in  the  traditional  text  runs,  like  the 
mom  His  going  forth  shall  be  certain. 

*  Read   X>V.  -liX3  "nSl'.^'!?. 

*  Or  like  Adam,  or  (Guthe)  like  the  heathen. 

*  The  verb  means  to  prove  false  to  any  contract,  but  especially 
marriage. 


266  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

doers:  stamped  with  bloody  footprints;  assassins^  in 
troops;  a  gang  of  priests  murder  on  the  way  to  Shechem. 
Yea,  crime  ^  have  they  done.  In  the  house  of  Israel  I  have 
seen  horrors :  there  Ephraim  hath  played  the  harlot : 
Israel  is  defied — Judah  as  well? 

Truly  the  sinfulness  of  Israel  is  endless.  Every 
effort  to  redeem  them  only  discovers  more  of  it.  When 
I  would  turn,  when  I  would  heal  Israel,  then  the  guilt  of 
Ephraim  displays  itselj  and  the  evils  of  Samaria,  these 
namely  :  that  they  work  fraud,  and  the  thief  cometh  in — 
evidently  a  technical  term  for  housebreaking* — while 
abroad  a  crew  of  highwaymen  foray.  And  they  never 
think  in  their  hearts  that  all  their  evil  is  recorded  by  Me. 
Now  have  their  deeds  encompassed  them :  they  are  con- 
stantly before  Me. 

Evidently  real  repentance  on  the  part  of  such  a 
people  is  impossible.  As  Hosea  said  before,  Their 
deeds  will  not  let  them  return.^ 

4.  Wickedness  in  High  Places. 
Hosea  vii.  3-7. 

There  follows  now  a  very  difficult  passage.  The 
text  is  corrupt,  and  we  have  no  means  of  determining 
what  precise  events  are  intended.  The  drift  of  meaning, 
however,  is  evident.  The  disorder  and  licentiousness 
of  the  people  are  favoured  in  high  places ;  the  throne 
itself  is  guilty. 

»  Read  >2nD. 

*  In  several  passages  of  the  Old  Testament  the  word  means 
unchastity. 

*  Here  the  LXX.  close  chap,  vi.,  taking  \ib  along  with  chap.  vii. 
Some  think  the  whole  of  ver.  11  to  be  a  Judaean  gloss. 

*  Cf.  Joel  ii.  9,  and  the  New  Testament  phrase  to  come  as  a  (hi*/. 
•t.4. 


Hos.  vii.  3-7-]    A   PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  I.  MORALLY       267 

With  their  evil  they  make  a  king  glad,  and  princes 
with  their  falsehoods :  all  of  them  are  adulterers,  like  an 
oven  heated  by  the  baker,  ...  * 

On  the  day  of  our  king — some  coronation  or  king's 
birthday — the  princes  were  sick  with  fever  from  wine. 
He  stretched  forth  his  hand  with  loose  fellows,^  pre- 
sumably made  them  his  associates.  Like  an  oven  have 
they  made  ^  their  hearts  with  their  intriguing}  All  night 
their  anger  sleepeth  :  ^  in  the  morning  it  blazes  like  a 
flame  of  fire.  All  of  them  glow  like  an  oven,  and  devour 
their  rulers :  all  their  kings  have  fallen,  without  one  of 
them  calling  on  Me. 

An  obscure  passage  upon  obscure  events ;  yet  so 
lurid  with  the  passion  of  that  fevered  people  in  the 
flagrant  years  743 — 735  that  we  can  make  out  the 
kind  of  crimes  described.  A  king  surrounded  by 
loose  and  unscrupulous  nobles :  adultery,  drunkenness, 
conspiracies,  assassinations :  every  man  striking  for 
himself;  none  appealing  to  God. 

From  the  court,  then,  downwards,  by  princes, 
priests  and  prophets,  to  the  common  fathers  of  Israel 
and  their  households,  immorality  prevails.     There  is 


•  The  text  is  unsound.  Heb. :  "  like  an  oven  kindled  by  the  baker, 
the  stirrer  (stoker  orkneader?)  resteth  from  kneading  the  dough  until 
it  be  leavened."  LXX.  :  wj  KKi^avos  Kaibi.i.€vos  els  ir^il/iv  KaraKavfiaros  dwb 
TT/s  tp\oy6s  ivb  <f)vpacreus  ariaros  eQs  tov  ^v/xajd?]i>ai  aiirb — i.e.  for  flQIi^'* 
they  read  nivb  K'N.  Oort  emends  Heb.  to  lilDX  DH  "lUU,  which  gets 
rid  of  the  difficulty  of  a  feminine  participle  with  "11371.  Wellhausen 
omits  whole  clause  as  a  gloss  on  ver.  6.  But  if  there  be  a  gloss  it 
properly  commences  with  HSB'*. 

•  LXX.  fieraToifMuv  ?  ? 

•  LXX.  kmc/led,   ny3.      So  VoUers,  Z.^.r.fF.,  III.  2Sa 

•  Lit.  lurking. 

•  Massoretic  Text  with  ;different  vowels  reads  their  baker,     LXX. 


268  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

no  redeeming  feature,  and   no  hope  of  better  things. 
For  repentance  itself  the  capacity  is  gone. 


In  making  so  thorough  an  indictment  of  the  moral 
condition  of  Israel,  it  would  have  been  impossible  for 
Hosea  not  to  speak  also  of  the  political  stupidity  and 
restlessness  which  resulted  from  it.  But  he  has  largely 
reserved  these  for  that  part  of  his  discourse  which  now 
follows,  and  which  we  will  take  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

A  PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  II.  POLITICALLY 
HosEA  vii.  8 — X. 

MORAL  decay  means  political  decay.  Sins  like 
these  are  the  gangrene  of  nations.  It  is  part 
of  Hosea's  greatness  to  have  traced  this,  a  proof  of  that 
versatility  which  distinguishes  him  above  other  prophets. 
The  most  spiritual  of  them  all,  he  is  at  the  same  time 
the  most  political.  We  owe  him  an  analysis  of  repent- 
ance to  which  the  New  Testament  has  little  to  add ;  * 
but  he  has  also  left  us  a  criticism  of  society  and  of 
politics  in  Israel,  unrivalled  except  by  Isaiah.  We 
owe  him  an  intellectual  conception  of  God,^  which  for 
the  first  time  in  Israel  exploded  idolatry ;  yet  he  also 
is  the  first  to  define  Israel's  position  in  the  politics  of 
Western  Asia.  With  the  simple  courage  of  conscience 
Amos  had  said  to  the  people  :  You  are  bad,  therefore 
you  must  perish.  But  Hosea's  is  the  insight  to  follow 
the  processes  by  which  sin  brings  forth  death — to 
trace,  for  instance,  the  effects  of  impurity  upon  a 
nation's  powers  of  reproduction,  as  well  as  upon  its 
intellectual  vigour. 

So  intimate  are  these  two  faculties  of  Hosea,  that  in 
chapters  devoted  chiefly  to  the  sins  of  Israel  we  have 
already   seen   him   expose    the  political    disasters  that 

•  See  below,  Chap.  XXII.  *  See  Chap.  XXL 

269 


27©  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

follow.  But  from  the  point  we  have  now  reached — 
chap.  vii.  8 — the  proportion  of  his  prophesying  is 
reversed :  he  gives  us  less  of  the  sin  and  more  of  the 
social  decay  and  political  folly  of  his  age. 

I.  The  Confusion  of  the  Nation. 

HosEA  vii.  8 — viii.  3. 

Hosea  begins  by  summing  up  the  public  aspect  of 
Israel  in  two  epigrams,  short  but  of  marvellous  ade- 
quacy (vii.  8)  : — 

Ephraim — among  the  nations  he  mixeth  himself: 
Ephraim  has  become  a  cake  not  turned. 

It  is  a  great  crisis  for  any  nation  to  pass  from  the 
seclusion  of  its  youth  and  become  a  factor  in  the  main 
history  of  the  world.  But  for  Israel  the  crisis  was  trebly 
great.  Their  difference  from  all  other  tribes  about 
them  had  struck  the  Canaanites  on  their  first  entry  to 
the  land :  ^  their  own  earliest  writers  had  emphasised 
their  seclusion  as  their  strength ;  ^  and  their  first 
prophets  consistently  deprecated  every  overture  made 
by  them  either  to  Egypt  or  to  Assyria.  We  feel  the 
force  of  the  prophets'  policy  when  we  remember  what 
happened  to  the  Philistines.  These  were  a  people  as 
strong  and  as  distinctive  as  Israel,  with  whom  at  one 
time  they  disputed  possession  of  the  whole  land.  But 
their  position  as  traders  in  the  main  line  of  traffic 
between  Asia  and  Africa  rendered  the  Philistines 
peculiarly  open  to  foreign  influence.  They  were  now 
Egyptian  vassals,  now  Assyrian  victims ;  and  after  the 
invasion  of  Alexander  the  Great  their  cities   became 

•  Numb,  xxiii.  9  b  ;  Josh.  ii.  h.  *  Deut.  xxxiii.  27. 


Hos.  vii.  8-viii.  3.J  A  PEOPLE  IN  DEC  A  Y:  II.  POLITIC  ALL  Y  27 1 

centres  of  Hellenism,  while  the  Jews  upon  their  secluded 
hills  still  stubbornly  held  unmixed  their  race  and  their 
religion.  This  contrast,  so  remarkably  developed  in 
later  centuries,  has  justified  the  prophets  of  the  eighth 
in  their  anxiety  that  Israel  should  not  annul  the  advan- 
tages of  her  geographical  seclusion  by  trade  or  treaties 
with  the  Gentiles.  But  it  was  easier  for  Judaea  to 
take  heed  to  the  warning  than  for  Ephraim.  The 
latter  lies  as  open  and  fertile  as  her  sister-province  is 
barren  and  aloof  She  has  many  gates  into  the  world, 
and  they  open  upon  many  markets.  Nobler  oppor- 
tunities there  could  not  be  for  a  nation  in  the  maturity 
of  its  genius  and  loyal  to  its  vocation  : — 

Rejoice,  O  Zebulun,  in  thine  outgoings : 
They  shall  call  the  nations  to  the  mountain; 
They  shall  suck  of  the  abundance  of  the  seas, 
And  of  the  treasure  that  is  stored  in  the  sands} 

But  in  the  time  of  his  outgoings  Ephraim  was  not  sure 
of  himself  nor  true  to  his  God,  the  one  secret  and 
strength  of  the  national  distinctiveness.  So  he  met 
the  world  weak  and  unformed,  and,  instead  of  impress- 
ing it,  was  by  it  dissipated  and  confused.  The  tides 
of  a  lavish  commerce  scattered  abroad  the  faculties  of 
the  people,  and  swept  back  upon  their  life  aHen  fashions 
and  tempers,  to  subdue  which  there  was  neither  native 
strength  nor  definiteness  of  national  purpose.  All  this 
is  what  Hosea  means  by  the  first  of  his  epigrams : 
Ephraim — among  the  nations  he  lets  himself  be  poured 
out,  or  mixed  up.  The  form  of  the  verb  does  not  else- 
where occur ;  but  it  is  reflexive,  and  the  meaning  of 
the  root  is  certain.     Balal  is  to  pour  out,  or  mingle,  as 

'  Deut.  xxxiii.  18,  19. 


272  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  oil  in  the  sacrificial  flour.  Yet  it  is  sometimes  used 
of  a  mixing  which  is  not  sacred,  but  profane  and  hope- 
less. It  is  applied  to  the  first  great  confusion  of 
mankind,  to  which  a  popular  etymology  has  traced  the 
name  Babel,  as  if  for  Balbel.  Derivatives  of  the  stem 
bear  the  additional  ideas  of  staining  and  impurity. 
The  alternative  renderings  which  have  been  proposed, 
lets  himselj  be  soaked  and  scatters  himself  abroad  like 
wheat  among  tares,  are  not  so  probable,  yet  hardly 
change  the  meaning.^  Ephraim  wastes  and  confuses 
himself  among  the  Gentiles.  The  nation's  character 
is  so  disguised  that  Hosea  afterwards  nicknames  him 
Canaan  ;  ^  their  religion  so  filled  with  foreign  influences 
that  he  calls  the  people  the  harlot  of  the  Ba'alim. 

If  the  first  of  Hosea's  epigrams  satirises  Israel's 
foreign  relations,  the  second,  with  equal  brevity  and 
wit,  hits  off  the  temper  and  constitution  of  society  at 
home.  For  the  metaphor  of  which  this  epigram  is 
composed  Hosea  has  gone  to  the  baker.  Among  all 
classes  in  the  East,  especially  under  conditions  requiring 
haste,  there  is  in  demand  a  round  flat  scone,  which  is 
baked  by  being  laid  on  hot  stones  or  attached  to  the 
wall  of  a  heated  oven.  The  whole  art  of  baking 
consists  in  turning  the  scone  over  at  the  proper 
moment.  If  this  be  mismanaged,  it  does  not  need  a 
baker  to  tell  us  that  one  side  may  be  burnt  to  a  cinder, 

'  7.?3ri''.  from  ??3.  In  Phcen.  ??3  seems  to  have  been  used  as  in 
Ir,rael  of  the  sacrificial  mingling  of  oil  and  flour  (of.  Robertson  Smith, 
Religion  of  Semites,  I.  203);  in  Arabic  ball  is  to  weaken  a  strong 
liquid  with  water,  while  balbal  is  to  be  confused,  disordered.  The 
Syriac  balal  is  to  mix.  Some  have  taken  Hosea's  ?72n*  as  if  from 
7'hl  (Isa.  XXX.  24;  Job  vi.  5),  usually  understood  as  a  mixed  crop 
of  wheat  and  inferior  vegetables  for  fodder;  but  there  is  reason  to 
believe  ?v3  means  rather  fresh  corn.  The  derivation  from  n?3,  to 
grow  old,  does  not  seem  probable.  '  xii.  8. 


Hos.vii.8-viii.3.]  A  PEOPLE  IN  DECAY :  II.  POLITICALLY  273 

while  the  other  remains  raw.     Ephraim,  says  Hosea, 
is  an  unturned  cake. 

By  this  he  may  mean  one  of  several  things,  or  all 
of  them  together,  for  they  are  infectious  of  each  other. 
There  was,  for  instance,  the  social  condition  of  the 
people.  What  can  better  be  described  as  an  unturned 
scone  than  a  community  one  half  of  whose  number 
are  too  rich,  and  the  other  too  poor  ?  Or  Hosea  may 
refer  to  that  unequal  distribution  of  religion  through 
life  with  which  in  other  parts  of  his  prophecy  he 
reproaches  Israel.  They  keep  their  religion,  as  Amos 
more  fully  tells  us,  for  their  temples,  and  neglect  to 
carry  its  spirit  into  their  daily  business.  Or  he  may 
refer  to  Israel's  politics,  which  were  equally  in  want 
of  thoroughness.  They  rushed  hotly  at  an  enterprise, 
but  having  expended  so  much  fire  in  the  beginning 
of  it,  they  let  the  end  drop  cold  and  dead.  Or  he  may 
wish  to  satirise,  like  Amos,  Israel's  imperfect  culture — 
the  pretentious  and  overdone  arts,  stuck  excrescence- 
wise  upon  the  unrefined  bulk  of  the  nation,  just  as  in 
many  German  principalities  last  century  society  took  on 
a  few  French  fashions  in  rough  and  exaggerated  forms, 
while  at  heart  still  brutal  and  coarse.  Hosea  may 
mean  any  one  of  these  things,  for  the  figure  suits  all, 
and  all  spring  from  the  same  defect.  Want  of 
thoroughness  and  equable  effort  was  Israel's  besetting 
sin,  and  it  told  on  all  sides  of  his  life.  How  better 
describe  a  half-fed  people,  a  half-cultured  society,  a 
half-lived  religion,  a  half-hearted  policy,  than  by  a 
half-baked  scone  ? 

We  who  are  so  proud  of  our  political  bakers,  we 
who  scorn  the  rapid  revolutions  of  our  neighbours  and 
complacently  dwell  upon  our  equable  ovens,  those  slow 
and  cautious  centuries  of  political  development  which 

VOL.  L  18 


274  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

lie  behind  us — have  we  anything  better  than  our 
neighbours,  anything  better  than  Israel,  to  show  in 
our  civilisation  ?  Hosea's  epigram  fits  us  to  the  letter. 
After  all  those  ages  of  baking,  society  is  still  with  us 
an  unturned  scone :  one  end  of  the  nation  with  the 
strength  burnt  out  of  it  by  too  much  enjoyment  of  life, 
the  other  with  not  enough  of  warmth  to  be  quickened 
into  anything  like  adequate  vitality.  No  man  can  deny 
that  this  is  so;  we  are  able  to  live  only  by  shutting 
our  hearts  to  the  fact.  Or  is  religion  equably  dis- 
tributed through  the  lives  of  the  religious  portion  of 
our  nation  ?  Of  late  years  religion  has  spread,  and 
spread  wonderfully,  but  of  how  many  Christians  is  it 
still  true  that  they  are  but  half-baked — living  a  life  one 
side  of  which  is  reeking  with  the  smoke  of  sacrifice, 
while  the  other  is  never  warmed  by  one  religious 
thought.  We  may  have  too  much  religion  if  we 
confine  it  to  one  day  or  one  department  of  life  :  our 
worship  overdone,  with  the  sap  and  the  freshness 
burnt  out  of  it,  cindery,  dusty,  unattractive,  fit  only 
for  crumbling ;  our  conduct  cold,  damp  and  heavy, 
like  dough  the  fire  has  never  reached. 

Upon  the  theme  of  these  two  epigrams  the  other 
verses  of  this  chapter  are  variations.  Has  Ephraim 
mixed  himself  among  the  peoples?  Strangers  have 
devoured  his  strength,  and  he  knoweth  it  not,  senselessly 
congratulating  himself  upon  the  increase  of  his  trade 
and  wealth,  while  he  does  not  feel  that  these  have 
sucked  from  him  all  his  distinctive  virtue.  Yea,  grey 
hairs  are  sprinkled  upon  him,  and  he  knoweth  it  not.  He 
makes  his  energy  the  measure  of  his  life,  as  Isaiah 
also  marked,^  but  sees  not  that  it  all  means  waste  and 


IX.  91. 


Hos.vii.8-viii.3.]  A  PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  II.  POLITICALLY  275 

decay.  The  pride  of  Israel  iesiifieih  to  his  face,  yet — 
even  when  the  pride  of  the  nation  is  touched  to  the 
quick  by  such  humiliating  overtures  as  they  make  to 
both  Assyria  and  Egypt  ^ — they  do  not  return  to  Jehovah 
their  God,  nor  seek  Him  for  all  this. 

With  virtue  and  single-hearted  faith  have  disappeared 
intellect  and  the  capacity  for  affairs.  Ephraim  is 
become  like  a  silly  dove — a  dove  without  heart,  to  the 
Hebrews  the  organ  of  the  wits  of  a  man — they  cry  to 
Egypt,  they  go  off  to  Assyria.  Poor  pigeon  of  a  people, 
fluttering  from  one  refuge  to  another  I  But  as  they  go 
I  will  throw  over  them  My  net,  like  a  bird  of  the  air  I 
will  bring  them  down.  I  will  punish  them  as  their 
congregation  have  heard — this  text  as  it  stands^  can 
only  mean  "in  the  manner  I  have  publicly  proclaimed 
in  Israel."  Woe  to  them  that  they  have  strayed  from  Me  ! 
Damnation  to  them  that  they  have  rebelled  against  Me  ! 
While  I  would  have  redeemed  them,  they  spoke  lies  about 
Me.  And  they  iiave  never  cried  unto  Me  with  their  heart, 
but  they  keep  howling  on  their  beds  for  corn  and  new  wine. 
No  real  repentance  theirs,  but  some  fear  of  drought 
and  miscarriage  of  the  harvests,  a  sensual  and  servile 
sorrow  in  which  they  wallow.  They  seek  God  with 
no  heart,  no  true  appreciation. of  what  He  is,  but  use 
the  senseless  means  by  which  the  heathen  invoke  their 
gods  :  they  cut  themselves^  and  so  apostatise  from  Me  ! 
And  yet  itivas  I  who  disciplined  them,  I  strengthened  their 
arm,  but  with  regard  to  Me  they  kept  thinking  only  evil  I 
So  fickle  and  sensitive  to  fear,  they  turn  indeed,  but  not 
upwards ;  no  Godward  conversion  theirs.  In  their 
repentance  they  are  like  a  bow  which  swerves — off  upon 

'  See  above,  p.  261,  and  below,  p.  337. 
*  But  the  reading  is  very  doubtful. 

•  For  man^  read  mjn\ 


276  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

some  impulse  of  their  ill-balanced  natures.  Their 
princes  must  fall  by  the  sword  because  of  the  bitterness — 
we  should  have  expected  "  falseness  " — of  their  tongue  : 
this  is  their  scorn  in  the  land  of  Egypt  I  To  the  allusion 
we  have  no  key. 

With  so  false  a  people  nothing  can  be  done.  Their 
doom  is  inevitable.     Sc 

"Cry  havoc  and  let  slip  the  dogs  of  war." 

To  thy  mouth  ivith  the  trumpet  !  The  Eagle  is  down 
upon  the  house  of  Jehovah  !  ^  Where  the  carcase  is,  there 
are  the  eagles  gathered  together.  For — to  sum  up  the 
whole  Qx\%\?>—ihey  have  transgressed  My  covenant,  and 
against  My  law  have  they  rebelled.  To  Me  they  cry, 
My  God,  we  know  Thee,  we  Israel!  What  does  it 
matter  ?  Israel  hath  spurned  the  good :  ^  the  Foe  must 
pursue  him.  "'  "*' 

It  is  the  same  climax  of  inevitable  war  tc  which 
Amos  led  up  his  periods ;  and  a  new  subject  is  now 
introduced. 

2.  Artificial  Kings  and  Artificial  Gods. 

HosEA  viii.  4-13. 

The  curse  of  such  a  state  of  dissipation  as  that  to 
which  Israel  had  fallen  is  that  it  produces  no  men. 
Had  the  people  had  in  them  "  the  root  of  the  matter," 

'  Wellhausen's  objection  to  the  first  clause,  that  one  does  not  set  a 
trumpet  to  one's  gums,  which  7]n  literally-  means,  is  beside  the  mark, 
^n  is  more  than  once  used  of  the  mouth  as  a  whole  (Job  viii.  J; 
Prov.  V.  3).  The  second  clause  gives  the  reason  of  the  trumpet,  the 
alarum  trumpet,  in  the  first.     Read  "Iti'J  *D  (so  also  Wellhausen). 

*  Cf.  Amos:  Seek  Me  ^=  Seek  the  good;  and  Jesus:  Not  every  one 
that  saith  unto  Me,  Lord,  Lord ;  but  lie  that  docth  the  will  of  My  Fathet 
in  heaven. 


Kns.viii.  4-I3-]  A  PEOPLE  IN  DECAY :  II.  POLITICALLY  277 


had  there  been  the  stalk  and  the  fibre  of  a  national 
consciousness  and  purpose,  it  would  have  blossomed  to 
a  man.  In  the  similar  time  of  her  outgoings  upon  the 
world  Prussia  had  her  Frederick  the  Great,  and  Israel, 
too,  would  have  produced  a  leader,  a  heaven-sent  king, 
if  the  national  spirit  had  not  been  squandered  on 
foreign  trade  and  fashions.  But  after  the  death  of 
Jeroboam  every  man  who  rose  to  eminence  in  Israel, 
rose,  not  on  the  nation,  but  only  on  the  fevered  and 
transient  impulse  of  some  faction ;  and  through  the 
broken  years  one  party  monarch  was  lifted  after 
another  to  the  brief  tenancy  of  a  blood-stained  throne. 
They  were  not  from  God,  these  monarchs  ;  but  man- 
made,  and  sooner  or  later  man-murdered.  With  his 
sharp  insight  Hosea  likens  these  artificial  kings  to  the 
artificial  gods,  also  the  work  of  men's  hands  ;  and  till 
near  the  close  of  his  book  the  idols  of  the  sanctuary 
and  the  puppets  of  the  throne  form  the  twin  targets  of 
his  scorn. 

They  have  made  kings,  but  not  from  Me;  they  have 
made  princes,  but  I  knew  not.  IVith  their  silver  and 
their  gold  they  have  manufactured  themselves  idols,  only 
that  they  ^  may  be  cut  off — king  after  king,  idol  upon  idol. 
He  loathes  thy  Calf  O  Samaria,  the  thing  of  wood  and 
gold  which  thou  callest  Jehovah.  And  God  confirms 
this.  Kindled  is  Mine  anger  against  them  !  How  long 
zvill  they  be  incapable  of  innocence? — unable  to  clear 
themselves  of  guilt !  The  idol  is  still  in  his  mind. 
For  from  Israel  is  it  also — as  much  as  the  puppet- 
kings  ;  a  ivorkman  made  it,  and  no  god  is  it.  Yea, 
splinters  shall  the  Calf  of  Samaria  become.^     Splinters 

'  So  LXX.,  but  Hebrew  it. 
Davidson's  Synta.v,  §  136,  Rem.  i,  and  §  71,  Rom,  4. 


278  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

shall  everything  in  Israel  become.  Fot  they  sow  the 
wind,  and  the  whirlwind  shall  they  reap.  Indeed  like  a 
storm  Hosea's  own  language  now  sweeps  along ;  and 
his  metaphors  are  torn  into  shreds  upon  it.  Stalk 
it  hath  none :  the  sprout  brings  forth  no  grain :  if  it 
were  to  bring  forth,  stranger's  would  swallow  it}  Nay, 
Israel  hath  let  herself  be  swallowed  up  !  Already  are 
they  become  among  the  nations  like  a  vessel  there  is  no 
more  use  for.  Heathen  empires  have  sucked  them  dry. 
They  have  gone  up  to  Assyria  like  a  runaway  wild-ass. 
Epliraim  hath  hired  lovers?  It  is  again  the  note  of  their 
mad  dissipation  among  the  foreigners.  But  if  they  thus 
give  themselves  away  among  the  nations,  I  must  gather 
them  in,  and  then  shall  they  have  to  cease  a  little  from 
the  anointing  of  a  king  and  princes?  This  wilful  roam- 
ing of  theirs  among  the  foreigners  shall  be  followed  by 
compulsory  exile,  and  all  their  unholy  artificial  politics 
shall  cease.  The  discourse  turns  to  the  other  target. 
For  Ephraim  hath  multiplied  altars — to  sin ;  altars  are 
his  own — to  sin.  Were  I  to  write  for  him  by  myriads 
My  laws,*  as  those  of  a  stranger  would  they  be  accounted. 
They  slay  burnt-offerings  for  Me  and  cat  fie sh.^  Jehovah 
hath  no  delight  in  them.     Now  must  He  remember  their 

'  So  by  the  accents  runs  the  verse,  but,  as  Wellhausen  has  pointed 
out,  both  its  sense  and  its  assonance  are  better  expressed  by  another 
arrangement :  Hath  it  grown  up  ?  then  it  hath  no  shoot,  nor  bringeth forth 
fruit. 

6n  lo  semach, 

b'li  ya'aseh  qemach. 

Yet  to  this  there  is  a  grammatical  obstacle. 

^  Wellhausen's  reading  to  Egypt  with  love  gifts  scarcely  suits  the 
verb  ^0  up.     Notice  the  play  upon  P(h)ere',  wild-ass  and  Ephra'pm], 

'  So  LXX.  reads.  Heb. :  they  shall  involve  themselves  with  tributt 
to  the  king  ofpriitcti,  presumably  the  Assyiuan  monarch. 

♦  So  LXX.  »  Text  obscure. 


Hos.  ix.  1-9.]   A  PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  II.  POLITICALLY      279 

gm'It  and  jnake  visitation  upon  their  sin.  They — to  Egypt 
— shall  return.  .  .  /  Back  to  their  ancient  servitude 
must  they  go,  as  formerly  He  said  He  would  with- 
draw them  to  the  wilderness.* 

3.  The  Effects  of  Exile. 

HosEA  ix.  1-9. 

Hosea  now  turns  to  describe  the  effects  of  exile 
upon  the  social  and  religious  habits  of  the  people.  It 
must  break  up  at  once  the  joy  and  the  sacredness  of 
their  lives.  Every  pleasure  will  be  removed,  every  taste 
offended.  Indeed,  even  now,  with  their  conscience  of 
having  deserted  Jehovah,  they  cannot  pretend  to  enjoy 
the  feasts  of  the  Baalim  in  the  same  hearty  way  as  the 
heathen  with  whom  they  mix.  But,  whether  or  no,  the 
time  is  near  when  nature-feasts  and  all  other  religious 
ceremonies — all  that  makes  life  glad  and  regular  and 
solemn — shall  be  impossible. 

Rejoice  not,  O  Israel,  to  the  pitch  of  rapture  like  the 
heathen,  for  thou  hast  played  the  harlot  from  thy  God; 
a  harlots  hire  hast  thou  loved  on  all  threshing-floors.^ 
Threshing-floor  and  wine-vat  shall  ignore^  them,  and  the 
new  ivine  shall  play  them  false.  They  shall  not  abide  in 
the  land  of  fehovah,  but  Ephraim  shall  return  to  Egypt, 
and  in  Assyria  they  shall  eat  what  is  unclean.  They 
shall  not  pour  libations  to  Jehovah,  nor  prepare  ^  for  Him 
their  sacrifices.     Like   the  bread  of  sorrows  shall  their 

'  LXX.  addition  here  is  plainly  borrowed  from  ix.  3.  For  the 
reasons  for  omitting  ver.  14  see  above,  p.  223. 

*  ii.  16. 

•  On  this  verse  see  more  particularly  below,  pp.  340  ff. 

*  So  LXX. 

•  Read  D")r\     Cf.  with  the  whole  passage  iii.  4^ 


28o  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


bread^  be  ;  all  that  eat  of  it  shall  be  defiled:  yea,  their 
bread  shall  be  only  for  their  appetite;  they  shall  not 
bring  it^  to  the  temple  of  Jehovah.  He  cannot  be  wor- 
shipped off  His  own  land.  They  will  have  to  live  like 
animals,  divorced  from  religion,  unable  to  hold  com- 
munion with  their  God.  What  shall  ye  do  for  days '  of 
festival,  or  for  a  day  of  pilgrimage  to  Jehovah  ?  For  lo, 
they  shall  be  gone  forth  from  destruction,^  the  shock  and 
invasion  of  their  land,  only  that  Egypt  may  gather  them 
in,  Memphis  give  them  sepulture,  nettles  inherit  their  jewels 
of  silver,  thorns  come  up  in  their  tents.  The  threat  of 
exile  still  wavers  between  Assyria  and  Egypt.  And  in 
Egypt  Memphis  is  chosen  as  the  destined  grave  of 
Israel ;  for  even  then  her  Pyramids  and  mausoleums 
were  ancient  and  renowned,  her  vaults  and  sepulchres 
were  countless  and  spacious. 

But  what  need  is  there  to  seek  the  future  for  Israel's 
doom,  when  already  this  is  being  fulfilled  by  the  cor- 
ruption of  her  spiritual  leaders  ? 

The  days  of  visitation  have  come,  have  come  the  days 
oj  requital.  Israel  already  experiences  ^  them  !  A  fool 
is  the  prophet,  raving  mad  the  man  of  the  spirit.  The 
old  ecstasy  of  Saul's  day  has  become  delirium  and 
fanaticism.®  W' hy  ?  For  the  mass  of  thy  guilt  and  the 
multiplied  treachery  !  Ephraim  acts  the  spy  with  my  God 
There  is  probably  a  play  on  the  name,  for  with  the 
meaning  a  watchman  for  God  it  is  elsewhere  used  as 
an  honourable  title  of  the  prophets.  The  prophet  is  a 
fowler's  snare  upon  all  his  ways.     Treachery — they  have 


'  DDn?  for  Dn?.  *  Others  read  they  are  gone  to  Assyria. 

^  •1X*3\  *  Literally  knows.     See  below,  p.  321,  n,  9. 

'  Plural :  so  LXX.        «  See  above,  p.  28. 


Hos.ix  10-17.]  A  PEOPLE  IN  DECAY :  II.  POLITICALLY  281 

made  U  profound  in  the  very  house  of  their  God}  They 
have  dene  corruptly,  a^  in  the  days  of  Gibeah.  Their 
iniquity  i'»  remembered;  visitation  is  made  on  their  sin. 

These  then  were  the  symptoms  of  the  profound 
poHtical  decay  which  followed  on  Israel's  immorality. 
The  national  spirit  and  urity  of  the  people  had  dis- 
appeared. Society — half  oi  it  was  raw,  half  of  it 
was  baked  to  a  cinder.  The  nation,  broken  into 
factions,  produced  no  man  to  lead,  no  king  with  the 
stamp  of  God  upon  him.  Anarchy  prevailed;  mon- 
archs  were  made  and  murdered.  There  was  no  prestige 
abroad,  nothing  b?it  contempt  among  the  Gentiles  for 
a  people  whom  they  had  exhausted.  Judgment  was 
inevitable  by  exile — nay,  it  had  com«'i  already  in  the 
corruption  of  the  spiriiual  leaders  of  Ibe  nation. 

Hosea  now  turns  to  p*"obe  a  deeper  corruption  still. 

4.  "The  Corruption  ihat  is  throw's u  Lust." 

Hosea  ix.  10-17  •  cf.  iv.  11-14. 

Those  who  at  the  present  time  are  enforcing  among 
us  the  revival  of  a  Paganism — without  the  Fagan  con- 
science— and  exalting  licentiousness  to  the  level  of  an 
art,  forget  how  frequently  the  hun^'S^n  race  has  attempted 
their  experiment,  with  far  more  sincerity  than  they 
themselves  can  put  into  it,  and  how  invariably  the 
result  has  been  recorded  by  history  to  be  weariness, 
decay  and  death.  On  this  occasion  we  have  the  ^tory 
told  to  us  by  one  who  to  the  experience  of  the  sta*'-';- 
man  adds  the  vision  of  the  poet. 

>  So,  after  the  LXX.,  by  taking  ip^Oyn  with  this  ve-3«,  8,  inst»-  « 
of  with  ver.  9, 


282  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

The  generation  to  which  Hosea  belonged  practised 
a  periodical  unchastity  under  the  alleged  sanctions  of 
nature  and  religion.  And,  although  their  prophet  told 
them  that — like  our  own  apostates  from  Christianity — 
they  could  never  do  so  with  the  abandon  of  the  Pagans, 
for  they  carried  within  them  the  conscience  and  the 
memory  of  a  higher  faith,  it  appears  that  even  the 
fathers  of  Israel  resorted  openly  and  without  shame 
to  the  licentious  rites  of  the  sanctuaries.  In  an  earlier 
passage  of  his  book  Hosea  insists  that  all  this  must 
impair  the  people's  intellect.  Harlotry  takes  away  the 
brains}  He  has  shown  also  how  it  confuses  the 
family,  and  has  exposed  the  old  delusion  that  men 
may  be  impure  and  keep  their  womankind  chaste.* 
But  now  he  diagnoses  another  of  the  inevitable  results 
of  this  sin.  After  tracing  the  sin,  and  the  theory  of 
life  which  permitted  it,  to  their  historical  beginnings 
at  the  entry  of  the  people  into  Canaan,  he  describes 
how  the  long  practice  of  it,  no  matter  how  pretentious 
its  sanctions,  inevitably  leads  not  only  to  exterminating 
strifes,  but  to  the  decay  of  the  vigour  of  the  nation, 
to  barrenness  and  a  diminishing  population. 

Like  grapes  in  the  wilderness  I  found  Israel^  like  the 
first  fruit  on  a  fig-tree  in  her  first  season  I  saw  your 
fathers.  So  had  the  lusty  nation  appeared  to  God  in 
its  youth ;  in  that  dry  wilderness  all  the  sap  and 
promise  of  spring  were  in  its  eyes,  because  it  was  still 
pure.  But  they— they  came  to  Bdal-Peor — the  first  of  the 
shrines  of  Canaan  which  they  touched — and  dedicated 
themselves  to  the  Shame,  and  became  as  abominable  as 
the  object  of  their  love.  Ephraim — the  Fruitful  name  is 
emphasised — their  glory  is  flown  away  like  a  bird.     Nc 

•  iv.  12.  '  iv.  13,  14. 


Hos.ix.  10-17.]  A  PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  II.  POLITICALLY  283 

more  bttih,  no  more  motherhood,  no  more  conception !  * 
Blasted  is  EpJiraim,  withered  the  root  of  them,  fruit  they 
produce  not:  yea,  even  when  they  beget  children  I  slay 
the  darlings  of  their  womb.  Yea,  though  they  bring  up 
their  sons  I  bereave  them,  till  they  are  poor  in  men. 
Yea,  woe  upon  themselves  also,  when  I  look  away  from 
them  I  Ephraim — again  the  Fruitful  name  is  dragged 
to  the  front — for  prey,  as  I  have  seen,  are  his  sons 
destined?  Ephraim — he  must  lead  his  sons  to  the 
slaughter. 

And  the  prophet  interrupts  with  his  chorus  :  Give 
them,  O  LORD — what  wilt  Thou  give  them  ?  Give  them 
a  miscanying  womb  and  breasts  that  are  dry! 

All  their  mischief  is  in  Gilgal — again  the  Divine  voice 
strikes  the  connection  between  the  national  worship 
and  the  national  sin — yea,  there  do  I  hate  them :  for  the 
evil  of  their  doings  from  My  house  I  will  drive  them. 
I  will  love  them  no  more:  all  their  nobles  are  rebels.^ 

And  again  the  prophet  responds :  My  God  will  cast 
them  away,  for  they  have  not  hearkened  to  Him,  arid  they 
shall  be  vagabonds  among  the  nations. 

Some  of  the  warnings  which  Hosea  enforces  with 
regard  to  this  sin  have  been  instinctively  felt  by 
mankind  since  the  beginnings  of  civilisation,  and  are 
found  expressed  among  the  proverbs  of  nearly  all  the 
languages.*     But  I  am  unaware  of  any  earlier  moralist 


'  Here,  between  w.  11  and  12,  Wellhausen  with  justice  proposes 
to  insert  ver.  16. 

*  So  Wellhausen,  after  LXX. ;  probably  correct. 

*  So  we  may  attempt  to  echo  the  play  on  the  words. 

*  Cf.,  e.g.,  the  Proverbs  of  Ptah-Hotep  the  Egyptian,  circa  2500  B.C. 
"There  is  no  prudence  in  taking  part  in  it,  and  thousands  of  men 
destroy  themselves  in  order  to  enjoy  a  moment,  brief  as  a  dream, 
while  they  gain  death  so  as  to  know  it.     It  is  a  villainous  .  .  .  that 


284  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

in  any  literature  who  traced  the  effects  of  national 
licentiousness  in  a  diminishing  population,  or  who  ex- 
posed the  persistent  delusion  of  libertine  men  that  they 
themselves  may  resort  to  vice,  yet  keep  their  woman- 
kind chaste.  Hosea,  so  far  as  we  know,  was  the  first 
to  do  this.  History  in  many  periods  has  confirmed 
the  justice  of  his  observations,  and  by  one  strong  voice 
after  another  enforced  his  terrible  warnings.  The  ex- 
perience of  ancient  Persia  and  Egypt;  the  languor  of 
the  Greek  cities ;  the  "  deep  weariness  and  sated 
lust"  which  in  Imperial  Rome  "made  human  life 
a  hell";  the  decay  which  overtook  Italy  after  the 
renascence  of  Paganism  without  the  Pagan  virtues ; 
the  strife  and  anarchy  that  have  rent  every  court 
where,  as  in  the  case  of  Henri  Quatre,  the  king  set 
the  example  of  libertinage ;  the  incompetence,  the  pol- 
troonery, the  treachery,  that  have  corrupted  every  camp 
where,  as  in  French  Metz  in  1870,  soldiers  and  officers 
gave  way  so  openly  to  vice ;  the  checks  suffered  by 
modern  civilisation  in  face  of  barbarism  because  its 
pioneers  mingled  in  vice  with  the  savage  races  they 
were  subduing;  the  number  of  great  statesmen  falling 
by  their  passion,  and  in  their  fall  frustrating  the  hopes 
of  nations  ;  the  great  families  worn  out  by  indulgence  ; 
the  homes  broken  up  by  infidelities ;  the  tainting  of  the 
blood  of  a  new  generation  b}'^  the  poisonous  practices 
of  the  old, — have  not  all  these  things  been  in  every 
age,  and  do  they  not  still  happen  near  enough  to 
ourselves  to  give  us  a  great  fear  of  the  sin  which 
causes  them  all  ?     Alas  I  how  slow  men  are  to  listen 

of  a  man  who  excites  himself  (?);  if  he  goes  on  to  carry  it  out,  his 
mind  abandons  him.  For  as  for  him  who  is  without  repugnance  for 
such  an  [act],  tlicre  is  no  good  sense  at  all  in  him." — From  the 
translation  in  Records  qj  the  Pas(,  Second  Series,  Vol.  III.,  p.  24. 


Hos.ix.  10-17.]  A  PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  II.  POLITICALLY  285 

and  to  lay  to  heart !  Is  it  possible  that  we  can  gild 
by  the  names  of  frivolity  and  piquancy  habits  the 
wages  of  which  are  death  ?  Is  it  possible  that  we  can 
enjoy  comedies  which  make  such  things  their  jest? 
We  have  among  us  many  who  find  their  business  in 
the  theatre,  or  in  some  of  the  periodical  literature  of 
our  time,  in  writing  and  speaking  and  exhibiting  as 
closely  as  they  dare  to  limits  of  public  decency.  When 
will  they  learn  that  it  is  not  upon  the  easy  edge  of 
mere  conventions  that  they  are  capering,  but  upon  the 
brink  of  those  eternal  laws  whose  further  side  is  death 
and  hell — that  it  is  not  the  tolerance  of  their  fellow- 
men  they  are  testing,  but  the  patience  of  God  Himself? 
As  for  those  loud  few  who  claim  licence  in  the  name 
of  art  and  literature,  let  us  not  shrink  from  them  as 
if  they  were  strong  or  their  high  words  true.  They 
are  not  strong,  they  are  only  reckless ;  their  claims  are 
lies.  All  history,  the  poets  and  the  prophets,  whether 
Christian  or  Pagan,  are  against  them.  They  are  traitors 
alike  to  art,  to  love,  and  to  every  other  high  interest 
of  mankind. 

It  may  be  said  that  a  large  part  of  the  art  of  the 
day,  which  takes  great  licence  in  dealing  with  these 
subjects,  is  exercised  only  by  the  ambition  to  expose  that 
ruin  and  decay  which  Hosea  himself  affirms.  This  is 
true.  Some  of  the  ablest  and  most  popular  writers  of 
our  time  have  pictured  the  facts,  which  Hosea  de- 
scribes, with  so  vivid  a  realism  that  we  cannot  but 
judge  them  to  be  inspired  to  confirm  his  ancient  warn- 
ings, and  to  excite  a  disgust  of  vice  in  a  generation 
which  otherwise  treats  vice  so  lightly.  But  if  so,  their 
ministry  is  exceeding  narrow,  and  it  is  by  their  side 
that  we  best  estimate  the  greatness  of  the  ancient 
prophet.    Their  transcript  of  human  life  may  be  true  to 


286  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  facts  it  selects,  but  we  find  in  it  no  trace  of  facts 
which  are  greater  and  more  essential  to  humanity.  They 
have  nothing  to  tell  us  of  forgiveness  and  repentance, 
and  yet  these  are  as  real  as  the  things  they  describe. 
Their  pessimism  is  unreheved.  They  see  the  cor- 
ruption that  is  in  the  world  through  lust;  they  forget  that 
there  is  an  escape  irora  it}  It  is  Hosea's  greatness  that, 
while  he  felt  the  vices  of  his  day  with  all  needed 
thoroughness  and  realism,  he  yet  never  allowed  them 
to  be  inevitable  or  ultimate,  but  preached  repentance 
and  pardon,  with  the  possibility  of  holiness  even  for 
his  depraved  generation.  It  is  the  littleness  of  the 
Art  of  our  day  that  these  great  facts  are  forgotten  by 
her,  though  once  she  was  their  interpreter  to  men. 
When  she  remembers  them  the  greatness  of  her  past 
will  return. 

5.    Once  More  :  Puppet-Kings  and  Puppet-Gods. 

HOSEA    X. 

For  another  section,  the  tenth  chapter,  the  prophet 
returns  to  the  twin  targets  of  his  scorn :  the  idols 
and  the  puppet-kings.  But  few  notes  are  needed. 
Observe  the  reiterated  connection  between  the  fertility 
of  the  land  and  the  idolatry  of  the  people. 

A  wanton  vine  is  Israel;  he  lavishes  his  fruit  :^  the 
more  his  fruit,  the  more  he  made  his  altars;  the  goodlier 

'  2  Peter  i. 

'  Doubtful.  The  Heb.  text  gives  an  inappropriate  if  not  impossible 
clause,  even  if  HlEi'^  be  taken  from  a  root  niK',  to  set  or  produce 
(Barth,  Etym.  Stud.,  66).  LXX. :  6  napirbs  evOijvQv  a&riji  (A.Q.  avTrjs 
€v6r]vuv),  "  her  [the  vine's]  fruit  flourishing."  Some  parallel  is  required 
to  pp2  of  the  first  clause ;  and  it  is  possible  that  it  may  have  been 
from  a  root  H-ISJ*  or  H^iJ',  corresponding  to  Arabic  sah,  "to  wander" 
in  the  sense  of  scattering  or  being  scattered. 


Hos.x.]     A   PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  II.  POLITICALLY       287 

his  land,  the  more  goodly  he  made  his  mag^eboth,  or 
sacred  pillars.  False  is  the  heart  of  them :  now  must 
they  atone  for  it.  He  shall  break  the  neck  of  their  altars; 
He  shall  ruin  their  pillars.  For  already  they  are  saying, 
No  king  have  we,  for  we  have  not  feared  fehovah,  and 
the  king — what  could  he  do  for  us  ?  Speaking^  of  words, 
swearing  of  false  oaths,  making  of  bargains — till  law^ 
breaks  out  like  weeds  in  the  furrows  of  the  field. 

For  the  Calf  of  Beth-Aven  the  inhabitants^  of  Samaria 
shall  be  anxious :  yea,  mourn  for  him  shall  his  people, 
and  his  priestlings  shall  writhe  for  him — for  his  glory 
that  it  is  banished  from  him.  In  these  days  of  heavy 
tribute  shall  the  gold  of  the  golden  calf  be  safe  ?  Yea, 
himself  shall  they  pack '^  to  Assyria;  he  shall  be  offered 
as  tribute  to  King  Pick-Quarrel!'  Ephraim  shall  take 
disgrace,  and  Israel  be  ashamed  because  of  his  counsel.^ 
Undone  Samaria  /  Her  king  like  a  chip  ^  on  the  face 
of  the  waters  /  This  may  refer  to  one  of  the  revolu- 
tions in  which  the  king  was  murdered.  But  it  seems 
more  appropriate  to  the  final  catastrophe  of  724-1  :  the 
fall  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  king's  banishment  to 
Assyria.  If  the  latter,  the  verse  has  been  inserted ; 
but  the  following  verse  would  lead  us  to  take  these 
disasters  as  still  future.  And  the  high  places  of  idolatry 
shall  be  destroyed,  the  sin  of  Israel ;  thorn  and  thistle 
shall  come  up  on  their  altars.  And  they  shall  say  to  the 
mountains.   Cover  us,  and  to   the  hills.  Fall  on  us.     It 


'  After  LXX.  *  LXX.  supplies. 

*  Doubtful.    Lawsuits  ?  *  See  above,  p.  263. 
»  "Calf,"  "inhabitants"— so  LXX. 

•  Very  uncertain.     Wellhausen  reads  froyyi  his  idol,  13^J??3. 

'  PjVp :  compare  Arabic  qsf,  "  to  break " ;  but  there  is  also  the 
assonant  Arabic  qsb,  "reed."  The  Rabbis  translate  ybaw ;  cf.  the 
other  meaning  of  f)Vp  =  outbreak  of  anger,  which  suggests  bubble. 


288  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

cannot  be  too  often  repeated :  these  handmade  gods, 
these  chips  of  kings,  shall  be  swept  away  together. 

Once  more  the  prophet  returns  to  the  ancient  origins 
of  Israel's  present  sins,  and  once  more  to  their  shirking 
of  the  discipline  necessary  for  spiritual  results,  but 
only  that  he  may  lead  up  as  before  to  the  inevitable 
doom.  From. '  the  days  of  Gibeah  thou  hast  sinned,  O 
Israel.  There  have  they  remained — never  progressed 
beyond  their  position  there — and  this  without  war  over- 
taking them  in  Gibeah  against  the  dastards}  As  soon 
as  I  please,  I  can  chastise  them,  and  peoples  shall  be 
gathered  against  thetn  in  chastisement  for  their  double 
sin.  This  can  scarcely  be,  as  some  suggest,  the  two 
calves  at  Bethel  and  Dan.  More  probably  it  is  still 
the  idols  and  the  man-made  kings.  Now  he  returns 
to  the  ambition  of  the  people  for  spiritual  results  with- 
out a  spiritual  discipline. 

And  Ephraim  is  a  broken-in  heifer,  that  loveth  to 
thresh.^  But  I  have  come  on  her  fair  neck.  I  will  yoke 
Ephraim;  Judah  must  plough;  facob  must  harrow  for 
himself.  It  is  all  very  well  for  the  unmuzzled  beast  * 
to  love  the  threshing,  but  harder  and  unrewarded 
labours  of  ploughing  and  harrowing  have  to  come 
before  the  floor  be  heaped  with  sheaves.  Israel  must 
not  expect  religious  festival  without  religious  discipline. 
Sow  for  yourselves  righteousness  ;  then  shall  ye  reap  the 


'  Rosenmiiller :  more  than  in.  These  days  are  evidently  not  the 
beginning  of  the  kingship  under  Saul  (so  Wellhausen),  for  with 
that  Hosea  has  no  quarrel,  but  either  the  idolatry  of  Micah  (Judg 
xvii.  3  ft".),  or  more  probably  the  crime  of  Benjamin  (Judg.  xix.  22). 

*  Obscure ;  text  corrupt,  and  in  next  verse  uncertain, 

*  For  the  sense  of  the  verse  both  participles  are  surely  needed. 
Wellhausen  thinks  two  redundant. 

*  Deut.  XXV.  4 ;  I  Cor.  ix.  9 ;  i  Tim.  v.  18. 


Hos.x.]     A   PEOPLE  IN  DECAY:  II.  POLITICALLY        289 

fruit  of  God's  leal  love}  Break  up  your  fallow  ground, 
for  it  is  time  to  seek  Jehovah,  till  He  come  ami  shower 
salvation^  upon  you?  Ye  have  ploughed  wickedness; 
disaster  have  ye  reaped:  ye  have  eaten  the  fruit  of  false- 
hood; for  thou  'didst  trust  in  thy  chariots,^  in  the  muUilude 
of  thy  warriors.  For  the  tumult  of  war  shall  arise  among 
thy  tribes,^  and  all  thy  fenced  cities  shall  be  ruined,  as 
Salman  beat  to  ruin  Beth-Arbel^  in  the  day  of  war:  the 
mother  shall  be  broken  on  the  children — presumably  the 
land  shall  fall  with  the  falling  of  her  cities.  Thus  shall 
I  do  to  you,  O  house  of  Israel,^  because  of  the  evil  of  your 
evil:  soon  shall  the  king  of  Israel  be  undone — undone. 

The  political  decay  of  Israel,  then,  so  deeply  figured 
in  all  these  chapters,  must  end  in  utter  collapse.  Let 
us  sum  up  the  gradual  features  of  this  decay :  the 
substance  of  the  people  scattered  abroad ;  the  national 
spirit  dissipated  ;  the  national  prestige  humbled ;  the 
kings  mere  puppets ;  the  prophets  corrupted ;  the 
national  vigour  sapped  by  impurity ;  the  idolatry  con- 
scious of  its  impotence. 

'  LUX.  :  fritit  of  life. 

'  pTX  surely  in  the  sense  in  which  we  find  it  in  Isa.  xl.  ff.     LXX. : 
the  fruits  of  righteousness  shall  be  yours. 

^  We  shall  return  to  this  passage  in  dealing  with  Repentance ;  see 

P-  345- 

*  So  LXX.     Wellhausen  suspects  authenticity  of  the  whole  clause. 

*  Wellhausen  proposes  to  read  T'lyZl  for  'T'DyiS,  l-ut  there  is  no 
need.  *  See  above,  p.  216,  «.  5.  '  So  LXX, 


VOL.  I.  19 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

THE    FATHERHOOD    AND   HUMANITY   OF   GOD 
HosEA  xi. 

FROM  the  thick  jungle  of  Hosea's  travail,  the 
eleventh  chapter  breaks  like  a  high  and  open 
mound.  The  prophet  enjoys  the  first  of  his  two  clear 
visions— that  of  the  Past.-'  Judgment  continues  to 
descend.  Isiael's  Sun  is  near  his  setting,  but  before 
he  sinks — 

"A  lingering  light  he  fondly  throws 
On  the  dear  hills,  whence  first  he  rose." 

Across  these  confused  and  vicious  years,  through 
which  he  has  painfully  made  his  way,  Hosea  sees  the 
tenderness  and  the  romance  of  the  early  history  of  his 
people.  And  although  he  must  strike  the  old  despairing 
note — that,  by  the  insincerity  of  the  present  generation, 
all  the  ancient  guidance  of  their  God  must  end  in  this ! 
— yet  for  some  moments  the  blessed  memory  shines  by 
itself,  and  God's  mercy  appears  to  triumph  over  Israel's 
ingratitude.  Surely  their  sun  will  not  set ;  Love  must 
prevail.  To  which  assurance  a  later  voice  from  the 
Exile  has  added,  in  verses  lO  and  ii,  a  confirmation 
suitable  to  its   own  circumstances. 

When  Israel  zvas  a  child,  then  I  loved  hint, 
And  from  Egypt  I  called  him  to  be  My  son. 

'  See  above,  p.  253. 
290 


Hos.  xi.]   THE  FA  THERHOOD  AND  HUMANITY  OF  GOD  291 

The  early  history  of  Israel  was  a  romance.  Think 
of  it  historically.  Before  the  Most  High  there  spread 
an  array  of  kingdoms  and  peoples.  At  their  head 
were  three  strong  princes — sons  indeed  of  God,  if  all 
tlie  heritage  of  the  past,  the  power  of  the  present  and 
the  promise  of  the  future  be  tokens.  Egypt,  wrapt  in 
the  rich  and  jewelled  web  of  centuries,  basked  by  Nile 
and  Pyramid,  all  the  wonder  of  the  world's  art  in  his 
dreamy  eyes.  Opposite  him  Ass3Tia,  with  barer  but 
more  massive  limbs,  stood  erect  upon  his  highlands, 
grasping  in  his  sword  the  promise  of  the  world's  power. 
Between  the  two,  and  using  both  of  them,  yet  with  his 
eyes  westward  on  an  empire  of  which  neither  dreamed, 
the  Phoenician  on  his  sea-coast  built  his  storehouses 
and  sped  his  navies,  the  promise  of  the  world's  wealth. 
It  must  ever  remain  the  supreme  romance  of  history, 
that  the  true  son  of  God,  bearer  of  His  love  and 
righteousness  to  all  mankind,  should  be  found,  not 
only  outside  this  powerful  trinity,  but  in  the  puny  and 
despised  captive  of  one  of  them — in  a  people  that  was 
not  a  state,  that  had  not  a  country,  that  was  without 
a  history,  and,  if  appearances  be  true,  was  as  yet 
devoid  of  even  the  rudiments  of  civilisation — a  child 
people  and  a  slave. 

That  was  the  Romance,  and  Hosea  gives  us  the  Grace 
which  made  it.  When  Israel  was  a  child,  then  I  loved 
him.  The  verb  is  a  distinct  impulse  :  /  began,  I  learned, 
to  love  him.  God's  eyes,  that  passed  unheeding  the 
adult  princes  of  the  world,  fell  upon  this  little  slave  boy, 
and  He  loved  him  and  gave  him  a  career  :  from  Egypt 
I  called  him  to  be  My  son. 

Now,  historically,  it  was  the  persuasion  of  this  which 
made  Israel.  All  their  distinctiveness  and  character, 
their  progress  from  a  level  with  other  nomadic  tribes 


293  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

to  the  rank  of  the  greatest  religious  teachers  of  humanity, 
started  from  the  memory  of  these  two  facts — that  God 
loved  them,  and  that  God  called  them.  This  was  an 
unfailing  conscience — the  obligation  that  they  were  not 
their  own,  the  irresistible  motive  to  repentance  even 
in  their  utmost  backsliding,  the  unquenchable  hope  of 
a  destiny  in  their  direst  days  of  defeat  and  scattering. 

Some,  of  course,  may  cavil  at  the  narrow,  national 
scale  on  which  such  a  belief  was  held,  but  let  them 
remember  that  it  was  held  in  trust  for  all  mankind. 
To  snarl  that  Israel  felt  this  sonship  to  God  only  for 
themselves,  is  to  forget  that  it  is  they  who  have  per- 
suaded humanity  that  this  is  the  only  kind  of  sonship 
worth  claiming.  Almost  every  other  nation  of  antiquity 
imagined  a  filial  relation  to  the  deity,  but  it  was  either 
through  some  fabulous  physical  descent,  and  then  often 
confined  only  to  kings  and  heroes,  or  by  some  mystical 
mingling  of  the  Divine  with  the  human,  which  was  just 
as  gross  and  sensuous.  Israel  alone  defined  the  con- 
nection as  a  historical  and  a  moral  one.  The  sons  of 
God  are  begotten  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh, 
nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God}  Sonship  to  God 
is  something  not  physical,  but  moral  and  historical, 
into  which  men  are  carried  by  a  supreme  awakening 
to  the  Divine  love  and  authority.  Israel,  it  is  true,  felt 
this  only  in  a  general  way  for  the  nation  as  a  whole  ;  ^ 
but  their  conception  of  it  embraced  just  those  moral 
contents  which  form  the  glory  of  Christ's  doctrine  of 
the  Divine  sonship  of  the  individual.  The  belief  that 
God  is  our  Father  does  not  come  to  us  with  our  carnal 
birth — except  in  possibility  :  the  persuasion  of  it  is  not 


•  St.  John's  Gospel,  i.  12,  13. 

•  Or  occasionally  for  the  king  as  the  nation's  representative. 


Hos.xi.]   THE  FATHERHOOD  AND  HUMANITY  OF  GOD  293 

conferred  by  our  baptism  except  in  so  far  as  that  is 
Christ's  own  seal  to  the  fact  that  God  Almighty  loves 
us  and  has  marked  us  for  His  own.  To  us  sonship  is 
a  becoming,  not  a  being— the  awakening  of  our  adult 
minds  into  the  surprise  of  a  Father's  undeserved  mercy, 
into  the  constraint  of  His  authority  and  the  assurance 
of  the  destiny  He  has  laid  up  for  us.  It  is  conferred 
by  love,  and  confirmed  by  duty.  Neither  has  power 
brought  it,  nor  wisdom,  nor  wealth,  but  it  has  come 
solely  with  the  wonder  of  the  knowledge  that  God  loves 
us,  and  has  always  loved  us,  as  well  as  in  the  sense, 
immediately  following,  of  a  true  vocation  to  serve  Him. 
Sonship  which  is  less  than  this  is  no  sonship  at  all.  But 
so  much  as  this  is  possible  to  every  man  through  Jesus 
Christ.  His  constant  message  is  that  the  Father  loves 
every  one  of  us,  and  that  if  we  know  ^  that  love,  we 
are  God's  sons  indeed.  To  them  who  feel  it,  adoption 
into  the  number  and  privileges  of  the  sons  of  God  comes 
with  the  amazement  and  the  romance  which  glorified 
God's  choice  of  the  child-slave  Israel.  Behold,  they 
cry,  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  bestowed  upon 
us,  that  we  should  be  called  the  sons  of  God} 

But  we  cannot  be  loved  by  God  and  left  where  we 
are.  Beyond  the  grace  there  lies  the  long  discipline 
and  destiny.  We  are  called  from  servitude  to  freedom, 
from  the  world  to  God — each  of  us  to  run  a  course, 
and  do  a  work,  which  can  be  done  by  no  one  else. 
That  Israel  did  not  perceive  this  was  God's  sore 
sorrow  with  them. 

The  more  I '  called  to  them,  the  farther  they  went  from 
Me}     They  to  the  Bdalitn  kept  sacrificing,  and  to  images 

'  See  below,  pp.  321-3.         ^  i  John  iii.         ^  So  rightly  the  LXX. 
LXX.,  rightly   separating   Dn\J3?3    into  ^J3P  and    DH     which 
latter  is  the  nominative  to  the  next  clause. 


294  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

offering  incense.  But  God  persevered  with  grace, 
and  the  story  is  at  first  continued  in  the  figure  of 
Fatherhood  with  which  it  commenced  ;  then  it  changes 
to  the  metaphor  of  a  humane  man's  goodness  to  his 
beasts.  Yet  I  taught  Ephraim  to  walk,  holding  them  on 
Mine  arms,^  but  they  knew  not  that  I  healed  them — pre- 
sumably when  they  fell  and  hurt  themselves.  With  the 
cords  of  a  man  I  would  draw  tkem,  with  bands  of  love; 
and  I  was  to  them  as  those  who  lift  up  the  yoke  on  their 
jaws,  and  gently  would  I  give  them  to  eat?  It  is  the 
picture  of  a  team  of  bullocks,  in  charge  of  a  kind  driver. 
Israel  are  no  longer  the  wanton  young  cattle  of  the 
previous  chapter,  which  need  the  yoke  firmly  fastened 
on  their  neck,^  but  a  team  of  toiling  oxen  mounting 
some  steep  road.  There  is  no  use  now  for  the  rough 
ropes,  by  which  frisky  animals  are  kept  to  their  work ; 
but  the  driver,  coming  to  his  beasts'  heads,  by  the 
gentle  touch  of  his  hand  at  their  mouths  and  by 
words  of  sympathy  draws  them  after  him.  /  dj-ew  them 
with  cords  of  a  man,  and  with  bands  of  love.  Yet  there 
is  the  yoke,  and  it  would  seem  that  certain  forms  of 
this,  when  beasts  were  working  upwards,  as  we  should 
say  against  the  collar,  pressed  and  rubbed  upon  them, 
so  that  the  humane  driver,  when  he  came  to  their 
heads,  eased  the  yoke  with  his  hands.  /  was  as  they 
that  take  the  yoke  off  their  jaws;  *  and  then,  when  they 
got  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  he  would  rest  and  feed  them. 
That  is  the  picture,  and  however  uncertain  we  may 
feel  as  to  some  of  its  details,  it  is  obviously  a  passage 


'  So  again  rightly  the  LXX. 

*  The    reading  is  uncertain.     The  N?  of  the   following   verse    (6) 
must  be  read  as  the  Greek  reads  it,  as  1?,  and  taken  with  ver.  5. 

*  X.  II. 

*  Or  lifted  forward  from  the  neck  to  the  jaws. 


Hos.xi.]   THE  FATHERHOOD  AND  HUMANITY  OF  GOD  295 

— Ewald  says  "  the  earliest  of  all  passages  " — in  which 
"  human  means  precisely  the  same  as  love."  It  ought 
to  be  taken  along  with  that  other  passage  in  the  great 
Prophecy  of  the  Exile,  where  God  is  described  as  He 
that  led  them  through  the  deep,  as  an  horse  in  the 
wilderness y  that  they  shoidd  not  stumble :  as  a  beast  goelh 
down  into  the  valley,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  gave  him  rest} 
Thus  then  the  figure  of  the  fatherliness  of  God 
changes  into  that  of  His  gentleness  or  humanity.  Do 
not  let  us  think  that  there  is  here  either  any  descent 
of  the  poetry  or  want  of  connection  between  the  two 
figures.  The  change  is  true,  not  only  to  Israel's,  but 
to  our  own  experience.  Men  are  all  either  the  eager 
children  of  happy,  irresponsible  days,  or  the  bounden, 
plodding  draught-cattle  of  life's  serious  burdens  and 
charges.  Hosea's  double  figure  reflects  human  life 
in  its  whole  range.  Which  of  us  has  not  known  this 
fatherliness  of  the  Most  High,  exercised  upon  us,  as 
upon  Israel,  throughout  our  years  of  carelessness  and 
disregard?  It  was  God  Himself  who  taught  and 
trafned  us  then  ; — 

**  When  through  the  slippery  paths  ot  youth 
\  "With  heedless  steps  I  ran, 

Thine  arm  unseen  conveyed  me  safe. 
And  led  me  up  to  man.' 

Those  speedy  recoveries  from  the  blunders  of  early 
wilfulness,  those  redemptions  from  the  sins  of  youth — 
happy  were  we  if  we  knew  that  it  was  He  who  healed 
us.  But  there  comes  a  time  when  men  pass  fronr 
leading-strings  to  harness — when  we  feel  faith  less  and 
duty  more — when  our  work  touches  us  more  closely  than 
our  God.     Death  must  be  a  strange  transformer  of  tne 

'  Isa.  Ixiii.  13,  14. 


296  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

spirit,  yet  surely  not  more  strange  than  life,  which  out 
of  the  eager  buoyant  child  makes  in  time  the  slow 
automaton  of  duty.  It  is  such  a  stage  which  the 
fourth  of  these  verses  suits,  when  we  look  up,  not  so 
much  for  the  fatherliness  as  for  the  gentleness  and 
humanity  of  our  God.  A  man  has  a  mystic  power 
of  a  very  wonderful  kind  upon  the  animals  over  whom 
he  is  placed.  On  any  of  these  wintry  roads  of  ours 
we  may  see  it,  when  a  kind  carter  gets  down  at  a  hill, 
and,  throwing  the  reins  on  his  beast's  back,  will  come 
to  its  head  and  touch  it  with  his  bare  hands,  and  speak 
to  it  as  if  it  were  his  fellow  ;  till  the  deep  eyes  fill  with 
light,  and  out  of  these  things,  so  much  weaker  than 
itself,  a  touch,  a  glance,  a  word,  there  will  come  to  it 
new  strength  to  pull  the  stranded  waggon  onward.  The 
man  is  as  a  god  to  the  beast,  coming  down  to  help  it, 
and  it  almost  makes  the  beast  human  that  he  does  so. 
Not  otherwise  does  Hosea  feel  the  help  which  God  gives 
His  own  on  the  weary  hills  of  life.  We  need  not 
discipline,  for  our  work  is  discipline  enough,  and  the 
cares  we  cany  of  themselves  keep  us  straight  and 
steady.  But  we  need  sympathy  and  gentleness — this 
very  humanity  which  the  prophet  attributes  to  our  God. 
God  comes  and  takes  us  by  the  head ;  through  the 
mystic  power  which  is  above  us,  but  which  makes  us 
like  itself,  we  are  lifted  to  our  task.  Let  no  one  judge 
this  incredible.  The  incredible  would  be  that  our  God 
should  prove  any  less  to  us  than  the  merciful  man  is 
to  his  beast.  But  we  are  saved  from  argument  by 
experience.  When  we  remember  how,  as  life  has 
become  steep  and  our  strength  exhausted,  there  has 
visited  us  a  thought  which  has  sharpened  to  a  word,  a 
word  which  has  warmed  to  a  touch,  and  we  have  drawn 
ourselves  together  and  leapt  up  new  men,  can  we  feel 


Hos.  xi.]  THE  FA  THERHOOD  AND  HUMANITY  OF  GOD  297 

that  God  was  any  less  in  these  things,  than  in  the 
voice  of  conscience  or  the  message  of  forgiveness,  or 
the  restraints  of  His  discipHne?  Nay,  though  the  reins 
be  no  longer  felt,  God  is  at  our  head,  that  we  should 
not  stumble  nor  stand  still. 

Upon  this  gracious  passage  there  follows  one  of 
those  swift  revulsions  of  feeling,  which  we  have  learned 
almost  to  expect  in  Hosea.  His  insight  again  overtakes 
his  love.  The  people  will  not  respond  to  the  goodness 
of  their  God  ;  it  is  impossible  to  work  upon  minds  so 
fickle  and  insincere.  Discipline  is  what  they  need. 
He  shall  return  to  the  land  of  Egypt,  or  Asshiir  shall 
be  his  king  (it  is  still  an  alternative),  for  they  have 
refused  to  return  to  Me.  .  .  .^  'Tis  but  one  more  in- 
stance of  the  age-long  apostasy  of  the  people.  My 
people  have  a  bias  ^  to  turn  from  Me ;  and  though  they 
(the  prophets)  call  them  upwards,  none  of  them  can 
lift  them? 

Yet  God  is  God,  and  though  prophecy  fail  H^  will 
attempt  His  Love  once  more.  There  follows  the 
greatest  passage  in  Plosea — deepest  if  not  highest  of 
his  book — the  breaking  forth  of  that  exhaustless 
mercy  of  the  Most  High  which  no  sin  of  man  can  bar 
back  nor  wear  out. 

How  am  I  to  give  thee  up,  O  Ephraim  ? 
How  am  I  to  let  thee  go,  O  Israel? 
How  am  I  to  give  thee  up  ? 
Am  I  to  make  an  Admah  of  thee — a  Seboim  ? 
My  heart  is  turned  upon  Me, 

'  Ver.  6  has  an  obviously  corrupt  text,  and,  weakening  as  it  does 
the  climax  of  ver.  5i  may  be  an  insertion. 

*  Are  hung  or  swung  towards  tunting  away  front  Mt. 

•  This  verse  is  also  uncertain. 


298  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

My  compassions  bcgiti  to  boil: 
I  will  not  perform  the  fierceness  of  Mi)ie  anger, 
I  will  not  turn  to  destroy  Ephraitn ; 
For  God  am  I  and  not  man, 
The  Holy  One   in    the   midst  of  thee,  yet  I  come 
not  to  consume!^ 

Such  a  love  has  been  the  secret  of  Hosea's  per- 
sistence through  so  many  years  with  so  faithless  a 
people,  and  now,  when  he  has  failed,  it  takes  voice  to 
itself  and  in  its  irresistible  fulness  makes  this  last 
appeal.  Once  more  before  the  end  let  Israel  hear  God 
in  the  utterness  of  His  Love  1 

The  verses  are  a  climax,  and  obviously  to  be  suc- 
ceeded by  a  pause.  On  the  brink  of  his  doom,  will 
Israel  turn  to  such  a  God,  at  such  a  call?  The  next 
verse,  though  dependent  for  its  promise  on  this  same 
exhaustless  Love,  is  from  an  entirely  different  circum- 
stance, and  cannot  have  been  put  by  Hosea  here.^ 

'  For  T*y3,  which  makes  nonsense,  read  11^37,  to  consume,  or 
with  Wellhausen  amend  further  ")J?2'?  HilN  N?,  /  am  not  willing  to 
consume. 

'^  They  will  follow  fehovah  ;  like  a  lion  He  will  roar,  and  they  shall 
hurry  trembling  from  the  west.  Like  birds  shall  they  hurry  trembling 
front  Egypt,  and  like  doves  from  the  land  of  Assyria,  and  I  will  bring 
them  to  their  homes — 'tis  the  oracle  of  Jehovah.  Not  only  does  this 
verse  contain  expressions  which  are  unusual  to  Hosea,  and  a  very 
strange  metaphor,  but  it  is  not  connected  either  historically  or 
logically  with  the  previous  verse.  The  latter  deals  with  the  people 
before  God  has  scattered  them — offers  them  one  more  chance  before 
exile  comes  on  them.  But  in  this  verse  they  are  already  scattered, 
and  just  about  to  be  brought  back.  It  is  such  a  promise  as  both  in 
language  and  metaphor  was  common  among  the  prophets  of  the 
Exile.  In  the  LXX.  the  verse  is  taken  from  chap,  xi,  and  put 
with  chap,  xii. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  FINAL  ARGUMENT 
HosEA  xii. — XIV.   I. 

THE  impassioned  call  with  which  last  chapter  closed 
was  by  no  means  an  assurance  of  salvation  :  How 
am  I  to  give  thee  up,  Ephraim  ?  how  am  I  to  let  thee  go, 
Israel?  On  the  contrary,  it  was  the  anguish  of  Love, 
when  it  hovers  over  its  own  on  the  brink  of  the  destruc- 
tion to  which  their  wilfulness  has  led  them,  and  before 
relinquishing  them  would  seek,  if  possible,  some  last 
way  to  redeem.  Surely  that  fatal  morrow  and  the 
people's  mad  leap  into  it  are  not  inevitable  I  At  least, 
before  they  take  the  leap,  let  the  prophet  go  back  once 
more  upon  the  moral  situation  of  to-day,  go  back  once 
more  upon  the  past  of  the  people,  and  see  if  he  can 
find  anything  else  to  explain  that  bias  to  apostasy  ^ 
which  has  brought  them  to  this  fatal  brink — anything 
else  which  may  move  them  to  repentance  even  there. 
So  in  chaps,  xii.  and  xiii.  Hosea  turns  upon  the  now 
familiar  trail  of  his  argument,  full  of  the  Divine  jealousy, 
determined  to  give  the  people  one  other  chance  to  turn ; 
but  if  they  will  not,  he  at  least  will  justify  God's  re- 
linquishment of  them.  The  chapters  throw  even  a 
brighter   light    upon    the    temper   and    habits    of   that 


xi.7 
299 


300  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

generation.  They  again  explore  Israel's  ancient  history 
for  causes  of  the  present  decline ;  and,  in  especial,  they 
cite  the  spiritual  experience  of  the  Father  of  the  nation, 
as  if  to  show  that  what  of  repentance  was  possible  for 
him  is  possible  for  his  posterity  also.  But  once  more 
all  hope  is  seen  to  be  vain  ;  and  Hosea's  last  travail 
with  his  obstinate  people  closes  in  a  doom  even  more 
awful  than  its  predecessors. 

The  division  into  chapters  is  probably  correct ;  but 
while  chap.  xiii.  is  well-ordered  and  clear,  the  arrange- 
ment, and  in  parts  the  meaning,  of  chap.  xii.  are  very 
obscure. 

I.  The  People  and  Their  Father  Jacob. 

HosEA  xii. 

In  no  part  even  of  the  difficult  Book  of  Hosea  does 
the  sacred  text  bristle  with  more  problems.  It  may 
well  be  doubted  whether  the  verses  lie  in  their  proper 
order,  or,  if  they  do,  whether  we  have  them  entire  as 
they  came  from  the  prophet,  for  the  connection  is  not 
always  perceptible.^  We  cannot  believe,  however,  that 
the  chapter  is  a  bundle  of  isolated  oracles,  for  the 
analogy  between  Jacob  and  his  living  posterity  runs 
through  the  whole  of  it,^  and  the  refrain  that  God 
must  requite  upon  the  nation  their  deeds  is  found  both 
near  the  beginning  and  at  the  end  of  the  chapter.^  One 
is  tempted  to  take  the  two  fragments  about  the  Patriarch 
(vv.  4,  5,  and  13  f)  by  themselves,  and  the  more  so 
that  ver.  8  would  follow  so  suitably  on  either  ver.  2  or 


'  This  is  especially  true  of  w.  II  and  12. 

•  Even  in    the  most  detachable   portion,  vv.  8-10^  where  the  IIK 
of  ver.  9  seems  to  refer  to  the  "I3"IX3  of  ver.  4. 

•  Viz.  in  w.  3  and  15. 


Hos.xii.]  THE  FINAL  ARGUMENT  301 

ver.  3.  But  this  clue  is  not  sufficient ;  and  till  one 
more  evident  is  discovered,  it  is  perhaps  best  to  keep  to 
the  extant  arrangement.^ 

As  before,  the  argument  starts  from  the  falseness  of 
Israel,  which  is  illustrated  in  the  faithlessness  of  their 
foreign  relations.  Ephraim  hath  compassed  Me  ivith  lies, 
a)id  the  house  of  Israel  voith  deceit,  and  Judah  .  .  .^ 
Ephraim  herds  the  wind^  and  hunts  the  sirocco.  All  day 
long  they  heap  up  falsehood  and  fraud:  ■*  they  strike  a 
bargain  with  Assyria,  and  carry  oil  to  Egypt,  as  Isaiah 
also  complained.^ 

Jehovah  hath  a  quarrel  with  Israel,^  and  is  about  to 
visit  upon  Jacob  his  ways;   according  to  his  deeds  will 

*  Beer  indeed,  at  the  close  of  a  very  ingenious  analysis  of  the 
chapter  (Z.A.T.IF.,  1893,  pp.  281  ff.),  claims  to  have  proved  that  it  con- 
tains "eine  wolilgegliederte  Rede  des  Propheten  "  (p.  292).  But  he 
reaches  this  conclusion  only  by  several  forced  and  precarious  argu- 
ments. Especially  unsound  do  his  pleas  appear  that  in  86  p'^V?  is 
a  play  upon  the  root-meaning  of  \])2'D,  "lowly";  that  JU^D,  in 
analogy  to  the  \t222  of  ver.  4,  is  the  crude  original,  the  raw  material,, 
of  the  Ephraim  of  ver.  9  ;  and  that  lyiD  '•DO  is  "  the  determined  time ' 
of  the  coming  judgment  on  Israel. 

'^  Something  is  written  about  Judah  (remember  what  was  said  above 
about  Hosea's  treble  parallels),  but  the  text  is  too  obscure  for  transla- 
tion. The  theory  that  it  has  been  altered  by  a  later  Judsean  writer 
in  favour  of  his  own  people  is  probably  correct  :  the  Authorised  Ver- 
sion translates  in  favour  of  Judah ;  so  too  Guthe  in  Kautzsch's 
Bibel.  But  an  adverse  statement  is  required  by  the  parallel  clauses, 
and  the  Hebrew  text  allows  this :  Judah  is  still  wayward  with  God, 
and  with  the  Holy  One  who  is  faithful.  So  virtually  Ewald,  Hitzig, 
Wiinsche,  Nowack  and  Cheyne.  But  Cornill  and  Wellhausen  read  the 
second  half  of  the  clause  as  TD^J  D*^^'^p"Dy,  profanes  himself  with 
Qcdeshim  {Z.A.T.W.,  1887,  pp.  286  ff.). 

'  Why  should  not  Hosea,  the  master  of  many  forced  phrases,  have 
also  uttered  this  one  ?     This  in  answer  to  Wellhausen. 

*  So  LXX.,  reading  NIK'  for  "Ti^. 

*  Isa.  XXX.  6. 

*  Heb.  Judah,  but  surely  Israel  is  required  by  the  next  verse,  which 
is  a  play  upon  the  two  names  Israel  and  Jacob. 


302  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

He  requite  him.  In  the  womb  he  supplanted  his  brother, 
and  in  his  man's  strength  he  wrestled  with  God}  Yea, 
he  wrestled  with  the  Angel  and  prevailed ;  he  wept  and 
besought  of  Him  mercy.  At  Bethel  he  met  tvith  Him,  and 
there  He  spake  with  him"^  (or  with  us — that  is,  in  the 
person  of  our  father).  .  .  .'  So  thou  by  thy  God — by 
His  help,*  for  no  other  way  is  possible  except,  like  thy 
father,  through  wrestling  with  Him — shouldest  return  : 
keep  leal  love  and  justice,  and  wait  on  thy  God  without 
ceasing.^  To  this  passage  we  shall  return  in  dealing 
with  Hosea's  doctrine  of  Repentance. 

In  characteristic  fashion  the  discourse  now  swerves 
from  the  ideal  to  the  real  state  of  the  people. 

Canaan  I  So  the  prophet  nicknames  his  mercenary 
generation.*  With  false  balances  in  his  hand,  he  loves 
to  defraud.  For  Ephraim  said,  Ah  but  /  have  grown 
rich,  I  have  won  myself  wealth?  None  of  my  gains  can 
touch  me  with  guilt  which  is  sin.^     But  I,  Jehovah  thy  God 

'  Supplanted  is  'aqab,  the  presumable  root  of  Ja'aqab  (Jacob). 
Wrestled  with  God  is  Sarah  eth  Elohim,  the  presumable  origin  of 
Yisra'el  (Israel). 

*  Heb.  us,  LXX.  them. 

*  Ver.  6— And  Jehovah  God  of  Hosts,  Jehovah  is  His  wentorial, 
t.e.  name — is  probably  an  insertion  for  the  reasons  mentioned 
above,  pp.  204  f. 

*  This,  the  most  natural  rendering  of  the  Hebrew  phrase,  has  been 
curiously  omitted  by  Beer,  who  says  that  THPi^Q  can  only  mean  to 
thy  God.     Hitzig  :  "  durch  deinen  Gott." 

*  Some  take  these  words  as  addressed  by  Jehovah  at  Bethel  to  the 
Patriarch, 

*  So  nearly  all  interpreters.  Hitzig  aptly  quotes  Polybius,  De 
Virtute,  L.  ix. :  5tA  tt)v  ?/i<j)vtov  ^olvi^i  irXeoveS.lav,  K.r.X.  One  might 
also  refer  to  the  Romans'  idea  of  the  "  Punica  fides." 

'  Or,  full  man's  strength :  ct.  ver.  4. 

*  But  the  LXX.  reads  :  All  his  gains  shall  not  be  found  of  him  because 
of  the  iniquity  which  he  has  sinned ;  and  Wellhausen  emends  this  tot 
All  his  gain  sufficeth  not  for  the  guilt  which  it  has  incurred. 


Hos.xiii.]  THE  FINAL  ARGUMENT  303 

from  the  land  of  Egypt — /  could  make  thee  dwell  in  tents 
again,  as  in  the  days  of  the  Assembly  in  Horeb — I  could 
destroy  all  this  commercial  civilisation  of  thine,  and 
reduce  thee  to  thine  ancient  level  of  nomadic  life — and 
I  spake  to  the  prophets :  it  was  I  who  multiplied  vision, 
and  by  the  hand  of  the  prophets  gave  parables.  If  Gilead 
be  for  idolatry,  then  shall  it  become  vanity !  If  in 
Gilgal — Stone-Circle — they  sacrifice  bullocks,^  stone-heaps 
shall  their  altars  become  among  the  furrows  of  the  field. 
One  does  not  see  the  connection  of  these  verses  with 
the  preceding.  But  now  the  discourse  oscillates  once 
more  to  the  national  father,  and  the  parallel  between 
his  own  and  his  people's  experience. 

And  Jacob  fled  to  the  land^  of  Aram,  and  Israel  served 
for  a  wife,  and  for  a  wife  he  herded  sheep.  And  by  a 
prophet  Jehovah  brought  Israel  up  from  Egypt,  and  by 
a  prophet  he  was  shepherded.  And  Ephraiin  hath  given 
bitter  provocation  /  but  his  blood-guiltiness  shall  be  upon 
him,  and  his  Lord  shall  return  it  to  him. 

I  cannot  trace  the  argument  here. 

2    The  Last  Judgment. 

HosEA  xiii. — xiv.  i. 

The  crisis  draws  on.  On  the  one  hand  Israel's  sin, 
accumulating,  bulks  ripe  for  judgment.  On  the  other 
the  times  grow  more  fatal,  or  the  prophet  more  than 
ever  feels  them  so.  He  will  gather  once  again  the 
old  truths  on  the  old  lines — the  great  past  when 
Jehovah  was  God  alone,  the  descent  to  the  idols  and 
the  mushroom  monarchs  of  to-day,  the  people,  who 
once    had    been    strong,    sapped    by  luxury,    forgetful, 

'  Others  to  demons. 

*  Field,  but  here  in  sense  ol  territory.     See  Hist.  Geog.,  pp.  79  t 


304  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

stupid,  not  to  be  roused.  The  discourse  has  every 
mark  of  being  Hosea's  latest.  There  is  clearness  and 
definiteness  beyond  anything  since  chap.  iv.  There 
are  ease  and  lightness  of  treatment,  a  playful  sarcasm, 
as  if  the  themes  were  now  familiar  both  to  the  prophet 
and  his  audience.  But,  chiefly,  there  is  the  passion — 
so  suitable  to  last  words — of  how  different  it  all  might 
have  been,  if  to  this  crisis  Israel  had  come  with  store 
of  strength  instead  of  guilt.  How  these  years,  with 
their  opening  into  the  great  history  of  the  world,  might 
have  meant  a  birth  for  the  nation,  which  instead  was 
lying  upon  them  like  a  miscarried  child  in  the  mouth 
of  the  womb  I  It  was  a  fatality  God  Himself  could 
not  help  in.  Only  death  and  hell  remained.  Let 
them,  then,  have  their  way  I  Samaria  must  expiate 
her  guilt  in  the  worst  horrors  of  war. 

Instead  of  with  one  definite  historical  event,  this 
last  effort  of  Hosea  opens  more  naturally  with  a 
summary  of  all  Ephraim's  previous  history.  The 
tribe  had  been  the  first  in  Israel  till  they  took  to 
idols. 

Whenever  Ephraim  spake  there  was  trembling} 
Prince  ^  was  he  in  Israel ;  but  he  fell  into  guilt  through 
the  Ba'al,  and  so — died.  Even  now  they  continue  to  sin 
and  make  them  a  smelting  of  their  silver,  idols  after  their 
own  model^  smithes  work  all  of  it.  To  them — to  such 
things — they  speak!  Sacrificing  men  kiss  calves!  In 
such  unreason  have  they  sunk.  They  cannot  endure. 
Therefore  shall  they  be  like  the  morning  cloud  and  like 
the  dew  that  early  vanishcth,  like  chaff  which  whirleth 
up  from  the  floor  and  like  smoke  from  the  window.     And 

'  Uncertain. 

•  N^LTJ  for  NL"3. 

•  Read  with  Ewald  Dn:3n3.     LXX.  read  nJllOrO. 


Hos.xiii.]  THE  FINAL  ARGUMENT  305 

/  was  thy  God^  from  the  land  of  Egypt ;  and  god  besides 
Me  thou  knowcst  not,  nor  saviour  has  there  been  any  but 
Myself  I  shepherded"^  thee  in  the  wilderness,  in  the 
land  of  droughts^long  before  they  came  among  the 
gods  of  fertile  Canaan.  But  once  they  came  hither, 
the  more  pasture  they  had,  the  more  they  ate  themselves 
full,  and  the  more  they  ate  themselves  full,  the  more  was 
their  heart  uplifted,  so  they  for  gat  Me.  So  that  I  must 
be '  to  them  like  a  lion,  like  a  leopard  on  the  way  I  must 
leap}  I  will  fall  on  them  like  a  bear  robbed  of  its  young, 
and  will  tear  the  caul  of  their  hearts,  and  will  devour 
them  like  a  lion — wild  beasts  shall  rend  thetn} 

When  He  hath  destroyed  thee,  O  Israel — ivho  then 
may  help  thee  ?  *  Where  is  thy  king  now  ?  that  he  may 
save  thee,  or  all  thy  princes  ?  that  they  may  rule  thee ;  '' 
those  of  whom  thou  hast  said,  Give  me  a  king  and 
princes.  Aye,  I  give  thee  a  king  in  Mine  anger,  and  I 
take  him  away  in  My  wrath  !  Fit  summary  of  the  short 
and  bloody  reigns  of  these  last  years. 

Gathered  is  Ephrainis  guilt,  stored  up  is  his  sin.  The 
nation  is  pregnant — but  with  guilt !  Birth  pangs  seize 
him,  but — the  figure  changes,  with  Hosea's  own  swift- 
ness, from  mother  to  child — he  is  an  impracticable  son  ;  s 

'  Here  the  LXX.  makes  the  insertion  noted  on  pp.  203,  226. 

«  So  LXX.,  yjvv^. 

*  Read   Nn.NI. 

*  "llEi'N,  usually  taken  as  first  fut.  of  "W,  to  lurk.  But  there  is  a 
root  of  common  use  in  Arabic,  sar,  to  spring  up  suddenly,  of  wine  into 
the  head  or  of  a  lion  on  its  prey  ;  sawar,  "  the  springer,"  is  one  of  the 
Arabic  names  for  lion. 

'  We    shall  treat   this   passage   later  in   connection   with  Hosea's 
doctrine  of  the  knowledge  of  God :  see  pp.  330  f. 
«  After  the  LXX. 
'  Read  with  Houtsma  11t3S£J'^1  y^^  ^31. 

*  Literally  a  son  not  wise,  perhaps  a  name  given  to  children  whose 
birth  was  difficult. 

VOL.  L  20 


3o6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

for  this  is  no  time  to  stand  in  the  mouth  of  the 
womb.  The  years  that  might  have  been  the  nation's 
birth  are  by  their  own  folly  to  prove  their  death. 
Israel  lies  in  the  way  of  its  own  redemption — how 
truly  this  has  been  forced  home  upon  them  in  one 
chapter  after  another!  Shall  God  then  step  in  and 
work  a  dehverance  on  the  brink  of  death  ?  From  the 
hand  of  Sheol  shall  I  deliver  them  ?  from  death  shall  I 
redeem  them  ?  Nay,  let  death  and  Sheol  have  their 
way.  Where  are  thy  plagues^  O  death  ?  where  thy 
destruction  J  Sheol?  Here  with  them.  Compassion  is 
hid  from  Aline  eyes. 

This  great  verse  has  been  very  variously  rendered. 
Some  have  taken  it  as  a  promise  :  /  will  deliver  .  .  . 
I  will  redeem  ...  So  the  Septuagint  translated,  and 
St.  Paul  borrowed,  not  the  whole  Greek  verse,  but  its 
spirit  and  one  or  two  of  its  terms,  for  his  triumphant 
challenge  to  death  in  the  power  of  the  Resurrection  of 
Christ.^  As  it  stands  in  Hosea,  however,  the  verse 
must  be  a  threat.  The  last  clause  unambiguously 
abjures  mercy,  and  the  statement  that  His  people  will 
not  be  saved,  for  God  cannot  save  them,  is  one  in 
thorough  harmony  with  all  Hosea's  teaching.^ 

An    appendix    follows    with    the    illustration    of  the 


'  The  LXX.  reads  :  Ylov  ij  dlKt)  ffov,  Oavare ;  irov  rh  Kivrpov  aov,  ^Stj  ; 
But  Paul  says  :  IIoi;  jov,  ddvare,  t6  vikos  ;  ttov  <tov,  Odvare,  t6  K^vrpov ; 
I  Cor.  XV.  55  (Wcstcott  and  Hort's  Ed.). 

•  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  interpretations  of  verse  14. 

A.  Taken  as  a  threat,  i.  "It  is  I  who  redeemed  you  from  the 
grip  of  the  grave,  and  who  delivered  you  from  death — but  now  I  will 
call  up  the  words  {sic)  of  death  against  you ;  for  repentance  is  hid 
from  My  eyes."  So  Raschi.  2.  "  I  would  have  redeemed  them  from 
the  grip  of  Sheol,  etc.,  if  they  had  been  wise,  but  being  foolish  I  will 
bring  on  them  the  plagaes  of  death."  So  Kimchi,  Eichhorn,  Simson, 
etc.     3.  "  Should  I  "  or  "  shall  I  deliver  them  from  the  hand  of  Sheol, 


Hos.xiii.]  THE  FINAL  ARGUMENT  307 

exact  form  which  doom  shall  take.  As  so  frequently 
with  Hosea,  it  opens  with  a  play  upon  the  people's 
name,  which  at  the  same  time  faintly  echoes  the 
opening  of  the  chapter. 

Although  he  among  his  brethren  *  is  the  fruit-bearer — 
yaphri',  he  Ephraim — there  shall  come  an  east  wind,  a 
wind  of  Jehovah  rising  from  the  wilderness,  so  that  his 
fountain  dry  up  and  his  spring  be  parched.  He — himself, 
not  the  Assyrian,  but  Menahem,  who  had  to  send  gold 
to  the  Assyrian — shall  strip  the  treasury  of  all  its  precious 
jewels.  Samaria  must  bear  her  guilt :  for  she  hath 
rebelled  against  her  God.  To  this  simple  issue  has  the 
impenitence  of  the  people  finally  reduced  the  many 
possibilities  of  those  momentous  years  ;  and  their  last 
prophet  leaves  them  looking  forward  to  the  crash  which 
came  some  dozen  years  later  in  the  invasion  and 
captivity  of  the  land.  They  shall  fall  by  the  sword;  their 
infants  shall  be  dashed  in  pieces,  and  their  women  with 
child  ripped  up.  Horrible  details,  but  at  that  period 
certain  to  follow  every  defeat  in  war. 


redeem  them  from  death?"  etc.,  as  in  the  text  above.     So  Wiinsche, 
Wellhaiisen,  Guthe  in  Kautzsch's  Bibel,  etc. 

B.  Taken  as  a  promise.  "  From  the  hand  of  Sheol  I  will  deliver 
them,  from  death  redeem  them,"  etc.  So  Umbreit,  Ewald,  Hitzig  and 
Authorised  and  Revised  English  Versions.  In  this  case  repentance 
in  the  last  clause  must  be  taken  as  resentment  (Ewald).  But,  as 
Ewald  sees,  the  whole  verse  must  then  be  put  in  a  parenthesis,  as  an 
ejaculation  of  promise  in  the  midst  of  a  context  that  only  threatens. 
Some  without  change  of  word  render:  "I  will  be  thy  plagues,  O 
death  ?  I  will  be  thy  sting,  O  hell."  So  the  Authorised  English 
Version.  *  Text  doubtful. 


CHAPTER   XX 

«/  WILL  BE  AS   THE  DEW 
HosEA  xiv.   2-IO. 

LIKE  the  Book  of  Amos,  the  Book  of  Hosea, 
after  proclaiming  the  people's  inevitable  doom, 
turns  to  a  blessed  prospect  of  their  restoration  to 
favour  with  God.  It  will  be  remembered  that  we 
decided  against  the  authenticity  of  such  an  epilogue 
in  the  Book  of  Amos  ;  and  it  may  now  be  asked,  how 
can  we  come  to  any  other  conclusion  with  regard  to  the 
similar  peroration  in  the  Book  of  Hosea?  For  the 
following  reasons. 

We  decided  against  the  genuineness  of  the  closing 
verses  of  Amos,  because  their  sanguine  temper  is 
opposed  to  the  temper  of  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  the 
book,  and  because  they  neither  propose  any  ethical 
conditions  for  the  attainment  of  the  blessed  future, 
nor  in  their  picture  of  the  latter  do  they  emphasise  one 
single  trace  of  the  justice,  or  the  purity,  or  the  social 
kindliness,  on  which  Amos  has  so  exclusively  insisted 
as  the  ideal  relations  of  Israel  to  Jehovah.  It  seemed 
impossible  to  us  that  Amos  could  imagine  the  perfect 
restoration  of  his  people  in  the  terms  only  of  requickened 
nature,  and  say  nothing  about  righteousness,  truth  and 
mercy  towards  the  poor.  The  prospect  which  now 
closes  his  book  is  psychologically  alien   to  him,  and, 

308 


Hos.  xiv.  2-IO.]     "/   IVTLL  BE  AS   THE  DEW"  309 

being  painted  in  the  terms  of  later  prophecy,  may  be 
judged  to  have  been  added  by  some  prophet  of  the 
Exile,  speaking  from  the  standpoint,  and  with  the 
legitimate  desires,  of  his  own  day. 

But  the  case  is  very  different  for  this  epilogue  in 
Hosea.  In  the  first  place,  Hosea  has  not  only  con- 
tinually preached  repentance,  and  been,  from  his  whole 
affectionate  temper  of  mind,  unable  to  believe  repentance 
impossible ;  but  he  has  actually  predicted  the  restoration 
of  his  people  upon  certain  well-defined  and  ethical 
conditions.  In  chap.  ii.  he  has  drawn  for  us  in  de- 
tail the  whole  prospect  of  God's  successful  treatment 
of  his  erring  spouse.  Israel  should  be  weaned  from 
their  sensuousness  and  its  accompanying  trust  in  idols 
by  a  severe  discipline,  which  the  prophet  describes  in 
terms  of  their  ancient  wanderings  in  the  wilderness. 
They  should  be  reduced,  as  at  the  beginning  of  their 
history,  to  moral  converse  with  their  God  ;  and  abjuring 
the  Ba'alim  (later  chapters  imply  also  their  foreign 
allies  and  foolish  kings  and  princes)  should  return  to 
Jehovah,  when  He,  having  proved  that  these  could  not 
give  them  the  fruits  of  the  land  they  sought  after, 
should  Himself  quicken  the  whole  course  of  nature  to 
bless  them  with  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  friend- 
liness even  of  the  wild  beasts. 

Now  in  the  epilogue  and  its  prospect  of  Israel's 
repentance  we  find  no  feature,  physical  or  moral, 
which  has  not  already  been  furnished  by  these  previous 
promises  of  the  book.  All  their  ethical  conditions  are 
provided  ;  nothing  but  what  they  have  conceived  of 
blessing  is  again  conceived.  Israel  is  to  abjure  sense- 
less sacrifice  and  come  to  Jehovah  with  rational  and 
contrite    confession.^     She   is    to    abjure    her    foreign 

'  Cf.  vi.  6,  etc. 


3IO  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

alliances.*  She  is  to  trust  in  the  fatherly  love  of  her 
God.^  He  is  to  heal  her,'  and  His  anger  is  to  turn 
away.*  He  is  to  restore  nature,  just  as  described  in 
chap,  ii.,  and  the  scenery  of  the  restoration  is  borrowed 
from  Hosea's  own  Galilee.  There  is,  in  short,  no 
phrase  or  allusion  of  which  we  can  say  that  it  is  alien 
to  the  prophet's  style  or  environment,  while  the  very 
keynotes  of  his  book — return,  backsliding,  idols  the 
work  of  our  hands,  such  pity  as  a  father  hath,  and  perhaps 
even  the  answer  or  converse  of  verse  9 — are  all  struck 
once  more. 

The  epilogue  then  is  absolutely  different  from  the 
epilogue  to  the  Book  of  Amos,  nor  can  the  present 
expositor  conceive  of  the  possibility  of  a  stronger  case 
for  the  genuineness  of  any  passage  of  Scripture.  The 
sole  difficulty  seems  to  be  the  place  in  which  we  find 
it — a  place  where  its  contradiction  to  the  immediately 
preceding  sentence  of  doom  is  brought  out  into  relief. 
We  need  not  suppose,  however,  that  it  was  uttered  by 
Hosea  in  immediate  proximity  to  the  latter,  nor  even 
that  it  formed  his  last  word  to  Israel.  But  granting 
only  (as  the  above  evidence  obliges  us  to  do)  that  it  is 
the  prophet's  own,  this  fourteenth  chapter  nlay  have 
been  a  discourse  addressed  by  him  at  one  of  those 
many  points  when,  as  we  know,  he  had  some  hope  of 
the  people's  return.  Personally,  I  should  think  it 
extremely  likely  that  Hosea's  ministry  closed  with  that 
final,  hopeless  proclamation  in  chap.  xiii. :  no  other 
conclusion  was  possible  so  near  the  fall  of  Samaria, 
and  the  absolute  destruction  of  the  Northern  Kingdom. 
But  Hosea  had  already  in  chap.  ii.  pamted    the  very 


•  Cf.  xii.  2,  etc.  •  Cf.  xi.  4. 

»  Cf.  i.  7 ;  ii.  22,  25.  *  Ct.  xi.  8,  9. 


Hos.xiv.2-io.]     "/   WILL  BE  AS   THE  DEW"  311 

opposite  issue  as  a  possible  ideal  for  his  people ;  and 
during  some  break  in  those  years  when  their  insincerity 
was  less  obtrusive,  and  the  final  doom  still  uncertain, 
the  prophet's  heart  swung  to  its  natural  pole  in  the 
exhaustless  and  steadfast  love  of  God,  and  he  uttered 
his  unmingled  gospel.  That  either  himself  or  the 
unknown  editor  of  his  prophecies  should  have  placed 
it  at  the  very  end  of  his  book  is  not  less  than  what  we 
might  have  expected.  For  if  the  book  were  to  have 
validity  beyond  the  circumstances  of  its  origin,  beyond 
the  judgment  which  was  so  near  and  so  inevitable,  was 
it  not  right  to  let  something  else  than  the  proclamation 
of  this  latter  be  its  last  word  to  men  ?  was  it  not 
right  to  put  as  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  the 
ideal  eternally  valid  for  Israel — the  gospel  which  is 
ever  God's  last  word  to  His  people?^ 

At  some  point  or  other,  then,  in  the  course  of  his 
ministry,  there  was  granted  to  Hosea  an  open  vision 
like  to  the  vision  which  he  has  recounted  in  the  second 
chapter.     He    called    on    the    people    to  repent.      For 


'  Since  preparing  the  above  for  the  press  there  has  come  into 
my  hands  Professor  Cheyne's  "  Introduction "  to  the  new  edition 
of  Robertson  Smith's  The  Prophets  of  Israel,  in  which  (p.  xix.)  he 
reaches  with  regard  to  Hosea  xiv.  2-10  conclusions  entirely  opposite 
to  those  reached  above.  Professor  Cheyne  denies  the  passage  to 
Hosea  on  the  grounds  that  it  is  akin  in  language  and  imagery  and 
ideas  to  writings  of  the  age  which  begins  with  Jeremiah,  and  which 
among  other  works  includes  the  Song  of  Songs.  But,  as  has  been 
shown  above,  the  "language,  imagery  and  ideas"  are  all  akin  to 
what  Professor  Cheyne  admits  to  be  genuine  prophecies  of  Hosea  ; 
and  the  likeness  to  them  of,  e.g.,  Jer.  xxxi.  10-20  may  be  explained  on 
the  same  ground  as  so  much  else  in  Jeremiah,  by  the  influence  of 
Hosea.  The  allusion  in  ver.  3  suits  Hosea's  own  day  more  than 
Jeremiah's.  Nor  can  I  understand  what  Professor  Cheyne  means  by 
this:  "The  spirituality  of  the  tone  of  vers.  1-3  is  indeed  surprising 
(contrast  the  picture  in  Hos.  v.  6)."     Spirituality  surprising  in  the 


3"  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

once,  and  in  the  power  of  that  Love  to  which  he  had 
already  said  all  things  are  possible,  it  seemed  to  him  as 
if  repentance  came.  The  tangle  and  intrigue  of  his 
generation  fell  away ;  fell  away  the  reeking  sacrifices 
and  the  vain  show  of  worship.  The  people  turned  from 
their  idols  and  puppet-kings,  from  Assyria  and  from 
Egypt,  and  with  contrite  hearts  came  to  God  Himself, 
who,  healing  and  loving,  opened  to  them  wide  the  gates 
of  the  future.  It  is  not  strange  that  down  this  spiritual 
vista  the  prophet  should  see  the  same  scenery  as  daily 
filled  his  bodily  vision.  Throughout  Galilee  Lebanon  ^ 
dominates  the  landscape.  You  cannot  lift  your  e^'es  from 
any  spot  of  Northern  Israel  without  resting  them  upon 
the  vast  mountain.  From  the  unhealthy  jungles  of 
the  Upper  Jordan,  the  pilgrim  lifts  his  heart  to  the 
cool  hill  air  above,  to  the  ever-green  cedars  and  firs, 
to  the  streams  and  waterfalls  that  drop  like  silver  chains 
off  the  great  breastplate  of  snow.  From  Esdraelon 
and  every  plain  the  peasants  look  to  Lebanon  to 
store  the  clouds  and  scatter  the  rain  ;  it  is  not  from 
heaven  but  from  Hermon  that  they  expect  the   dew, 

book  that  contains  "I  will  have  love  and  not  sacrifice,  and  the  know- 
ledge of  God  rather  than  burnt-offerings"  !  The  verse,  v.  6,  he  would 
contrast  with  xiv.  I-3  is  actually  one  in  which  Hosea  says  that  when 
they  go  "with  (locks  and  herds"  Israel  shall  not  find  God  !  He  says 
that  "to  understand  Hosea  aright  we  must  omit  it"  {i.e.  the  whole 
epilogue).  But  after  the  argument  I  have  given  above  it  will  be  plain 
that  if  we  "understand  Hosea  aright  "  we  have  every  reason  not  "  to 
omit  it"  His  last  contention,  that  "to  have  added  anything  to  the 
stern  warning  in  xiii.  16  would  have  robbed  it  of  half  its  force,"  is 
fully  met  by  the  considerations  stated  above  on  p.  310. 

*  By  Lebanon  in  the  fourteenth  chapter  and  almost  always  in  the 
Old  Testament  we  must  understand  not  the  western  range  now  called 
Lebanon,  for  that  makes  no  impression  on  the  Holy  Land,  its  bulk 
lying  too  far  to  the  north,  but  Hermon,  the  southmost  and  highest 
summits  of  Anti-Lebanon.     See  Hist.  Geog.,  pp.  417  L 


Hos.xiv.  2-IO.]     "7    WILL  BE  AS    THE  DEW  313 

their  only  hope  in  the  long  drought  of  summer. 
Across  Galilee  and  in  Northern  Ephraim,  across 
Bashan  and  in  Northern  Gilead,  across  Hauran  and 
on  the  borders  of  the  desert,  the  mountain  casts  its 
spell  of  power,  its  lavish  promise  of  life.^  Lebanon 
is  everywhere  the  summit  of  the  land,  and  there  are 
points  from  which  it  is  as  dominant  as  heaven. 

No  wonder  then  that  our  northern  prophet  painted 
the  blessed  future  in  the  poetry  of  the  Mountain — its 
air,  its  dew  and  its  trees.  Other  seers  were  to  behold, 
in  the  same  latter  days,  the  mountain  of  the  Lord  above 
the  tops  of  the  mountains  ;  the  ordered  city,  her  stead- 
fast walls  salvation,  and  her  open  gates  praise  ;  the 
wealth  of  the  Gentiles  flov/ing  into  her,  profusion  of 
flocks  for  sacrifice,  profusion  of  pilgrims ;  the  great 
Temple  and  its  solemn  services;  and  the  glory  of  Lebanon 
shall  come  unto  thee,  fir-tree  and  pine  and  box-tree  together^ 
to  beautify  the  place  of  My  Sanctuary?'  But,  with  his 
home  in  the  north,  and  weary  of  sacrifice  and  ritual, 
weary  of  everything  artificial  whether  it  were  idols  or 
puppet-kings,  Hosea  turns  to  the  glory  of  Lebanon  as 
it  lies,  untouched  by  human  tool  or  art,  fresh  and  full 
of  peace  from  God's  own  hand.  Like  that  other  seer 
of  Galilee,  Hosea  in  his  vision  of  the  future  saw  no 
temple  therein?  His  sacraments  are  the  open  air,  the 
mountain  breeze,  the  dew,  the  vine,  the  lilies,  the  pines ; 
and  what  God  asks  of  men  are  not  rites  nor  sacrifices, 
but  life  and  health,  fragrance  and  fruitfulness,  beneath 
the  shadow  and  the  Dew  of  His  Presence. 

'  Full  sixty  miles  off,  in  the  Jebel  Druze,  the  ancient  Greek  amphi- 
theatres  were  so  arranged  that  Hermon  might  fill  the  horizon  of  the 
spectators. 

*  Isa.  Ix,  13. 

'  Revelation  of  St.  John  xxi.  23. 


314  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Return,  O  Israel,  to  Jehovah  thy  God,  for  thou  hast 
stumbled  by  thine  iniquity.  Take  with  you  words^  and 
return  unto  Jehovah.  Say  unto  Him,  Remove  iniquity 
altogether,  and  take  good,  so  will  we  render  the  calves  ^ 
of  our  lips  ;  confessions,  vows,  these  are  the  sacrificial 
offerings  God  delights  in.  Which  vows  are  now 
registered  : — 

Asshur  shall  not  save  us; 

We  will  not  ride  upon  horses  (from  Egypt) ; 

And  we   will  say  no  more,  "  O  our  God,"  to  the 

work  of  our  hands  : 
For  in  Thee  the  fatherless  findeth  a  father's  pity. 

Alien  help,  whether  in  the  protection  of  Assyria  or 
the  cavalry  which  Pharaoh  sends  in  return  for  Israel's 
homage ;  alien  gods,  whose  idols  we  have  ourselves 
made, — we  abjure  them  all,  for  we  remember  how 
Thou  didst  promise  to  show  a  fathei^'s  love  to  the 
people  whom  Thou  didst  name,  for  their  mother's  sins, 
Lo-Ruhamah,  the  Unfathered.     Then  God  replies : — 

/  will  heal  their  backsliding, 

I  will  love  them  freely : 

For  Mine  anger  is  turned  away  front  them. 

I  will  be  as  the  dew  unto  Israel : 

He  shall  blossom  as  the  lily. 

And  strike  his  roots  deep  as  Lebanon; 

His  branches  shall  spread. 

And  his  beauty  shall  be  as  the  olive-tree, 

And  his  smell  as  Lebanon — 

smell    of  clear    mountain    air   with    the    scent  of   the 


'  On  all  this  exhortation  see  below,  p.  343. 

•  LXX.  fruit,  ''"IS  for  D''"lS  ;  the  whole  verse  is  obscure. 


Hos.xiv.  2-IO.]     "/   WILL  BE  AS   THE  DEW  315 

pines  upon  it.  The  figure  in  the  end  of  ver.  6  seems 
forced  to  some  critics,  who  have  proposed  various 
emendations,  such  as  "Hke  the  fast-rooted  trees  of 
Lebanon,"^  but  any  one  who  has  seen  how  the  moun- 
tain himself  rises  from  great  roots,  cast  out  across  the 
land  like  those  of  some  giant  oak,  will  not  feel  it 
necessary  to  mitigate  the  metaphor. 
The  prophet  now  speaks  : — 

They  shall  return  and  dwell  in  His  shadozif. 
They  shall  live  well-watered  as  a  garden. 
Till  they  flourish  like  the  vine, 
And  be  fragrant  like  the  wine  of  Lebanon.* 

God  speaks : — 


'  So  Guthe ;  some   other   plant   Wellhausen,    who  for  1*1  reads 

*  Ver.  8  obviously  needs  emendation.  The  Hebrew  text  contains 
at  least  one  questionable  construction,  and  gives  no  sense  :  "  They 
that  dwell  in  his  shadow  shall  turn,  and  revive  corn  and  flourish 
like  the  vine,  and  his  fame,"  etc.  To  cultivate  corn  and  be  them- 
selves like  a  vine  is  somewhat  mixed.  The  LXX.  reads :  iirKTrp^tpovcm 
KUi  KadioOvTcu  i/irh  tt]p  (XKhr-qv  avrov,  fijcrovroi  Kai  fiedvadrjcrovTai  ffirtf) ' 
Kal  i^avdrjffet  AfiireXos  nvqixbavvqv  avrov  wy  ohos  Ki^avov.  It  removes 
the  grammatical  difficulty  from  clause  I,  which  then  reads  ■13'"^^  -131^* 
1?VZ1  •  the  supplied  van  may  easily  have  dropped  after  the  final  vau 
of  the  previous  word.  In  the  2nd  clause  the  LXX.  takes  VrT*  as  an 
intransitive,  which  is  better  suited  to  the  other  verbs,  and  adds 
Koi  fiedvadriffovTai,  V'\y\  (a  form  that  may  have  easily  slipped  from 
the  Hebrew  text,  through  its  likeness  to  the  preceding  I^HM).  And 
tJtey  shall  be  well-watered.  After  this  it  is  probable  that  jJT  should 
read  ]i2.  In  the  3rd  clause  the  Hebrew  text  may  stand.  In  the 
4th  ")DT  may  not,  as  many  propose,  be  taken  for  D1DT  and  translated 
their  perfume;  but  the  parallelism  makes  it  now  probable  that  we 
have  a  verb  here;  and  if  "IDt  in  the  Hiph.  has  the  sense  to  make  a 
perfume  (cf.  Isa.  Ixvi.  3),  there  is  no  reason  against  the  Kal  being 
used  in  the  intransitive  sense  here.  In  the  LXX.  for  fitdvaO-q- 
co»Tai  Q»  reads  ffrijpixOi^ffovTai. 


3i6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Ephraim,  what  has  he  ^  to  do  any  more  with  idols  ! 
I  have  spoken  for  him,  and  I  will  look  after  him. 
I  am  like  an  ever-green  fir; 
From  Me  is  thy  fruit  found. 

This  version  is  not  without  its  difificulties ;  but  the 
alternative  that  God  is  addressed  and  Ephraim  is  the 
speaker — Ephraim  says,  What  have  I  to  do  any  more 
with  idols  ?  I  answer  and  look  to  Him :  I  am  like  a 
green  fir-tree;  from  me  is  Thy  fruit  found — has  even 
greater  difficulties,^  although  it  avoids  the  unusual 
comparison  of  the  Deity  with  a  tree.  The  difficulties 
of  both  interpretations  may  be  overcome  by  dividing 
the  verse  between  God  and  the  people  : — 

Ephraim  !  what  has  he  to  do  any  more  with  idols : 
I  have  spoken  for  him,  and  will  look  after  him. 

In  this  case  the  speaking  would  be  intended  in  the 
same  sense  as  the  speaking  in  chap.  ii.  to  the 
heavens  and  earth,  that  they  might  speak  to  the  corn 
and  wine.^     Then  Ephraim  replies:  — 

I  am  like  an  ever-green  fir-tree ; 
From  me  is  Thy  fruit  found. 


'  LXX. 

*  This  alternative,  which  Robertson  Smith  adopted,  "  though  not 
without  some  hesitation"  (Prophets,  413)  is  that  which  follows  the 
Hebrew  text,  reading  in  the  first  clause  V,  and  not,  like  LXX.,  v, 
and  avoids  the  unusual  figure  of  comparing  Jehovah  to  a  tree.  But 
it  does  not  account  for  the  singular  emphasis  laid  in  the  second 
clause  on  the  first  personal  pronoun,  and  implies  that  God,  whose 
name  has  not  for  several  verses  been  mentioned,  is  meant  by  the 
mere  personal  suffix,  "  I  will  look  to  Him."  Wellhausen  suggests 
changing  the  second  clause  to  /  am  his  Anat  and  his  Aschera, 

•  TMV,  ii.  23. 


Hos.xiv.  2-IO.]     "/  WILL  BE  AS   THE  DEW"  317 

But  the  division  appears  artificial,  and  the  text  does 
not  suggest  that  the  two  7's  belong  to  different 
speakers.     The  first  version  therefore  is  the  preferable. 

Some  one  has  added  a  summons  to  later  genera- 
tions to  lay  this  book  to  heart  in  face  of  their  awn 
problems  and  sins.     May  we  do  so  for  ourselves  1 

Who  is  wise,  that  he  understands  these  things  ? 
Intelligent,  that  he  knows  them  ? 

Yea,  straight  are  the  ways  of  Jehovah, 
And  the   righteous  shall  walk   therein^  but  sinners 
shall  stumble  upon  them. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOD 
HosEA  passim, 

WE  have  now  finished  the  translation  and  detailed 
exposition  of  Hosea's  prophecies.  We  have 
followed  his  minute  examination  of  his  people's  character; 
his  criticism  of  his  fickle  generation's  attempts  to 
repent ;  and  his  presentation  of  true  religion  in  contrast 
to  their  shallow  optimism  and  sensual  superstitions. 
We  have  seen  an  inwardness  and  spirituality  of  the 
highest  kind — a  love  not  only  warm  and  mobile,  but 
nobly  jealous,  and  in  its  jealousy  assisted  by  an 
extraordinary  insight  and  expertness  in  character. 
Why  Hosea  should  be  distinguished  above  all  prophets 
for  inwardness  and  spirituality  must  by  this  time  be 
obvious  to  us.  From  his  remote  watchfulness,  Amos 
had  seen  the  nations  move  across  the  world  as  the 
stars  across  heaven ;  had  seen,  within  Israel,  class 
distinct  from  class,  and  given  types  of  all :  rich  and 
poor ;  priest,  merchant  and  judge  ;  the  panic-stricken, 
the  bully  ;  the  fraudulent  and  the  unclean.  The  obser- 
vatory of  Amos  was  the  world,  and  the  nation.  But 
Hosea's  was  the  home  ;  and  there  he  had  watched  a 
human  soul  decay  through  every  stage  from  innocence 
to  corruption.  It  was  a  husband's  study  of  a  wife 
which  made  Hosea  the  most  inward  of  all  the  prophets. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  God's  word  by  him} 

__ 

318 


Hosea.]  THE  KNOWLEDGE   OF  GOD  319 

Among  the  subjects  in  the  subtle  treatment  of  which 
Hosea's  service  to  rehgion  is  most  original  and  con- 
spicuous, there  are  especially  three  that  deserve 
a  more  detailed  treatment  than  we  have  been  able 
to  give  them.  These  are  the  Knowledge  of  God, 
Repentance  and  the  Sin  against  Love.  We  may  devote 
a  chapter  to  each  of  them,  beginning  in  this  with  the 
most  characteristic  and  fundamental  truth  Hosea  gave 
to  religion — the  Knowledge  of  God. 


If  to  the  heart  there  be  one  pain  more  fatal  than 
another,  it  is  the  pain  of  not  being  understood.  That 
prevents  argument :  how  can  you  reason  with  one  who 
will  not  come  to  quarters  with  your  real  self?  It 
paralyses  influence  :  how  can  you  do  your  best  with 
one  who  is  blind  to  your  best  ?  It  stifles  Love ;  for 
how  dare  she  continue  to  speak  when  she  is  mistaken 
for  something  else  ?  Here  as  elsewhere  "  against 
stupidity  the  gods  themselves  fight  in  vain." 

This  anguish  Hosea  had  suffered.  As  closely  as 
two  souls  may  live  on  earth,  he  had  lived  with  Gomer. 
Yet  she  had  never  wakened  to  his  worth.  She  must 
have  been  a  woman  with  a  power  of  love,  or  such  a 
heart  had  hardly  wooed  her.  He  was  a  man  of  deep 
tenderness  and  exquisite  powers  of  expression.  His 
tact,  his  delicacy,  his  enthusiasm  are  sensible  in  every 
chapter  of  his  book.  Gomer  must  have  tasted  them 
all  before  Israel  did.  Yet  she  never  knew  him.  It 
was  her  curse  that,  being  married,  she  was  not  awake 
to  the  meaning  of  marriage,  and,  being  married  to 
Hosea,  she  never  appreciated  the  holy  tenderness  and 
heroic  patience  which  were  deemed  by  God  not  un- 
worthy of  becoming  a  parable  of  His  own. 


320  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Now  I  think  we  do  not  go  far  wrong  if  we  conclude 
that  it  was  partly  this  long  experience  of  a  soul  that 
loved,  but  had  neither  conscience  nor  ideal  in  her  love, 
which  made  Hosea  lay  such  frequent  and  pathetic 
emphasis  upon  Israel's  ignorance  of  Jehovah.  To  have 
his  character  ignored,  his  purposes  baffled,  his  gifts 
unappreciated,  his  patience  mistaken — this  was  what 
drew  Hosea  into  that  wonderful  sympathy  with  the 
heart  of  God  towards  Israel  which  comes  out  in  such 
passionate  words  as  these  :  My  people  perish  for  lack 
of  knowledge}  There  is  no  troth,  nor  leal  love,  nor 
knowledge  of  God  in  the  land}  They  have  not  known 
the  Lord}  She  did  not  know  that  I  gave  her  corn  and 
wine}  They  knew  not  that  I  healed  them}  For  now, 
because  thou  hast  rejected  knowledge,  I  will  reject  thee} 
I  will  have  leal  love  and  not  sacrifice,  and  the  knowledge 
of  God  rather  than  burnt-offerings}  Repentance  con- 
sists in  change  of  knowledge.  And  the  climax  of  the 
new  life  which  follows  is  again  knowledge  :  /  will 
betroth  thee  to  Me,  and  thou  shalt  know  the  Lord}  Israel 
shall  cry.  My  God,  we  know  Thee} 

To  understand  what  Hosea  meant  by  knowledge  we 
must  examine  the  singularly  supple  word  which  his 
language  lent  him  to  express  it.  The  Hebrew  root 
"  Yadh'a,"  ^°  almost  exclusively  rendered  in  the  Old 
Testament  by  the  English  verb  to  know,  is  employed 
of  the  many  processes  of  knowledge,  for  which  richer 
languages  have  separate  terms.  It  is  by  turns  to  per- 
ceive, be  aware  of,  recognise,  understand  or  conceive. 


•  iv.  6. 

•  xi.  3. 

"  ii.  22. 

•  iv.  I. 

•  iv.  6. 

•  viii.  2, 

•v.4. 

»  vL6. 

••  )n\ 

u.  10. 


Hosea.]  THE  KNOWLEDGE   OF  GOD  321 

experience  and  be  expert  in.^  But  there  is  besides 
nearly  always  a  practical  effectiveness,  and  in  connection 
with  religious  objects  a  moral  consciousness. 

The  barest  meaning  is  to  be  aware  that  something  is 
present  or  has  happened,  and  perhaps  the  root  meant 
simply  to  see.^  But  it  was  the  frequent  duty  of  the 
prophets  to  mark  the  difference  between  perceiving  a 
thing  and  laying  it  to  heart.  Isaiah  speaks  of  the 
people  seeing,  but  not  so  as  to  know  ;  ^  and  Deuteronomy 
renders  the  latter  sense  by  adding  with  the  heart,  which 
to  the  Hebrews  was  the  seat,  not  of  the  feeling,  but  of 
the  practical  intellect  :  *  And  thou  knowest  with  thy  heart 
that  as  a  man  chastiseth  his  son,  so  the  Lord  your  God 
chastiseth  you}  Usually,  however,  the  word  know 
suffices  by  itself.  This  practical  vigour  naturally  de- 
veloped in  such  directions  as  intimacy,  conviction, 
experience  and  wisdom.  Job  calls  his  familiars  my 
knowers ;  *  of  a  strong  conviction  he  says,  /  know  that 
my  Redeemer  livcth^  and  referring  to  wisdom.  We  are 
of  yesterday  and  know  not\^  while  Ecclesiastes  says. 
Whoso  keepeth  the  commandment  shall  know — that  is, 
experience,  or  suffer — no  evil!*  But  the  verb  rises  into  a 
practical  sense — to  the  knowledge  that  leads  a  man  to 
regard  or  care  for  its  object.  Job  uses  the  verb  know 
when  he  would  say,  /  do  not  care  for  my  life ;  ^^  and  in 

'  The  Latin  videre,  scire,  noscere,  cognoscere,  intelligere,  saptrt  and 
peritus  esse. 

"  Cf.  the  Greek  olSa  from  elSeiw, 

•  vi.  9. 

•  See  above,  pp.  258,  275  ;  and  below,  p.  323. 

»  viii.  5  :  cf.  xxix.  3  (Eng.  ^),  Jehovah  did  not  give  you  a  heart  to  know 

•  Job  xix.  13:  still  more  close,  of  course,  the  intimacy  between  the 
-exes  for  which  the  verb  is  so  often  used  in  the  Old  Testament. 

'  xix.  25  :  cf.  Gen.  xx.  6. 

•  viii.  9.  »  viii.  5    cf.  Hosea  ix.  7.  *  ix.  21. 
VOL.  I.  21 


322  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  description  of  the  sons  of  EH,  that  they  were  sons  of 
Belialy  and  did  not  know  God,  it  means  that  they  did  not 
have  any  regard  for  Him.^  Finally,  there  is  a  moral 
use  of  the  word  in  which  it  approaches  the  meaning 
of  conscience  :  Their  eyes  were  opened,  and  they  knew 
that  they  were  naked?  They  were  aware  of  this  before, 
but  they  felt  it  now  with  a  new  sense.  Also  it  is  the 
mark  of  the  awakened  and  the  fullgrown  to  know,  or 
to  feel,  the  difference  between  good  and  evil' 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  word  for  knowing,  the  utter- 
ance of  which  almost  invariably  starts  a  moral  echo, 
whose  very  sound,  as  it  were,  is  haunted  by  sympathy 
and  by  duty.  It  is  knowledge,  not  as  an  effort  of,  so 
much  as  an  effect  upon,  the  mind.  It  is  not  to  know 
so  as  to  see  the  fact  of,  but  to  know  so  as  to  feel  the 
force  of;  knowledge,  not  as  acquisition  and  mastery, 
but  as  impression,  passion.  To  quote  Paul's  distinction, 
it  is  not  so  much  the  apprehending  as  the  being  appre- 
hended. It  leads  to  a  vivid  result — either  warm 
appreciation  or  change  of  mind  or  practical  effort.  It 
is  sometimes  the  talent  conceived  as  the  trust,  some- 
times the  enhstment  of  all  the  affections.  It  is 
knowledge  that  is  followed  by  shame,  or  by  love,  or 
by  reverence,  or  by  the  sense  of  a  duty.  One  sees 
that  it  closely  approaches  the  meaning  of  our  "con- 
science," and  understands  how  easily  there  was  de- 
veloped from  it  the  evangelical  name  for  repentance, 
Metanoia — that  is,  change  of  mind  under  a  new  impres- 
sion of  facts. 

'  I  Sam.  ii,  12.     A  similar  meaning  is  probably  to  be  attached  to 
the  word  in  Gen.  xxxix.  6  :  Potiphar  had  no  thought  or  care  for  any' 
t/iing  that   was   in   Joseph's   hand.     Cf.    Prov.   Lx.    13;    xxvii.    23 
Job  XXXV.  15. 

*  Gen.  iii.  7.  ■  Gen.  iii.  5 ;  Isa.  vii.  I5i  etc 


Hosea.]  THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOD  323 

There  are  three  writers  who  thus  use  knowledge 
as  the  key  to  the  Divine  life — in  the  Old  Testament 
Hosea  and  the  author  of  Deuteronomy,  in  the  New 
Testament  St.  John.  We  likened  Amos  to  St.  John 
the  Baptist :  it  is  not  only  upon  his  similar  tempera- 
ment, but  far  more  upon  his  use  of  the  word  knowledge 
for  spiritual  purposes,  that  we  may  compare  Hosea  to 
St.  John  the  Evangelist. 

Hosea's  chief  charge  against  the  people  is  one  of 
stupidity.  High  and  low  they  are  a  people  without 
intelligence}  Once  he  defines  this  as  want  of  political 
wisdom  :  Ephraim  is  a  silly  dove  without  heart,  or, 
as  we  should  say,  without  brains ;  ^  and  again,  as 
insensibihty  to  every  ominous  fact :  Strangers  have 
devoured  his  strength,  and  he  knoiveth  it  not;  yea,  grey 
hairs  are  scattered  upon  him,  and  he  knoweth  it  not,*  or, 
as  we  should  say,  lays  it  not  to  heart. 

But  Israel's  most  fatal  ignorance  is  of  God  Himself. 
This  is  the  sign  and  the  cause  of  every  one  of  their 
defects.  There  is  no  troth,  nor  leal  love,  nor  knowledge 
of  God  in  the  land}  They  have  not  known  the  LORD} 
They  have  not  known  Mc. 

With  the  causes  of  this  ignorance  the  prophet  has 
dealt  most  explicitly  in  the  fourth  chapter.*  They 
are  two :  the  people's  own  vice  and  the  negligence  of 
their  priests.  Habitual  vice  destroys  a  people's  brains. 
Harlotry,  wine  and  new  wine  take  away  the  heart  of  My 
people!^     Lust,  for  instance,  blinds  them  to  the  domestic 

'  iv.  14,  pi''"N?  WD  :  if  the  original  meaning  of  ^3  be  to  get  behveen, 
see  through  or  into,  so  discriniinate,  understand,  then  intelligence  is 
its  etymological  equivalent.  '  vii.  9.  •  v.  4. 

*  vii.  II.     See  above,  p.  321,  «.  4.      *  iv.  i. 

*  For  exposition  of  this  chapter  see  above,  pp.  256  fl. 

*  iv.  II,  12,  LXX. 


324  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

consequences  of  their  indulgence  in  the  heathen 
worship,  and  so  the  stupid  people  come  to  their  end} 
Again,  their  want  of  political  wisdom  is  due  to  theii 
impurity,  drunkenness  and  greed  to  be  rich.^  Let 
those  take  heed  who  among  ourselves  insist  that  art  is 
independent  of  moral  conditions — that  wit  and  fancy 
reach  their  best  and  bravest  when  breaking  from  any 
law  of  decency.  They  lie  :  such  licence  corrupts  the 
natural  intelligence  of  a  people,  and  robs  them  of 
insight  and  iin agination. 

Yet  Hosea  sees  that  all  the  fault  does  not  lie  with 
the  common  people.  Their  teachers  are  to  blame, 
priest  and  prophet  alike,  for  both  stumble,  and  it  is  true 
that  a  people  shall  be  like  its  priests.^  The  priests 
have  rejected  knowledge  and  forgotten  the  Torah  of  their 
God ;  they  think  only  of  the  ritual  of  sacrifice  and  the 
fines  by  which  they  fill  their  mouths.  It  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  sin  of  Israel's  religion  in  the  eighth  century. 
To  the  priests  religion  was  a  mass  of  ceremonies 
which  satisfied  the  people's  superstitions  and  kept 
themselves  in  bread.  To  the  prophets  it  was  an 
equally  sensuous,  an  equally  mercenary  ecstasy.  But 
to  Hosea  religion  is  above  all  a  thing  of  the  intellect 
and  conscience :  it  is  that  knowing  which  is  at  once 
common-sense,  plain  morality  and  the  recognition  by 
a  pure  heart  of  what  God  has  done  and  is  doing  in 
history.  Of  such  a  knowledge  the  priests  and  prophets 
are  the  stewards,  and  it  is  because  they  have  ignored 
their  trust  that  the  people  have  been  provided  with 
no  antidote  to  the  vices  that  corrupt  their  natural 
intelligence  and  make  them  incapable  of  seeing  God. 

'  iv.  14  f.     See  above,  pp.  258  f.  *  vii.  passim. 

'  iv.  4-9.     Above,  pp.  257  f. 


Hosea.]  THE  KNOWLEDGE   OF  GOD  325 

In  contrast  to  such  ignorance  Hosea  describes  the 
essential  temper  and  contents  of  a  true  understanding 
of  God.  Using  the  word  knoivlcdge,  in  the  passive 
sense  characteristic  of  his  language,  not  so  much  the 
acquisition  as  the  impression  of  facts,  an  impression 
which  masters  not  only  a  man's  thoughts  but  his  heart 
and  will,  Hosea  describes  the  knowledge  of  God  as 
feeling,  character  and  conscience.  Again  and  again 
he  makes  it  parallel  to  loyalty,  repentance,  love  and 
service.  Again  and  again  he  emphasises  that  it  comes 
from  God  Himself  It  is  not  something  which  men 
can  reach  by  their  own  endeavours,  or  by  the  mere 
easy  turning  of  their  fickle  hearts.  For  it  requires 
God  Himself  to  speak,  and  discipline  to  chasten. 
The  only  passage  in  which  the  knowledge  of  God  is 
described  as  the  immediate  prize  of  man's  own  pursuit 
is  that  prayer  of  the  people  on  whose  facile  religious- 
ness Hosea  pours  his  scorn.^  Let  us  know,  let  us 
follow  on  to  know  the  Lord^  he  heard  them  say,  and 
promise  themselves,  As  soon  as  we  seek  Him  we  shall 
find  Him.  But  God  replies  that  He  can  make  nothing 
of  such  ambitions  ;  they  will  pass  away  like  the  morn- 
ing cloud  and  the  early  dew.*  This  discarded  prayer, 
then,  is  the  only  passage  in  the  book  in  which  the 
knowledge  of  God  is  described  as  man's  acquisition. 
Elsewhere,  in  strict  conformity  to  the  temper  of  the 
Hebrew  word  to  know,  Hosea  presents  the  knowledge 
of  the  Most  High,  not  as  something  man  finds  out  for 
himself,  but  something  which  comes  down  on  him 
from  above. 

The  means  which  God  took  to  impress  Himself  upon 
the  heart  of  His  people  were,  according  to  Hosea,  the 

'  vi.  I  ff.     See  above,  pp.  263  ff.  *  vi.  4. 


326  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

events  of  their  history.  Hosea,  indeed,  also  points  tu 
another  means.  The  Torah  of  thy  God,  which  in  one 
passage^  he  makes  parallel  to  knowledge,  is  evidently 
the  body  of  instruction,  judicial,  ceremonial  and  social, 
which  has  come  down  by  the  tradition  of  the  priests. 
This  was  not  all  oral ;  part  of  it  at  least  was  already 
codified  in  the  form  we  now  know  as  the  Book  of  the 
Covenant.^  But  Hosea  treats  of  the  Torah  only  in 
connection  with  the  priests.  And  the  far  more  frequent 
and  direct  means  by  which  God  has  sought  to  reveal 
Himself  to  the  people  are  the  great  events  of  their 
past.  These  Hosea  never  tires  of  recalling.  More 
than  any  other  prophet,  he  recites  the  deeds  done  by 
God  in  the  origins  and  making  of  Israel.  So  numerous 
are  his  references  that  from  them  alone  we  could  almost 
rebuild  the  early  history.  Let  us  gather  them  together. 
The  nation's  father  Jacob  in  the  womb  overreached  his 
brother,  and  in  his  manhood  strove  with  God ;  yea,  he 
strove  with  the  Angel  and  he  overcame,^  he  wept  and  sup- 
f  Heated  Him  ;  at  Bethel  he  found  Him,  and  there  He  spake 
with  us — Jehovah  God  of  Hosts,  Jehovah  is  His  name} 


'  iv.  6,     See  above,  p.  257. 

*  See  above,  pp.  97  f.  On  the  other  doubtful  phrase,  viii.  I2 — literally 
/  write  multitudes  of  My  Torah,  as  a  stranger  they  have  reckoned  it — 
no  argument  can  be  built ;  for  even  if  we  take  the  first  clause  as 
conditional  and  render,  Though  I  wrote  multitudes  of  My  Tor6th,yet 
as  those  of  a  stranger  they  would  regard  them,  that  would  not  neces- 
sarily mean  that  no  Toroth  of  Jehovah  were  yet  written,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  might  equally  well  imply  that  some  at  least  had  been 
written. 

'  Or  was  overcome. 

*  xii.  4-6.  See  above,  p.  302,  LXX.  reads  they  supplicated  Me  .  .  . 
they  found  Me  .  .  .  He  spoke  with  them.  Many  propose  to  read  the 
last  clause  with  him.  The  passage  is  obscure.  Note  the  order  of  the 
events — the  wreptling  at  Peniel,    the  revelation   at   Bethel,  then   in 


Hosea.J  THE  KNOWLEDGE   OF  GOD  327 

.  .  .  And  Jacob  fled  to  the  territory'^  of  Aram,  and  he 
served  for  a  wife,  and  for  a  wife  he  tended  sheep. 
And  by  a  prophet  Jehovah  brought  Israel  up  out  of 
Egypt,  and  by  a  prophet  he  was  tended.^  When  Israel 
was  young^  then  I  came  to  love  him,  and  out  of  Egypt 
I  called  My  son}  As  often  as  I  called  to  them,  so  often 
did  they  go  from  Me :  ^  they  to  the  Baalim  kept  sacri- 
ficing, and  to  images  offering  incense.  But  I  taught 
Ephraim  to  walk,  taking  him  upon  Mine  *  arms,  and 
they  did  not  know  that  I  nursed  them}  .  .  .  Like  grapes 
in  the  wilderness  I  found  Israel,  like  the  firstfruits  on  an 
early  fig-tree  I  saw  your  fathers  ;  but  they  went  to  Bdal- 
Peor,  and  consecrated  themselves  to  the  Shame.^  .  .  .  But 
I  am  Jehovah  thy  God  from  the  land  of  Egvpt,  and  gods 
besides  Me  thou  knowest  not,  and  Saviour  there  is  none 
but  Me.  I  knew  thee  in  the  wilderness,  in  the  land  of 
burning  heats.  But  the  more  pasture  they  had,  the  more 
they  fed  themselves  full ;  as  they  fed  themselves  full  their 
heart  was  lifted  up :  therefore  they  forgat  Me}  .  ,  .  I 
Jehovah  thy  God  from  the  land  of  Egypt}^  And  all  this 
revelation  of  God  was   not   only  in   that   marvellous 

the  subsequent  passage  the  flight  to  Aram.  This  however  does  not 
prove  that  in  Hosea's  information  the  last  happened  after  the  two 
first. 

'  mSi',  field,  here  used  in  its  pohtical  sense :  cf.  Hist.  Geog.,  p.  79. 
Our  word  country,  now  meaning  territory  and  now  the  rural  as  op- 
posed to  the  urban  districts,  is  strictly  analogous  to  the  Hebrew ^^W. 

»  xil  13,  14. 

*  A  youth. 

*  LXX.,  followed  by  many  critics,  his  sons.  But  My  son  is  a  better 
parallel  io  young  in  the  preceding  clause.     Or  trans. :  to  be  My  son. 

*  So  LXX.     See  p.  293.  '  xi.  1-3, 

*  So  rightly  LXX.  •  ix.  10. 

*  xiii.  4-6. 

'•  xii.  10.  Other  references  to  the  ancient  history  are  the  story 
of  Gibeah  and  the  Valley  of  Achor. 


328  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

history,  but  in  the  yearly  gifts  of  nature  and  even  in 
the  success  of  the  people's  commerce  :  She  knew  not  that 
it  was  I  who  have  given  her  the  corn  and  the  wine  and 
the  oil,  and  silver  have  I  muhijnied  to  her} 

This,  then,  is  how  God  gave  Israel  knowledge  of 
Himself.  First  it  broke  upon  the  Individual,  the 
Nation's  Father.  And  to  him  it  had  not  come  by 
miracle,  but  just  in  tl^e  same  fashion  as  it  has  broken 
upon  men  from  then  until  now.  He  woke  to  find  God 
no  tradition,  but  an  experience.  Amid  the  strife  with 
others  of  which  life  for  all  so  largely  consists,  Jacob 
became  aware  that  God  also  has  to  be  reckoned  with, 
and  that,  hard  as  is  the  struggle  for  bread  and  love  and 
justice  with  one's  brethren  and  fellow-men,  with  the 
Esaus  and  with  the  Labans,  a  more  inevitable  wrestle 
awaits  the  soul  when  it  is  left  alone  in  the  darkness 
with  the  Unseen.  Oh,  this  is  our  sympathy  with  those 
early  patriarchs,  not  that  they  saw  the  sea  dry  up 
before  them  or  the  bush  ablaze  with  God,  but  that 
upon  some  lonely  battle-field  of  the  heart  they  also 
endured  those  moments  of  agony,  which  imply  a  more 
real  Foe  than  we  ever  met  in  flesh  and  blood,  and 
which  leave  upon  us  marks  deeper  than  the  waste  of 
toil  or  the  rivalry  of  the  world  can  inflict.  So  the 
Father  of  the  Nation  came  iofind  God  at  Bethel,  and 
there,  adds  Hosea,  where  the  Nation  still  worship,  God 
spake  with  us  ^  in  the  person  of  our  Father. 

The  second  stage  of  the  knowledge  of  God  was  when 
the  Nation  awoke  to  His  leading,  and  through  a  prophet, 
Moses,  were  brought  up  out  of  Egypt.  Here  again  no 
miracle  is  adduced  by  Hosea,  but  with  full  heart  he 
appeals  to  the  grace  and  the  tenderness  of  the  whole 

'  ii.  lo.  ^  See  above,  p.  302. 


Ilosea.]  THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOD  329 


Story.  To  him  it  is  a  wonderful  romance.  Passing  by 
all  the  empires  of  earth,  the  Almighty  chose  for  Himself 
this  people  that  was  no  people,  this  tribe  that  were 
the  slaves  of  Egypt.  And  the  choice  was  of  love  only  : 
When  Israel  iv as  young  I  came  to  love  him,  and  out  oj 
Egypt  I  called  My  son.  It  was  the  adoption  of  a  little 
slave-boy,  adoption  by  the  heart ;  and  the  fatherly 
figure  continues,  /  taught  Ephraim  to  walk,  taking  him 
upon  Mine  arms.  It  is  just  the  same  charm,  seen  from 
another  point  of  view,  when  Hosea  hears  God  say  that 
He  had  found  Israel  like  grapes  in  the  wilderness^  like 
the  firstfruits  on  an  early  fig-tree  I  saw  your  fiithers. 

Now  these  may  seem  very  imperfect  figures  of  the 
relation  of  God  to  this  one  people,  and  the  ideas  they 
present  may  be  felt  to  start  more  difficulties  than 
ever  their  poetry  could  soothe  to  rest :  as,  for  instance, 
why  Israel  alone  was  chosen — why  this  of  all  tribes 
was  given  such  an  opportunity  to  know  the  Most  High. 
With  these  questions  prophecy  does  not  deal,  and  for 
Israel's  sake  had  no  need  to  deal.  What  alone  Hosea 
is  concerned  with  is  the  Character  discernible  in  the 
origin  and  the  liberation  of  his  people.  He  hears  that 
Character  speak  for  itself;  and  it  speaks  of  a  love  and 
of  a  joy,  to  find  figures  for  which  it  goes  to  childhood 
and  to  spring — to  the  love  a  man  feels  for  a  child,  to  the 
joy  a  man  feels  at  the  sight  of  the  firstfruits  of  the  year. 
As  the  human  heart  feels  in  those  two  great  dawns, 
when  nothing  is  yet  impossible,  but  all  is  full  of  hope 
and  promise,  so  humanly,  so  tenderly,  so  joyfully  had 
God  felt  towards  His  people.  Never  again  say  that 
the  gods  of  Greece  were  painted  more  living  or  more 
fair  I  The  God  of  Israel  is  Love  and  Springtime  to 
His  people.  Grace,  patience,  pure  joy  of  hope  and 
possibility — these  are  the  Divine  elements  which  this 


330  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

spiritual  man,  Hosea,  sees  in  the  early  history  of  his 
people,  and  not  the  miraculous,  about  which,  from  end 
to  end  of  his  book,  he  is  utterly  silent. 

It  is  ignorance,  then,  of  such  a  Character,  so  evident 
in  these  facts  of  their  history,  with  which  Hosea  charges 
his  people — not  ignorance  of  the  facts  themselves,  not 
want  of  devotion  to  their  memory,  for  they  are  a  people 
who  crowd  the  sacred  scenes  of  the  past,  at  Bethel,  at 
Gilgal,  at  Beersheba,  but  ignorance  of  the  Character 
which  shines  through  the  facts.  Hosea  also  calls  it 
forgetfulness,  for  the  people  once  had  knowledge.^  The 
cause  of  their  losing  it  has  been  their  prosperity  in 
Canaan :  As  their  pastures  were  increased  they  grew 
satisfied;  as  they  grew  satisfied  their  heart  was  lifted  up, 
and  therefore  they  forgat  Me} 

Equally  instructive  is  the  method  by  which  Hosea 
seeks  to  move  Israel  from  this  oblivion  and  bring  them 
to  a  true  knowledge  of  God.  He  insists  that  their 
recovery  can  only  be  the  work  of  God  Himself — the 
living  God  working  in  their  lives  to-day  as  He  did 
in  the  past  of  the  nation.  To  those  past  deeds  it  is 
useless  for  this  generation  to  go  back,  and  seek  again 
the  memory  of  which  they  have  disinherited  themselves. 
Let  them  rather  realise  that  the  same  God  still  lives. 
The  knowledge  of  Him  may  be  recovered  by  appreciating 
His  deeds  in  the  life  of  to-day.  And  these  deeds  must 
first  of  all  be  violence  and  terror,  if  only  to  rouse  them 
from  their  sensuous  sloth.  The  last  verse  we  have 
quoted,  about  Israel's  complacency  and  pride,  is  followed 
by  this  terrible  one  :  /  shall  be  ^  to  them  like  a  lion,  like  a 


•  iv.  6. 

•  xiii.  S. 

•  With  Wellhausen  read   n^HN  for  »ng}. 


Hosea.]  THE  KNOWLEDGE   OF  GOD  331 


leopard  I  shall  leap  ^  upon  the  way.  I  will  meet  them  as 
a  bear  bereft  of  her  cubs,  that  I  may  tear  the  caul  of 
their  heart,  that  I  may  devour  them  there  like  a  lion  :  the 
wild  beast  shall  rend  them.^  This  means  that  into 
Israel's  insensibihty  to  Himself  God  must  break  with 
facts,  with  wounds,  with  horrors  they  cannot  evade. 
Till  He  so  acts,  their  own  efforts,  then  shall  we  know  if 
we  hunt  up  to  know^  and  their  assurance.  My  God,  we 
do  know  Thee,^  are  very  vain.  Hosea  did  not  speak 
for  nothing.  Events  were  about  to  happen  more 
momentous  than  even  the  Exodus  and  the  Conquest 
of  the  Land.  By  734  the  Assyrians  had  depopulated 
Gilead  and  Galilee ;  in  725  the  capital  itself  was  in- 
vested, and  by  721  the  whole  nation  carried  into 
captivity.     God  had  made  Himself  known. 

We  are  already  aware,  however,  that  Hosea  did  not 
count  this  as  God's  final  revelation  to  His  people. 
Doom  is  not  doom  to  him,  as  it  was  to  Amos,  but 
discipline;  and  God  withdraws  His  people  from  their 
fascinating  land  only  that  He  may  have  them  more 
closely  to  Himself.  He  will  bring  His  Bride  into 
the  wilderness  again,  the  wilderness  where  they  first 
met,  and  there,  when  her  soul  is  tender  and  her  stupid 
heart  broken,  He  will  plant  in  her  again  the  seeds  of 
His  knowledge  and  His  love.  The  passages  which 
describe  this  are  among  the  most  beautiful  of  the  book. 
They  tell  us  of  no  arbitrary  conquest  of  Israel  by 
Jehovah,  of  no  magic  and  sudden  transformation. 
They  describe  a  process  as  natural  and  gentle  as  a 
human  wooing;  they  use,  as  we  have  seen,  the  very 
terms  of  this  :  /  will  woo  her,  bring  her  into  the  wilder- 


'  See  above,  p.  305,  «.  4.  *  vi.  3. 

»  xiii.  7  ff.  *  viii.  2. 


332  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

ness,  and  speak  home  to  her  heart.  .  .  .  And  it  shall  be 
in  that  day  that  thou  shall  call  Me,  My  husband,  .  .  . 
and  I  will  betroth  thee  to  Me  for  ever  in  righteousness  and 
in  justice^  and  in  leal  love  and  in  mercies  and  in  faithful- 
ness; and  thou  shall  know  fehovah} 

'     i.  l6,  l8,  21,  22. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

REPENTANCE 
HosEA  passim, 

IF  we  keep  in  mind  what  Hosea  meant  by  knowledge 
— a  new  impression  of  facts  implying  a  change  both 
of  temper  and  of  conduct — we  shall  feel  how  natural  it 
is  to  pass  at  once  from  his  doctrine  of  knowledge  to 
his  doctrine  of  repentance.  Hosea  may  be  accurately 
styled  the  first  preacher  of  repentance  yet  so  thoroughly 
did  he  deal  with  this  subject  of  eternal  interest  to  the 
human  heart,  that  between  him  and  ourselves  almost 
no  teacher  has  increased  the  insight  with  which  it  has 
been  examined,  or  the  passion  with  which  it  ought  to 
be  enforced. 

One  thing  we  must  hold  clear  from  the  outset.  To 
us  repentance  is  intelligible  only  in  the  individual. 
There  is  no  motion  of  the  heart  which  more  clearly 
derives  its  validity  from  its  personal  character.  Repent- 
ance is  the  conscience,  the  feeling,  the  resolution  of  a 
man  by  himself  and  for  himself — "/  will  arise  and 
go  to  my  Father."  Yet  it  is  not  to  the  individual 
that  Hosea  directs  his  passionate  appeals.  For  him 
and  his  age  the  religious  unit  was  not  the  Israelite 
but  Israel.  God  had  called  and  covenanted  with  the 
nation  as  a  whole  ;  He  had  revealed  Himself  through 
their  historical   fortunes  and    institutions.     His  grace 

333 


334  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

was  shown  in  their  succour  and  guidance  as  a  people ; 
His  last  judgment  was  threatened  in  their  destruction 
as  a  state.  So  similarly,  when  by  Hosea  God  calls  to 
repentance,  it  is  the  whole  nation  whom  He  addresses. 
At  the  same  time  we  must  remember  those  quali- 
fications which  we  adduced  with  regard  to  Hosea's 
doctrine  of  the  nation's  knowledge  of  God.*  They 
affect  also  his  doctrine  of  the  national  repentance. 
Hosea's  experience  of  Israel  had  been  preceded  by  his 
experience  of  an  Israelite.  For  years  the  prophet  had 
carried  on  his  anxious  heart  a  single  human  character — 
lived  with  her,  travailed  for  her,  pardoned  and  redeemed 
her.  As  we  felt  that  this  long  cure  of  a  soul  must  have 
helped  Hosea  to  his  very  spiritual  sense  of  the  know 
ledge  of  God,  so  now  we  may  justly  assume  that  the 
same  cannot  have  been  without  effect  upon  his  very 
personal  teaching  about  repentance.  But  with  his 
experience  of  Gomer,  there  conspired  also  his  intense 
love  for  Israel.  A  warm  patriotism  necessarily  per- 
sonifies its  object.  To  the  passionate  lover  of  his 
people,  their  figure  rises  up  one  and  individual — his 
mother,  his  lover,  his  wife.  Now  no  man  ever  loved 
his  people  more  intimately  or  more  tenderly  than  Hosea 
loved  Israel.  The  people  were  not  only  dear  to  him, 
because  he  was  their  son,  but  dear  and  vivid  also  for 
their  loneliness  and  their  distinction  among  the  peoples 
of  the  earth,  and  for  their  long  experience  as  the 
intimate  of  the  God  of  grace  and  lovingkindness. 
God  had  chosen  this  Israel  as  His  Bride ;  and  the 
remembrance  of  the  unique  endowment  and  lonely 
destiny  stimulated  Hosea's  imagination  in  the  work  of 
personifying  and  individualising  his  people.     He  treats 

'  See  above,  p.  320. 


Hosca.]  REPENTANCE  335 

Israel  with  the  tenderness  and  particularity  with  which 
the  Shepherd,  leaving  the  ninety  and  nine  in  the  wilder- 
ness, seeks  till  He  find  it  the  one  lost  lamb.  His 
analysis  of  his  fickle  generation's  efforts  to  repent,  of 
their  motives  in  turning  to  God,  and  of  their  failures,  is 
as  inward  and  definite  as  if  it  were  a  single  heart 
he  were  dissecting.  Centuries  have  passed  ;  the  indi- 
vidual has  displaced  the  nation  ;  the  experience  of 
the  human  heart  has  been  infinitely  increased,  and 
prophecy  and  all  preaching  has  grown  more  and  more 
personal.  Yet  it  has  scarcely  ever  been  found  either 
necessary  to  add  to  the  terms  which  Hosea  used  for 
repentance,  or  possible  to  go  deeper  in  analysing  the 
processes  which  these  denote. 


Hosea's  most  simple  definition  of  repentance  is  that 
of  returning  unto  God.  For  turning  and  re-turning  the 
Hebrew  language  has  only  one  verb — shGbh.  In  the 
Book  of  Hosea  there  are  instances  in  which  it  is  em- 
ployed in  the  former  sense  ;  ^  but,  even  apart  from  its 
use  for  repentance,  the  verb  usually  means  to  return. 
Thus  the  wandering  wife  in  the  second  chapter  says, 
/  will  return  to  my  former  husband;^  and  in  the  threat 
of  judgment  it  is  said,  Ephraim  will  return  to  Egypt."' 
Similar  is  the  sense  in  the  phrases  His  deeds  will  I 
turn  back  upon  him  *  and  /  will  not  turn  back  to  destroy 
Ephraim!'  The  usual  meaning  of  the  verb  is  therefore, 
not  merely  to  turn  or  change,  but  to  turn  right  round. 


'  vii.  1 6,  They  turn,  bid  not  upwards;  xiv,  5,  Mine  anger  is  turned 
away. 

*  ii.  9.  *  iv.  9  :  cf.  xii.  3,  15. 

•  viii.  13  ;  ix.  3  ;  xi.  5.  •  xi.  9 :  cf.  ii.  II. 


336  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

to  turn  back  and  home.*  This  is  obviously  the  force 
of  its  employment  to  express  repentance.  For  this 
purpose  Hosea  very  seldom  uses  it  alone.'  He  gener- 
ally adds  either  the  name  by  which  God  had  always 
been  known,  Jehovah,'  or  the  designation  of  Him,  as 
their  own  God} 

We  must  emphasise  this  point  if  we  would  appreciate 
the  thoroughness  of  our  prophet's  doctrine,  and  its 
harmony  with  the  preaching  of  the  New  Testament. 
To  Hosea  repentance  is  no  mere  change  in  the  direction 
of  one's  life.  It  is  a  turning  back  upon  one's  self,  a 
retracing  of  one's  footsteps,  a  confession  and  acknow- 
ledgment of  what  one  has  abandoned.  It  is  a  coming 
back  and  a  coming  home  to  God,  exactly  as  Jesus 
Himself  has  described  in  the  Parable  of  the  Prodigal. 
As  Hosea  again  and  again  affirms,  the  Return  to  God, 
like  the  New  Testament  Metanoia,  is  the  effect  of  new 
knowledge  ;  but  the  new  knowledge  is  not  of  new  facts 
— it  is  of  facts  which  have  been  present  for  a  long  time 
and  which  ought  to  have  been  appreciated  before. 

Of  these  facts  Hosea  describes  three  kinds :  the 
nation's  misery,  the  unspeakable  grace  of  their  God, 
and  their  great  guilt  in  turning  from  Him.  Again  it  is 
as  in  the  case  of  the  prodigal :  his  hunger,  his  father. 


1  This  may  be  further  seen  in  the  very  common  phrase  mUtJ'  21K' 
■•Dy,  to  turn  again  the  captivity  of  My  people  (see  Hosea  vi.  1 1)  ;  or 
in  the  use  of  SIK'  in  xiv.  8,  where  it  has  the  force,  auxih'ary  to  the 
other  verb  in  the  clause,  of  repeating  or  coming  back  to  do  a  thing 
But  the  text  here  needs  emendation  :  cf.  above,  p.  315.  Cf.  Amos'  use 
of  the  Hiphil  form  to  draw  back,  'withdraw,  i.  3,  6,  9,  II,  13;  iL  I,  4,  6. 

'  Cf.  xi.  5,  they  refused  to  return. 

'  vi.  I,  Come  and  let  us  return  to  Jehovah ;  vii.  lO,  They  did  not 
return  to  Jehovah  ;  xiv.  2,  3,  Return,  O  Israel,  to  Jehovah. 

*  iii.  5f  Tliey  shall  return  and  seek  Jehovah  their  God ;  v.  4,  Their  deeds 
do  not  allow  them  to  return  to  their  God, 


Rosea.]  REPENTANCE  337 

and  his  cry,  "  I  have  sinned  against  heaven  and  in  thy 
sight." 

We  have  already  felt  the  pathos  of  those  passages 
in  which  Hosea  describes  the  misery  and  the  decay 
of  Israel,  the  unprofitableness  and  shame  of  all  their 
restless  traffic  with  other  gods  and  alien  empires.  The 
state  is  rotten ;  *  anarchy  prevails.*  The  national 
vitality  is  lessened  :  Ephraim  hath  grey  hairs.^  Power 
of  birth  and  begetting  have  gone ;  the  universal  un- 
chastity  causes  the  population  to  diminish  :  their  glory 
flieth  away  like  a  bird}  The  presents  to  Egypt/  the 
tribute  to  Assyria,  drain  the  wealth  of  the  people  : 
strangers  devour  his  strength.*  The  prodigal  Israel 
has  his  far-off"  country  where  he  spends  his  substance 
among  strangers.  It  is  in  this  connection  that  we 
must  take  the  repeated  verse  :  the  pride  of  Israel  testi- 
fieth  to  his  face?  We  have  seen  *  the  impossibility  of 
the  usual  exegesis  of  these  words,  that  by  the  Pride  of 
Israel  Hosea  means  Jehovah  ;  the  word  "  pride  "  is  pro- 
bably to  be  taken  in  the  sense  in  which  Amos  employs 
it  of  the  exuberance  and  arrogance  of  Israel's  civilisation. 
If  we  are  right,  then  Hosea  describes  a  very  subtle 
symptom  of  the  moral  awakening  whether  of  the  in- 
dividual or  of  a  community.  The  conscience  of  many 
a  man,  of  many  a  kingdom,  has  been  reached  only 
through  their  pride.  Pride  is  the  last  nerve  which 
comfort  and  habit  leave  quick  ;  and  when  summons  to 
a  man's  better  nature  fail,  it  is  still  possible  in  most 
cases  to  touch  his  pride  with  the  presentation  of  the 
facts  of  his  decadence.  This  is  probably  what  Hosea 
means.     Israel's  prestige   suffers.     The  civilisation  of 

•  v.  12,  etc  ♦  ix.  1 1  flf.  '  V.  5 ;  vii.  10. 

•  iv.  2  ff. ;  vi.  7  ff.,  etc.  *  xii.  2.  "  See  above,  p.  261. 

•  vii.  7.  •  vii.  7. 

VOL.  I.  —  22 


33^  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

which  they  are  proud  has  its  open  wounds.  Their 
politicians  are  the  sport  of  Egypt ;  ^  their  wealth,  the 
very  gold  of  their  Temple,  is  lifted  by  Assyria,^  The 
nerve  of  pride  was  also  touched  in  the  prodigal :  "  How 
many  hired  servants  of  my  father  have  enough  and  to 
spare,  while  I  perish  with  hunger."  Yet,  unlike  him, 
this  prodigal  son  of  God  will  not  therefore  return. 
Though  there  are  grey  hairs  upon  him,  though  strangers 
devour  his  strength,  he  knoweth  it  not;  of  him  it  cannot 
be  said  that  "  he  has  come  to  himself."  And  that  is 
why  the  prophet  threatens  the  further  discipline  of 
actual  exile  from  the  land  and  its  fruits,*  of  bitter 
bread  *  and  poverty '  on  an  unclean  soil.  Israel  must 
also  eat  husks  and  feed  with  swine  before  he  arises  and 
returns  to  his  God. 

But  misery  alone  never  led  either  man  or  nation 
to  repentance :  the  sorrow  of  this  world  worketh  only 
death.  Repentance  is  the  return  to  God  ;  and  it  is 
the  awakening  to  the  truth  about  God,  to  the  facts 
of  His  nature  and  His  grace,  which  alone  makes 
repentance  possible.  No  man's  doctrine  of  repentance 
is  intelligible  without  his  doctrine  of  God ;  and  it 
is  because  Hosea's  doctrine  of  God  is  so  rich,  so 
fair  and  so  tender,  that  his  doctrine  of  repentance 
is  so  full  and  gracious.  Here  we  see  the  difference 
between  him  and  Amos.  Amos  had  also  used  the 
phrase  with  frequency  ;  again  and  again  he  had  appealed 
to  the  people  to  seek  God  and  to  return  to  God.^  But 
from  Amos  it  went  forth  only  as  a  pursuing  voice, 
a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness.  Hosea  lets  loose 
behind   it   a    heart,    phes   the    people    with    gracious 

•  vii.  16.  *  ii.  16,  etc ;  ix.  2ff.,  etc.         *  xii.  10. 

•  X.  5.  •  ix.  4.  »  iv.  6, 8, 9,  lo,  II, 

•  vii.  10. 


Hosea.]  REPENTANCE  339 

thoughts  of  God,  and  brings  about  them,  not  the  voices 
only,  but  the  atmosphere,  of  love.  /  will  be  as  the  dew 
unto  Israel,  promises  the  Most  High  ;  but  He  is  before 
His  promise.  The  chapters  of  Hosea  are  drenched 
with  the  dew  of  God's  mercy,  of  which  no  drop  falls  on 
those  of  Amos,  but  there  God  is  rather  the  roar  as 
of  a  lion,  the  flash  as  of  lightning.  Both  prophets 
bid  Israel  turn  to  God ;  but  Amos  means  by  that, 
to  justice,  truth  and  purity,  while  Hosea  describes  a 
husband,  a  father,  long-suffering  and  full  of  mercy. 
"  I  bid  you  come  back,"  cries  Amos.  But  Hosea 
pleads,  *'  If  only  you  were  aware  of  what  God  is,  you 
would  come  back,"  "  Come  back  to  God  and  live," 
cries  Amos ;  but  Hosea,  "  Come  back  to  God,  for  He 
is  Love."  Amos  calls,  "  Come  back  at  once,  for  there 
is  but  little  time  left  till  God  must  visit  you  in  judg- 
ment " ;  but  Hosea,  "  Come  back  at  once,  for  God  has 
loved  you  so  long  and  so  kindly."  Amos  cries,  "  Turn, 
for  in  front  of  you  is  destruction  " ;  but  Hosea,  "  Turn, 
for  behind  you  is  God."  And  that  is  why  all  Hosea's 
preaching  of  repentance  is  so  evangelical.  "  I  will 
arise  and  go  to  my  Father ^ 

But  the  third  element  of  the  new  knowledge  which 
means  repentance  is  the  conscience  01  guilt.  My 
Father,  I  have  sinned.  On  this  point  it  might  be 
averred  that  the  teaching  of  Hosea  is  less  spiritual  than 
that  of  later  prophets  in  Israel,  and  that  here  at  last 
he  comes  short  of  the  evangelical  inwardness  of  the 
New  Testament.  There  is  truth  in  the  charge;  and 
here  perhaps  we  feel  most  the  defects  of  his  standpoint, 
as  one  who  appeals,  not  to  the  individual,  but  to  the 
nation  as  a  whole.  Hosea's  treatment  of  the  sense 
of  guilt  cannot  be  so  spiritual  as  that,  say,  of  the  fifty- 
first  Psalm.     But.  at  least,  he  is  not  satisfied  to  exhaust 


340  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

it  by  the  very  thorough  exposure  which  he  gives  us 
of  the  social  sins  of  his  day,  and  of  their  terrible 
results.  He,  too,  understands  what  is  meant  by  a 
conscience  of  sin.  He  has  called  Israel's  iniquity 
harlotry,  unfaithfulness  to  God ;  and  in  a  passage  of 
equal  insight  and  beauty  of  expression  he  points  out 
that  in  the  service  of  the  Ba'alim  Jehovah's  people  can 
never  feel  anything  but  a  harlot's  shame  and  bitter 
memories  of  the  better  past. 

Rejoice  not,  O  Israel,  to  the  pitch  of  rapture  like  the 
heathen :  for  thou  hast  played  the  harlot  from  thine  own 
God;  'tis  hire  thou  hast  loved  on  all  threshing-floors. 
Floor  and  vat  shall  not  acknowledge  them;  the  new  wine 
shall  play  them  false}  Mere  children  of  nature  may 
abandon  themselves  to  the  riotous  joy  of  harvest  and 
vintage  festivals,  for  they  have  never  known  other  gods 
than  are  suitably  worshipped  by  these  orgies.  But 
Israel  has  a  past — the  memory  of  a  holier  God,  the 
conscience  of  having  deserted  Him  for  material  gifts. 
With  such  a  conscience  she  can  never  enjoy  the 
latter ;  as  Hosea  puts  it,  they  will  not  acknowledge  or 
take  to^  her.  Here  there  is  an  instinct  of  the  profound 
truth,  that  even  in  the  fulness  of  life  conscience  is 
punishment ;  by  itself  the  sense  of  guilt  is  judgment. 

But  Hosea  does  not  attack  the  service  of  strange 
gods  only  because  it  is  unfaithfulness  to  Jehovah,  but 
also  because,  as  the  worship  of  images,  it  is  a  senseless 
stupidity  utterly  inconsistent  with  that  spiritual  dis- 
cernment of  which  repentance  so  largely  consists.  And 
with  the  worship  of  heathen  idols  Hosea  equally  con- 
demns the  worship  of  Jehovah  under  the  form  of 
images. 

'  ix.  1.     See  above,  p.  279.  *  See  above,  p.  279,  «.  4. 


Hosea.]  REPENTANCE  341 

Hosea  was  the  first  in  Israel  to  lead  the  attack  upon 
the  idols.  Elijah  had  assaulted  the  worship  of  a  foreign 
god,  but  neither  he  nor  Elisha  nor  Amos  condemned 
the  worship  of  Israel's  own  God  under  the  form  of  a 
calf.  Indeed  Amos,  except  in  one  doubtful  passage,^ 
never  at  all  attacks  idols  or  false  gods.  The  reason 
is  very  obvious.  Amos  and  Elijah  were  concerned 
only  with  the  proclamation  of  God  as  justice  and 
purity :  and  to  the  moral  aspects  of  religion  the 
question  of  idolatry  is  not  relevant ;  the  two  things  do 
not  come  directly  into  collision.  But  Hosea  had 
deeper  and  more  wide  views  of  God,  with  which 
idolatry  came  into  conflict  at  a  hundred  points.  We 
know  what  Hosea's  knowledge  of  God  was — how 
spiritual,  how  extensive — and  we  can  appreciate  how 
incongruous  idolatry  must  have  appeared  against  it. 
We  are  prepared  to  find  him  treating  the  images, 
whether  of  the  Ba'alim  or  of  Jehovah,  with  that  fine 
scorn  which  a  passionate  monotheism,  justly  conscious 
of  its  intellectual  superiority,  has  ever  passed  upon  the 
idolatry  even  of  civilisations  in  other  respects  higher 
than  its  own.  To  Hosea  the  idol  is  an  'eseb,  a  made 
thing}  It  is  made  of  the  very  silver  and  gold  with 
which  Jehovah  Himself  had  endowed  the  people.'  It 
is  made  only  to  be  cut  off*'  by  the  first  invader  1  Chiefly, 
however,  does  Hosea's  scorn  fall  upon  the  image  under 
which  Jehovah  Himself  was  worshipped.  Thy  Calf,  O 
Samaria  !  ^  he  contemptuously  calls  it.  From  Israel  is 
it  also,  as  much  as  the  Ba'alim.  A  workman  made  it, 
and  no  god  is  it :  chips  shall  the  Calf  of  Samaria  become  ! 
In  another  place  he  mimics  the  anxiety  of  Samaria  for 

'  V.  26. 

»  n^y  from  nvy,  which  in  Job  x.  8  is  parallel  to  TVi^V. 
•  ii.  8.  *  viii.  4.  •  viii.  5. 


34*  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

their  Calf;  his  people  mourn  for  him,  and  his  priestlings 
writhe  for  his  glory,  why  ? — because  it  is  going  into  exile :  ^ 
the  gold  that  covers  him  shall  be  stripped  for  the  tribute 
to  Assyria.  And  once  more :  They  continue  to  sin  ; 
they  make  them  a  smelting  of  their  silver,  idols  after  their 
own  modelling,  smithes  work  all  of  it.  To  these  things 
they  speak  !  Sacrificing  men  actually  kiss  calves  1 '  All 
this  is  in  the  same  vein  of  satire  which  we  find  grown 
to  such  brilliance  in  the  great  Prophet  of  the  Exile.' 
Hosea  was  the  first  in  whom  it  sparkled ;  and  it  was 
due  to  his  conception  of  the  knowledge  of  God.  Its 
relevancy  to  his  doctrine  of  repentance  is  this,  that  so 
spiritual  an  apprehension  of  God  as  repentance  implies, 
so  complete  a  metanoia  or  change  of  mind,  is  intellec- 
tually incompatible  with  idolatry.  You  cannot  speak  of 
repentance  to  men  who  kiss  calves  and  worship  blocks 
of  wood.  Hence  he  says  :  Ephraim  is  wedded  to  idols: 
leave  him  alone} 

There  was  more  than  idolatry,  however,  in  the  way 
of  Israel's  repentance.  The  whole  of  the  national 
worship  was  an  obstacle.  Its  formalism  and  its  easy 
and  mechanical  methods  of  turning  to  God  disguised 
the  need  of  that  moral  discipline  and  change  of  heart, 
without  which  no  repentance  can  be  genuine.  Amos 
had  contrasted  the  ritualism  of  the  time  with  the  duty 
of  civic  justice  and  the  service  of  the  poor : '  Hosea 
opposes  to  it  leal  love  and  the  knowledge  of  God.  / 
will  have  leal  love  and  not  sacrifice,  and  the  knowledge 
of  God  rather  than  burnt- o ffer in gs^  It  is  characteristic 
of  Hosea  to  class  sacrifices  with  idols.  Both  are 
senseless  and  inarticulate,  incapable  of  expressing  or 


X.  5.  •  Isa.  xli.  ff.  •  Amos  v. 

xiii.  2.  *  iv.  17.  •  vi.  6. 


Hose]  REPENTANCE  343 

of  answering  the  deep  feelings  of  the  heart.  True 
repentance,  on  the  contrary,  is  rational,  articulate, 
definite.  Take  with  you  words,  says  Hosea,  and  so 
return  to  Jehovah} 

To  us  who,  after  twenty-five  more  centuries  of  talk, 
know  painfully  how  words  may  be  abused,  it  is  strange 
to  find  them  enforced  as  the  tokens  of  sincerity.  But 
let  us  consider  against  what  the  prophet  enforces  them. 
Against  the  kissing  of  calves  and  such  mummery — 
worship  of  images  that  neither  hear  nor  speak. 
Let  us  remember  the  inarticulateness  of  ritualism, 
how  it  stifles  rather  than  utters  the  feelings  of  the 
heart.  Let  us  imagine  the  dead  routine  of  the  legal 
sacrifices,  their  original  symbolism  worn  bare,  bringing 
forward  to  the  young  hearts  of  new  generations  no 
interpretation  of  their  ancient  and  distorted  details, 
reducing  those  who  perform  them  to  irrational  machines 
like  themselves.  Then  let  us  remember  how  our  own 
Reformers  had  to  grapple  with  the  same  hard  mechanism 
in  the  worship  of  their  time,  and  how  they  bade  the 
heart  of  every  worshipper  speak — speak  for  itself  to 
God  with  rational  and  sincere  words.  So  in  place  of 
the  frozen  ritualism  of  the  Church  there  broke  forth  from 
all  lands  of  the  Reformation,  as  though  it  were  birds  in 
springtime,  a  great  burst  of  hymns  and  prayers,  with 
the  clear  notes  of  the  Gospel  in  the  common  tongue. 
So  intolerable  was  the  memory  of  what  had  been,  that 
it  was  even  enacted  that  henceforth  no  sacrament 
should  be  dispensed  but  the  Word  should  be  given  to 

'  xiv.  2.  Perhaps  the  curious  expression  at  the  close  of  the  verse, 
so  mil  we  render  the  calves  of  our  lips,  or  (as  a  variant  reading  gives) 
fruit  of  our  lips,  has  the  same  intention.  Articulate  confession  (or 
vows),  these  are  the  sacrifices,  the  calves,  which  are  acceptable  to 
God. 


344  2//£   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  people  along  with  it.  If  we  keep  all  these  things 
in  mind,  we  shall  know  what  Hosea  means  when  he 
says  to  Israel  in  their  penitence,  Take  ivith  you  words. 

No  one,  however,  was  more  conscious  of  the  danger 
of  words.  Upon  the  lips  of  the  people  Hosea  has 
placed  a  confession  of  repentance,  which,  so  far  as  the 
words  go,  could  not  be  more  musical  or  pathetic.^  In 
every  Christian  language  it  has  been  paraphrased  to 
an  exquisite  confessional  hymn.  But  Hosea  describes 
it  as  rejected.  Its  words  are  too  easy ;  its  thoughts 
of  God  and  of  His  power  to  save  are  too  facile. 
Repentance,  it  is  true,  starts  from  faith  in  the  mercy 
of  God,  for  without  this  there  were  only  despair. 
Nevertheless  in  all  true  penitence  there  is  despair. 
Genuine  sorrow  for  sin  includes  a  feeling  of  the  ir- 
reparableness  of  the  past,  and  the  true  penitent  as  he 
casts  himself  upon  God  does  not  dare  to  feel  that  he 
ever  can  be  the  same  again.  /  am  no  more  worthy  to 
be  called  Thy  son :  make  me  as  one  of  Thy  hired  servants. 
Such  necessary  thoughts  as  these  Israel  does  not  mingle 
with  her  prayer.  Come  and  let  us  return  to  Jehovah^ 
for  He  hath  torn  only  that  He  may  heal,  and  smitten 
only  that  He  may  bind  up.  He  will  revive  us  again  in 
a  couple  of  days,  on  the  third  day  raise  us  up,  that  we 
may  live  before  Him.  Then  shall  we  know  if  we  hunt 
up  to  know  the  Lord.  As  soon  as  we  seek  Him  we  shall 
find  Him :  and  He  shall  come  upon  us  like  winter-rain, 
and  like  the  spring-rain  pouring  on  the  land.  This  is 
too  facile,  too  shallow.  No  wonder  that  God  despairs 
of  such  a  people.    What  am  I  to  tnake  of  thee,  Ephraim  ?' 

Another  familiar  passage,  the  Parable  of  the  Heifer, 


•  VI.  1-4. 

•  For  the  reasons  for  this  interpretation  see  above,  pp.  263  ff. 


Hosea.]  REPENTANCE  345 

describes  the  same  ambition  to  reach  spiritual  results 
without  spiritual  processes.  Ephraim  is  a  broken-tn 
heifer — one  that  loveth  to  tread  out  the  corn.  But  I  will 
pass  upon  her  goodly  neck.  I  will  give  Ephraim  a  yoke. 
Judah  must  plough.  Jacob  must  harrow  for  himself.^ 
Cattle,  being  unmuzzled  by  law^  at  threshing  time, 
loved  this  best  of  all  their  year's  work.  Yet  to  reach 
it  they  must  first  go  through  the  harder  and  unre- 
warded trials  of  ploughing  and  harrowing.  Like  a 
heifer,  then,  which  loved  harvest  only,  Israel  would 
spring  at  the  rewards  of  penitence,  the  peaceable  fruits 
of  righteousness,  without  going  through  the  discipline 
and  chastisement  which  alone  yield  them.  Repent- 
ance is  no  mere  turning  or  even  re-turning.  It  is  a 
deep  and  an  ethical  process — the  breaking  up  of  fallow 
ground,  the  labour  and  long  expectation  of  the  sower, 
the  seeking  and  waiting  for  Jehovah  till  Himself  send 
the  rain.  Sow  to  yourselves  in  righteousness;  reap  in 
proporiion  to  love  (the  love  you  have  sown),  break  up 
your  fallow  ground:  for  it  is  time  to  seek  Jehovah,  until 
He  come  and  rain  righteousness  upon  us.^ 

A  repentance  so  thorough  as  this  cannot  but  result 
in  the  most  clear  and  steadfast  manner  of  life.  Truly 
it  is  a  returning  not  by  oneself,  but  a  returning  by  God, 
and  it  leads  to  the  keeping  of  leal  love  and  justice,  and 
waiting  upon  God  continually.^ 

•  X.  II.  *  See  above,  p.  288.  *  x.  12.  *  xii.  7. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE  SIN  AGAINST  LOVE 
HosEA  i. — Hi. ;  iv.  ii  flf. ;  ix.  loff. ;  xi.  8C 

THE  Love  of  God  is  a  terrible  thing — that  is  the 
last  lesson  of  the  Book  of  Hosea.     My  God  will 
cast  them  away} 

My  God — let  us  remember  the  right  which  Hosea 
had  to  use  these  words.  Of  all  prophets  he  was  the 
first  to  break  into  the  full  aspect  of  the  Divine  Mercy 
— to  learn  and  to  proclaim  that  God  is  Love.  But  he 
was  worthy  to  do  so,  by  the  patient  love  of  his  own 
heart  towards  another  who  for  years  had  outraged  all 
his  trust  and  tenderness.  He  had  loved,  believed  and 
been  betrayed ;  pardoned  and  waited  and  yearned, 
and  sorrowed  and  pardoned  again.  It  is  in  this 
long-suffering  that  his  breast  beats  upon  the  breast  of 
God  with  the  cry  My  God.  As  he  had  loved  Gomer,  so 
had  God  loved  Israel,  past  hope,  against  hate,  through 
ages  of  ingratitude  and  apostasy.  Quivering  with  his 
own  pain,  Hosea  has  exhausted  all  human  care  and 
affection  for  figures  to  express  the  Divine  tenderness, 
and  he  declares  God's  love  to  be  deeper  than  all  the 
passion  of  men,  and  broader  than  all  their  patience : 
How  can  I  give  thee  up,  Ephraim  ?  How  can  I  let  theego, 
Israel  ?    I  will  not  execute  the  fierceness  of  Mine  anger. 

•  X.  17. 

746 


Hosea.]  THE  SIN  AGAINST  LOVE  347 

For  I  am  God,  and  not  man.  And  yet,  like  poor  human 
affection,  this  Love  of  God,  too,  confesses  its  failure — 
My  God  shall  cast  them  away.  It  is  God's  sentence 
of  relinquishment  upon  those  who  sin  against  His 
Love,  but  the  poor  human  lips  which  deliver  it  quiver 
with  an  agony  of  their  own,  and  here,  as  more  explicitly 
in  twenty  other  passages  of  the  book,  declare  it  to  be 
equally  the  doom  of  those  who  outrage  the  love  of  their 
fellow  men  and  women. 

We  have  heard  it  said  :  "  The  lives  of  men  are  never 
the  same  after  they  have  loved ;  if  they  are  not  better 
they  must  be  worse."  "  Be  afraid  of  the  love  that 
loves  you  :  it  is  either  your  heaven  or  your  hell." 
"  All  the  discipline  of  men  springs  from  their  love — if 
they  take  it  not  so,  then  all  their  sorrow  must  spring 
from  the  same  source."  "  There  is  a  depth  of  sorrow, 
which  can  only  be  known  to  a  soul  that  has  loved  the 
most  perfect  thing  and  beholds  itself  fallen."  These 
things  are  true  of  the  Love,  both  of  our  brother  and  of 
our  God.  And  the  eternal  interest  of  the  life  of  Hosea 
is  that  he  learned  how,  for  strength  and  weakness,  for 
better  for  worse,  our  human  and  our  Divine  loves  are 
inseparably  joined. 

I. 

Most  men  learn  that  love  is  inseparable  from  pain 
where  Hosea  learned  it — at  home.  There  it  is  that 
we  are  all  reminded  that  when  love  is  strongest  she 
feels  her  weakness  most.  For  the  anguish  which  love 
must  bear,  as  it  were  from  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
is  the  contradiction  at  her  heart  between  the  largeness 
of  her  wishes  and  the  littleness  of  her  power  to  realise 
them.  A  mother  feels  it,  bending  over  the  bed  of  her 
child,  when  its  body  is  racked  with  pain  or  its  breath 


348  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

spent  with  coughing.  So  great  is  the  feeling  of  her 
love  that  it  ought  to  do  something,  that  she  will  actually 
feel  herself  cruel  because  nothing  can  be  done.  Let 
the  sick-bed  become  the  beach  of  death,  and  she  must 
feel  the  helplessness  and  the  anguish  still  more  as 
the  dear  life  is  now  plucked  from  her  and  now  tossed 
back  by  the  mocking  waves,  and  then  drawn  slowly 
out  to  sea  upon  the  ebb  from  which  there  is  no 
returning. 

But  the  pain  which  disease  and  death  thus  cause 
to  love  is  nothing  to  the  agony  that  Sin  inflicts  when 
he  takes  the  game  into  his  unclean  hands.  We  know 
what  pain  love  brings,  if  our  love  be  a  fair  face  and  fresh 
body  in  which  Death  brands  his  sores  while  we  stand 
by,  as  if  with  arms  bound.  But  what  if  our  love  be 
a  childlike  heart,  and  a  frank  expression  and  honest 
eyes,  and  a  clean  and  clever  mind.  Our  powerlessness 
is  just  as  great  and  infinitely  more  tormented  when 
Sin  comes  by  and  casts  his  shadow  over  these.  Ah, 
that  is  Love's  greatest  torment  when  her  children,  who 
have  run  from  her  to  the  bosom  of  sin,  look  back  and 
their  eyes  are  changed  I  That  is  the  greatest  torment 
of  Love — to  pour  herselt  without  avail  into  one  of 
those  careless  natures  which  seem  capacious  and 
receptive,  yet  never  fill  with  love,  for  there  is  a  crack 
and  a  leak  at  the  bottom  of  them.  The  fields  where 
Love  suffers  her  sorest  defeats  are  not  the  sick-bed  and 
not  death's  margin,  not  the  cold  lips  and  sealed  eyes 
kissed  without  response ;  but  the  changed  eyes  of 
children,  and  the  breaking  of  "the  full-orbed  face," 
and  the  darkening  look  of  growing  sons  and  daughters, 
and  the  home  the  first  time  the  unclean  laugh  breaks 
across  it.  To  watch,  though  unable  to  soothe,  a  dear 
body  racked  with  pain,  is  peace  beside  the  awful  vigil 


Hc«ea.]  THE  SIN  AGAINST  LOVE  349 

of  watching  a  soul  shrink  and  blacken  with  vice,  and 
your  love  unable  to  redeem  it. 

Such  a  clinical  study  Hosea  endured  for  years.  The 
prophet  of  God,  we  are  told,  brought  a  dead  child  to 
life  by  taking  him  in  his  arms  and  kissing  him.  Bu' 
Hosea  with  all  his  love  could  not  make  Gomer  a  true 
whole  wife  again.  Love  had  no  power  on  this  woman 
— no  power  even  at  the  merciful  call  to  make  aU 
things  new.  Hosea,  who  had  once  placed  all  hope  in 
tenderness,  had  to  admit  that  Love's  moral  power  i? 
not  absolute.  Love  may  retire  defeated  from  the 
highest  issues  of  life.     Sin  may  conquer  Love. 

Yet  it  is  in  this  his  triumph  that  Sin  must  feel  the 
ultimate  revenge.  When  a  man  has  conquered  this 
weak  thing  and  beaten  her  down  beneath  his  feet,  God 
speaks  the  sentence  of  abandonment. 

There  is  enough  of  the  whipped  dog  in  all  of  us 
to  make  us  dread  penalty  when  we  come  into  conflict 
with  the  strong  things  of  life.  But  it  takes  us  all  our 
days  to  learn  that  there  is  far  more  condemnation  to 
them  who  offend  the  weak  things  of  life,  and  particularly 
the  weakest  of  all,  its  love.  It  was  on  sins  against 
the  weak  that  Christ  passed  His  sternest  judgments.* 
Woe  unto  him  that  offends  one  of  these  little  ones ;  it  were 
better  for  him  that  he  had  never  been  born.  God's  little 
ones  are  not  only  little  children,  but  all  things  which, 
like  little  children,  have  only  love  for  their  strength. 
They  are  pure  and  loving  men  and  women — men 
with  no  weapon  but  their  love,  women  with  no  shield 
but  their  trust.  They  are  the  innocent  affections  of 
our  own  hearts — the  memories  of  our  childhood,  the 
ideals  of  our  youth,  the  prayers  of  our  parents,  the 
faith  in  us  of  our  friends.  These  are  the  little  ones  of 
whom  Christ  spake,  that  he  who  sins  against  them  had 


3SO  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

better  never  have  been  born.  Often  may  the  dear  solici- 
tudes of  home,  a  father's  counsels,  a  mother's  prayers, 
seem  foolish  things  against  the  challenges  of  a  world, 
calling  us  to  play  the  man  and  do  as  it  does ;  often  may 
the  vows  and  enthusiasms  of  boyhood  seem  impertinent 
against  the  temptations  which  are  so  necessary  to  man- 
hood :  yet  let  us  be  true  to  the  weak,  for  if  we  betray 
them,  we  betray  our  own  souls.  We  may  sin  against 
law  and-  maim  or  mutilate  ourselves,  but  to  sin  against 
love  is  to  be  cast  out  of  life  altogether.  He  who 
violates  the  purity  of  the  love  with  which  God  has 
filled  his  heart,  he  who  abuses  the  love  God  has  sent 
to  meet  him  in  his  opening  manhood,  he  who  slights 
any  of  the  affections,  whether  they  be  of  man  or 
woman,  of  young  or  of  old,  which  God  lays  upon  us 
as  the  most  powerful  redemptive  forces  of  our  life, 
next  to  that  of  His  dear  Son — he  sinneth  against  his 
own  soul,  and  it  is  of  such  that  Hosea  spake :  My  God 
will  cast  them  away. 

We  talk  of  breaking  law :  we  can  only  break  our- 
selves against  it.  But  if  we  sin  against  Love,  we  do 
destroy  her ;  we  take  from  her  the  power  to  redeem  and 
sanctify  us.  Though  in  their  youth  men  think  Love  a 
quick  and  careless  thing — a  servant  always  at  their  side, 
a  winged  messenger  easy  of  despatch — let  them  know 
that  every  time  they  send  her  on  an  evil  errand  she 
returns  with  heavier  feet  and  broken  wings.  When 
they  make  her  a  pander  they  kill  her  outright.  When 
she  is  no  more  they  waken  to  that  which  Gomer  came 
to  know,  that  love  abused  is  love  lost,  and  love  lost 
means  Hell. 

II. 

TJiis,  however,  is  only  the  margin  from  which  Hosea 


Hoaea.]  THE  SIN  AGAINST  LOVE  351 

beholds  an  abandonment  still  deeper.  All  that  has 
been  said  of  human  love  and  the  penalty  of  outraging 
it  is  equally  true  of  the  Divine  love  and  the  sin  against 
that. 

The  love  of  God  has  the  same  weakness  which  we 
have  seen  in  the  love  of  man.  It,  too,  may  fail  to 
redeem  ;  it,  too,  has  stood  defeated  on  some  of  the 
highest  moral  battle-fields  of  life.  God  Himself  has 
suffered  anguish  and  rejection  from  sinful  men. 
"  Herein,"  says  a  theologian,  "  is  the  mystery  of  this 
love,  .  .  .  that  God  can  never  by  His  Almighty  Power 
compel  that  which  is  the  very  highest  gift  in  the  life 
of  His  creatures — love  to  Himself,  but  that  He  receives 
it  as  the  free  gift  of  His  creatures,  and  that  He  is  only 
able  to  allow  men  to  give  it  to  Him  in  a  free  act  of  their 
own  will."  So  Hosea  also  has  told  us  how  God  does 
not  compel,  but  allure  or  woo,  the  sinful  back  to  Him- 
self And  it  is  the  deepest  anguish  of  the  prophet's 
heart,  that  this  free  grace  of  God  may  fail  through  man's 
apathy  or  insincerity.  The  anguish  appears  in  those 
frequent  antitheses  in  which  his  torn  heart  reflects 
herself  in  the  style  of  his  discourse.  /  have  redeemed 
them — -yet  have  they  spoken  lies  against  Me}  I  found 
Israel  like  grapes  in  the  wilderness — they  went  to  Bdal- 
Peor?  When  Israel  was  a  child,  then  I  loved  him  .  .  . 
but  they  sacrificed  to  Bdalim?  I  taught  Ephraim  to  walk, 
but  they  knew  not  that  I  healed  them}  How  can  I  give 
thee  up,  Ephraim  ?  how  can  I  let  thee  go,  O  Israel  ?  .  .  . 
Ephraim  compasseth  Me  with  lies,  and  the  house  of  Israel 
with  deceit} 

We  fear  to  apply  all  that  we  know  of  the  weakness 


vii.  13.  •  xi.  I,  2.  xu  8 ;  xii.  I. 

ix.  10.  *  xi.  4. 


352  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  human  love  to  the  love  of  God.  Yet  though  He  be 
God  and  not  man,  it  was  as  man  He  commended  His 
love  to  us.  He  came  nearest  us,  not  in  the  thunders 
of  Sinai,  but  in  Him  Who  presented  Himself  to  the 
world  with  the  caresses  of  a  little  child ;  Who  met  men 
with  no  angelic  majesty  or  heavenly  aureole,  but  whom 
when  we  saw  we  found  nothing  that  we  should  desire 
Him,  His  visage  was  so  marred  more  than  any  man, 
and  His  form  than  the  sons  of  men ;  Who  came  to  His 
own  and  His  own  received  Him  not ;  Who,  having 
loved  His  own  that  were  in  the  world,  loved  them  up 
to  the  end,  and  yet  at  the  end  was  by  them  deserted 
and  betrayed, — it  is  of  Him  that  Hosea  prophetically 
says  :  I  drew  them  with  cords  of  a  man  and  with  bands 
of  love. 

We  are  not  bound  to  God  by  any  unbreakable 
chain.  The  strands  which  draw  us  upwards  to  God, 
to  holiness  and  everlasting  life,  have  the  weakness  of 
those  which  bind  us  to  the  earthly  souls  we  love.  It 
is  possible  for  us  to  break  them.  We  love  Christ,  not 
because  He  has  compelled  us  by  any  magic,  irresistible 
influence  to  do  so ;  but,  as  John  in  his  great  simplicity 
says,  We  love  Him  because  He  first  loved  us. 

Now  this  is  surely  the  terror  of  God's  love — that  it 
can  be  resisted ;  that  even  as  it  is  manifest  in  Jesus 
Christ  we  men  have  the  power,  not  only  to  remain, 
as  so  many  do,  outside  its  scope,  feeling  it  to  be  far-off 
and  vague,  but  having  tasted  it  to  fall  away  from  it, 
having  realised  it  to  refuse  it,  having  allowed  it  to 
begin  its  moral  purposes  in  our  lives  to  baffle  and 
nullify  these ;  to  make  the  glory  of  Heaven  absolutely 
ineffectual  in  our  own  characters ;  and  to  give  our 
Saviour  the  anguish  of  rejection. 

Give  Him  the  anguish,  yet  pass  upon  ourselves  the 


Hosea.J  THE  SIN  AGAINST  LOVE  353 

doom  1  For,  as  I  read  the  New  Testament,  the  one 
unpardonable  sin  is  the  sin  against  our  Blessed 
Redeemer's  Love  as  it  is  brought  home  to  the  heart 
by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Every  other  sin  is 
forgiven  to  men  but  to  crucify  afresh  Him  who  loved 
us  and  gave  Himself  for  us.  The  most  terrible  of  His 
judgments  is  "  the  wail  of  a  heart  wounded  because  its 
love  has  been  despised"  :  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem /  how  often 
would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  as  a  hen  gathereth  her 
chickens,  and  ye  would  not.  Behold,  your  house  is  left 
unto  you  desolate  ! 

Men  say  they  cannot  believe  in  hell,  because  they 
cannot  conceive  how  God  may  sentence  men  to  misery 
for  the  breaking  of  laws  they  were  born  without  power 
to  keep.  And  one  would  agree  with  the  inference,  if 
God  had  done  any  such  thing.  But  for  them  which 
are  under  the  law  and  the  sentence  of  death,  Christ 
died  once  for  all,  that  He  might  redeem  them.  Yet 
this  does  not  make  a  hell  less  believable.  When  we 
see  how  Almighty  was  that  Love  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus,  lifting  our  whole  race  and  sending  them  forward 
with  a  freedom  and  a  power  of  growth  nothing  else 
in  history  has  won  for  them ;  when  we  prove  again 
how  weak  it  is,  so  that  it  is  possible  for  millions  of 
characters  that  have  felt  it  to  refuse  its  eternal  in- 
fluence for  the  sake  of  some  base  and  transient 
passion  ;  nay,  when  /  myself  know  this  power  and 
this  weakness  of  Christ's  love,  so  that  one  day  being 
loyal  I  am  raised  beyond  the  reach  of  fear  and  of 
doubt,  beyond  the  desire  of  sin  and  the  habit  of  evil, 
and  the  next  day  finds  me  capable  of  putting  it  aside 
in  preference  for  some  slight  enjoyment  or  ambition — 
then  I  know  the  peril  and  the  terror  of  this  love,  that 
it  may  be  to  a  man  either  Heaven  or  Hell. 

VOL.  I,  23 


354  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Believe  then  in  hell,  because  you  believe  in  the 
Love  of  God — not  in  a  hell  to  which  God  condemns 
men  of  His  will  and  pleasure,  but  a  hell  into  which 
men  cast  themselves  from  the  very  face  of  His  love 
in  Jesus  Christ.  The  place  has  been  painted  as  a 
place  of  fires.  But  when  we  contemplate  that  men 
come  to  it  with  the  holiest  flames  in  their  nature 
quenched,  we  shall  justly  feel  that  it  is  rather  a  dreary 
waste  of  ash  and  cinder,  strewn  with  snow — some 
ribbed  and  frosted  Arctic  zone,  silent  in  death,  for 
there  is  no  life  there,  and  there  is  no  life  there  because 
there  is  no  Love,  and  no  Love  because  men  in  rejecting 
or  abusing  her  have  slain  their  own  power  ever  again 
to  feel  her  presence. 


MICAB 


"  But  I  am  full  of  power  by  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah 
To  declare  to  Jacob  his  transgressions,  and  to  Israel  his  sin.' 


CHAPTER    XXIV 

THE  BOOK  OF  MICAH 

THE  Book  of  Micah  lies  sixth  of  the  Twelve  Prophets 
in  the  Hebrew  Canon,  but  in  the  order  of  the 
Septuagint  third,  following  Amos  and  Hosea.  The 
latter  arrangement  was  doubtless  directed  by  the  size 
of  the  respective  books  ;^  in  the  case  of  Micah  it  has 
coincided  with  the  prophet's  proper  chronological 
position.  Though  his  exact  date  be  not  certain,  he 
appears  to  have  been  a  younger  contemporary  of  Hosea, 
as  Hosea  was  of  Amos. 

The  book  is  not  two-thirds  the  size  of  that  of  Amos, 
and  about  half  that  of  Hosea.  It  has  been  arranged 
in  seven  chapters,  which  follow,  more  or  less,  a  natural 
method  of  division.^  They  are  usually  grouped  in 
three  sections,  distinguishable  from  each  other  by  their 
subject-matter,  by  their  temper  and  standpoint,  and  to 
a  less  degree  by  their  literary  form.  They  are 
A.  Chaps,  i, — iii. ;  B.  Chaps,  iv.,  v. ;  C.  Chaps,  vi.,  vii. 

There  is  no  book  of  the  Bible,  as  to  the  date  of 
whose  different  parts  there  has  been  more  discussion, 

'  See  above,  pp.  6  f, 

*  Note  that  the  Hebrew  and  English  divisions  do  not  coincide 
between  chaps,  iv.  and  v.  In  the  Hebrew  chap.  iv.  includes  a 
fourteenth  verse,  which  in  the  English  stands  as  the  first  verse  of 
chap.  V.     In  this  the  English  agrees  with  the  Septuagint, 

357 


3S8  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

especially  within  recent  years.     The  history  of  this  is 
shortly  as  follows  : — 

Tradition  and  the  criticism  of  the  early  years  of  this  century 
accepted  the  statement  of  the  title,  that  the  book  was  composed 
in  the  reigns  of  Jotham,  Ahaz  and  Hezekiah — that  is,  between 
740  and  700  B.C.  It  was  generally  agreed  that  there  were  in  it 
only  traces  of  the  first  two  reigns,  but  that  the  whole  was  put 
together  before  the  fall  of  Samaria  in  721.'  Then  Hitzig  and 
Steiner  dated  chaps,  iii. — vi.  after  721 ;  and  Ewald  denied  that 
Micah  could  have  given  us  chaps,  vi.,  vii.,  and  placed  them  under 
King  Manasseh,  circa  690 — 640.  Next  Wellhausen*  sought  to 
prove  that  vii.  7-20  must  be  post-exilic.  Stade '  took  a  further  step, 
and,  on  the  ground  that  Micah  himself  could  not  have  blunted  or 
annulled  his  sharp  pronouncements  of  doom.,  by  the  promises 
which  chaps,  iv.  and  v.  contain,  he  withdrew  these  from  the 
prophet  and  assigned  them  to  the  time  of  the  Exile.*  But  the 
sufficiency  of  this  argument  was  denied  by  Vatke.'  Also  in 
opposition  to  Stade,  Kuenen*  refused  to  believe  that  Micah 
could  have  been  content  with  the  announcement  of  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem  as  his  last  word,  that  therefore  much  of  chaps,  iv.  and 
V.  is  probably  from  himself,  but  since  their  argument  is  obviously 
broken  and  confused,  we  must  look  in  them  for  interpolations, 
and  he  decides  that  such  are  iv.  6-8,  11-13,  and  the  working  up 
ol  v.  9-14.  The  famous  passage  in  iv.  1-4  may  have  been 
Micah's,  but  was  probably  added  by  another.  Chaps,  vi.  and  vii, 
were  written  under  Manasseh  by  some  of  the  persecuted  adherents 
of  Jehovah. 

We  may   next   notice   two  critics   who   adopt  an  extremely 


•  Caspari, 

•  In  the  fourth  edition  of  Bleek's  Introduction. 

•  Z.A.T.W.,  Vols.  I.,  III.,  IV. 

«  See  also  Cornill,  Einleitung,  183  f.  Stade  takes  iv.  I-4,  iv.  II — v.  3, 
V.  6-14,  as  originally  one  prophecy  (distinguished  by  certain  catch- 
words and  an  outlook  similar  to  that  of  Ezekiel  and  the  great 
Prophet  of  the  Exile),  in  which  the  two  pieces  iv.  5-10  and  v,  4,  5, 
were  afterwards  inserted  by  the  author  of  ii.  12,  13. 
-    »  Einleitung  in  das  A.T.,  pp.  690  fif. 

•  Einleitung 


THE  BOOK  OF  MICAH  359 

conservarive  position.  Von  Ryssel,'  as  the  result  of  a  very 
thorough  examination,  declared  that  all  the  chapters  were 
Micah's,  even  the  much  doubted  ii.  12,  13,  which  have  been 
placed  by  an  editor  of  the  book  in  the  wrong  position,  and 
chap.  vii.  7-20,  which  he  agrees  with  Ewald  can  only  date  from 
the  reign  of  Manasseh,  Micah  himself  having  lived  long  enough 
into  that  reign  to  write  them  himself.  Another  careful  analysis 
by  Elhorst*  also  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  bulk  of  the 
book  was  authentic,  but  for  his  proof  of  this  Elhorst  requires 
a  radical  rearrangement  of  the  verses,  and  that  on  grounds 
which  do  not  always  commend  themselves.  He  holds  chap, 
iv.  9-14  and  v.  8  for  post-exilic  insertions.  Driver'  contributes 
a  thorough  examination  of  the  book,  and  reaches  the  conclusions 
that  ii.  12,  13,  though  obviously  in  their  wrong  place,  need  not 
be  denied  to  Micah  ;  that  the  difficulties  of  ascribing  chaps,  iv.,  v., 
to  the  prophet  are  not  insuperable,  nor  is  it  even  necessary  to 
suppose  in  them  interpolations.  He  agrees  with  Ewald  as  to 
the  date  of  vL — vii.  6,  and,  while  holding  that  it  is  quite  possible 
for  Micah  to  have  written  them,  thinks  they  are  more  probably 
due  to  another,  though  a  confident  conclusion  is  not  to  be 
achieved.  As  to  vii.  7-20,  he  judges  Wellhausen's  inferences  to 
be  unnecessary.  A  prophet  in  Micah's  or  Manasseh's  time  may 
have  thought  destruction  nearer  than  it  actually  proved  to  be, 
and,  imagining  it  as  already  arrived,  have  put  into  the  mouth  of 
the  people  a  confession  suited  to  its  circumstance.  Wildeboer* 
goes  further  than  Driver.  He  replies  in  detail  to  the  arguments 
of  Stade  and  Comill,  denies  that  the  reasons  for  withdrawing  so 
much  from  Micah  are  conclusive,  and  assigns  to  the  prophet  the 
whole  book,  with  the  exception  of  several  interpolations. 

We  see,  then,  that  all  critics  are  practically  agreed 
as  to  the  presence  of  interpolations  in  the  text,  as  well 
as  to  the  occurrence  of  certain  verses  of  the  prophet 

'  UniersuchuMgen  uber  die  Textgestalt  u.  die  Echthett  des  Buchts 
Micha,  1887. 

'  De  Profetie  van  Micha,  1891,  which  I  have  not  seen.  It  is 
summarised  in  Wildeboer's  Litteratur  des  A.T.,  1895, 

•  Introduction,  1892. 

*  Litteratur  des  A.T.,  pp.  148  ff. 


36o  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

out  of  their  proper  order.  This  indeed  must  be  ob- 
vious to  every  careful  reader  as  he  notes  the  somewhat 
frequent  break  in  the  logical  sequence,  especially  of 
chaps,  iv.  and  v.  All  critics,  too,  admit  the  authenticity 
of  chaps,  i. — iii.,  with  the  possible  exception  of  ii.  12,  13  ; 
while  a  majority  hold  that  chaps,  vi.  and  vii.,  whether 
by  Micah  or  not,  must  be  assigned  to  the  reign  of 
Manasseh.  On  the  authenticity  of  chaps,  iv.  and  v. — 
minus  interpolations — and  of  chaps,  vi.  and  vii.,  opinion 
is  divided  ;  but  we  ought  not  to  overlook  the  remark- 
able fact  that  those  who  have  recently  written  the 
fullest  monographs  on  Micah  *  incline  to  believe  in  the 
genuineness  of  the  book  as  a  whole.^  We  may  now 
enter  for  ourselves  upon  the  discussion  of  the  various 
sections,  but  before  we  do  so  let  us  note  how  much 
of  the  controversy  turns  upon  the  general  question, 
whether  after  decisively  predicting  the  overthrow  of 
Jerusalem  it  was  possible  for  Micah  to  add  prophecies 
of  her  restoration.  It  will  be  remembered  that  we 
have  had  to  discuss  this  same  point  with  regard  both 
to  Amos  and  Hosea.  In  the  case  of  the  former  we 
decided  against  the  authenticity  of  visions  of  a  blessed 
future  which  now  close  his  book ;  in  the  case  of  the 
latter  we  decided  for  the  authenticity.  What  were  our 
reasons  for  this  difference  ?  They  were,  that  the  closing- 
vision  of  the  Book  of  Amos  is  not  at  all  in  harmony 
with  the  exclusively  ethical  .tpirit  of  the  authentic 
prophecies ;    while   the  closing  vision  of  the   Book  of 

•  Wildeboer  {De  Profet  Micfia),  Von  Ryssel  and  Elhorst 
■  Cheyne,  therefore,  is  not  correct  when  he  says  ("  Introduction  " 
to  second  edition  of  Robertson  Smith's  Prophets,  p.  xxiii.)  that  it  is 
"becoming  more  and  more  doubtful  whether  more  than  two  or  three 
fragments  of  the  heterogeneous  collection  of  fragments  in  chaps. 
iv. — vii.  can  have  come  from  that  prophet." 


THE  BOOK   OF  MIC  AH  361I 

Hosea  is  not  only  in  language  and  in  ethical  temper 
thoroughly  in  harmony  with  the  chapters  which  precede 
it,  but  in  certain  details  has  been  actually  anticipated 
by  these.  Hosea,  therefore,  furnishes  us  with  the 
case  of  a  prophet  who,  though  he  predicted  the  ruin  of 
his  impenitent  people  (and  that  ruin  was  verified  by 
events),  also  spoke  of  the  possibility  of  their  restoration 
upon  conditions  in  harmony  with  his  reasons  for  the 
inevitableness  of  their  fall.  And  we  saw,  too,  that  the 
hopeful  visions  of  the  future,  though  placed  last  in 
the  collection  of  his  prophecies,  need  not  necessarily 
have  been  spoken  last  by  the  prophet,  but  stand 
where  they  do  because  they  have  an  eternal  spiritual 
validity  for  the  remnant  of  Israel.^  What  was  poss- 
ible for  Hosea  is  surely  possible  for  Micah.  That 
promises  come  in  his  book,  and  closely  after  the 
conclusive  threats  which  he  gave  of  the  fall  of  Jeru- 
salem, does  not  imply  that  originally  he  uttered  them 
all  in  such  close  proximity.  That  indeed  would  have 
been  impossible.  But  considering  how  often  the 
political  prospect  in  Israel  changed  during  Micah's 
time,  and  how  far  the  city  was  in  his  day  from  her 
actual  destruction — more  than  a  century  distant — it 
seems  to  be  improbable  that  he  should  not  (in  what- 
ever order)  have  uttered  both  threat  and  promise.  And 
naturally,  when  his  prophecies  were  arranged  in  per- 
manent order,  the  promises  would  be  placed  after  the 
threats.^ 

'  See  above,  p.  311. 

*  Wildeboer  seems  to  me  to  have  good  grounds  for  his  reply  to 
Stade's  assertion  that  the  occurrence  of  promises  after  the  threats  only 
blunts  and  nullifies  the  latter.  "  These  objections,"  says  Wildeboer, 
"  raise  themselves  only  against  the  spoken,  but  not  against  the 
written  word."  See,  too,  the  admirable  remarks  he  quotes  from  De 
Goeje. 


fa  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 


First  Section  :   Chaps.  I. — III. 

No  critic  doubts  the  authenticity  of  the  bulk  of  these 
chapters.  The  sole  question  at  issue  is  the  date  or 
(possibly)  the  dates  of  them.  Only  chap.  ii.  12,  13, 
are  generally  regarded  as  out  of  place,  where  they 
now  stand. 

Chap.  i.  trembles  with  the  destruction  of  both 
Northern  Israel  and  Judah — a  destruction  either  very 
imminent  or  actually  in  the  process  of  happening.  The 
verses  which  deal  with  Samaria,  6fF.,  do  not  simply 
announce  her  inevitable  ruin.  They  throb  with  the 
sense  either  that  this  is  immediate,  or  that  it  is  going 
on,  or  that  it  has  just  been  accomplished.  The  verbs 
suit  each  of  these  alternatives  :  And  I  shall  set,  or  am 
settitjg,  or  have  set,  Samaria  for  a  ruin  of  the  field,  and 
so  on.  We  may  assign  them  to  any  time  between 
725  B.C.,  the  beginning  of  the  siege  of  Samaria  by 
Shalmaneser,  and  a  year  or  two  after  its  destruction  by 
Sargon  in  721.  Their  intense  feeling  seems  to  preclude 
the  possibility  of  their  having  been  written  in  the  years 
to  which  some  assign  them,  705 — 700,  or  twenty  years 
after  Samaria  was  actually  overthrown. 

In  the  next  verses  the  prophet  goes  on  to  mourn  the 
fact  that  the  affliction  of  Samaria  reaches  even  to  the 
gate  of  Jerusalem,  and  he  especially  singles  out  as  par- 
takers in  the  danger  of  Jerusalem  a  number  of  towns, 
most  of  which  (so  far  as  we  can  discern)  lie  not  between 
Jerusalem  and  Samaria,  but  at  the  other  corner  of 
Judah,  in  the  Shephelah  or  out  upon  the  Philistine  plain.* 
This  was  the  region  which  Sennacherib  invaded  in  701, 
simultaneously  with  his  detachment  of  a  corps  to  attack 

•  See  below,  pp.  383  ff. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MICAH  363 


the  capital ;  and  accordingly  we  might  be  shut  up  to 
affirm  that  this  end  of  chap.  i.  dates  from  that  invasion, 
if  no  other  explanation  of  the  place-names  were  poss- 
ible. But  another  \z  possible.  Micah  himself  belonged 
to  one  of  these  Shephelah  towns,  Moresheth-Gath, 
and  it  is  natural  that,  anticipating  the  invasion  of  all 
Judah,  after  the  fall  of  Samaria  (as  Isaiah^  also  did), 
he  should  single  out  for  mourning  his  own  district  of 
the  country.  This  appears  to  be  the  most  probable 
solution  of  a  very  doubtful  problem,  and  accordingly 
we  may  date  the  whole  of  chap.  i.  somewhere  between 
725  and  720  or  718.  Let  us  remember  that  in  719 
Sargon  marched  past  this  very  district  of  the  Shephelah 
in  his  campaign  against  Egypt,  whom  he  defeated  at 
Raphia.^ 

Our  conclusion  is  supported  by  chap.  ii.  Judah, 
though  Jehovah  be  planning  evil  against  her,  is  in  the 
full  course  of  her  ordinary  social  activities.  The  rich 
are  absorbing  the  lands  of  the  poor  (vv.  i.  fF.)  :  note 
the  phrase  upon  their  beds ;  it  alone  signifies  a  time 
of  security.  The  enemies  of  Israel  are  internal  (8). 
The  public  peace  is  broken  by  the  lords  of  the  land 
and  men  and  women,  disposed  to  live  quietly,  are 
robbed  (8  ff.).  The  false  prophets  have  sufficient  signs 
of  the  times  in  their  favour  to  regard  Micah's  threats  ot 
destruction  as  calumnies  (6).     And  although  he  regards 

'  X.  18. 

•  Smend  assigns  the  prophecy  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  in 
iii.  14,  along  with  Isaiah  xxviii. — xxxii.,  to  704 — 701,  and  suggests  that 
the  end  of  chap.  i.  refers  to  Sennacherib's  campaign  in  Philistia  in 
701  {A.  T.  Religionsgeschichte,  p.  225,  «.).  The  former  is  possible, 
but  the  latter  passage,  following  so  closely  on  i.  6,  which  implies  the 
fall  of  Samaria  to  be  still  recent,  if  not  in  actual  course,  is  more  suit- 
ably placed  in  the  time  of  the  campaign  of  Sargon  over  pretty  much 
the  same  ground. 


364  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

destruction  as  inevitable,  it  is  not  to  be  to-day ;  but  in 
that  day  (4),  viz.  some  still  indefinite  date  in  the  future, 
the  blow  will  fall  and  the  nation's  elegy  be  sung. 
On  this  chapter,  then,  there  is  no  shadow  of  a 
foreign  invader.  We  might  assign  it  to  the  years  of 
Jotham  and  Ahaz  (under  whose  reigns  the  title  of  the 
book  places  part  of  the  prophesying  of  Micah),  but 
since  there  is  no  sense  of  a  double  kingdom,  no 
distinction  between  Judah  and  Israel,  it  belongs  more 
probably  to  the  years  when  all  immediate  danger  from 
Assyria  had  passed  away,  between  Sargon's  withdrawal 
from  R.aphia  in  719  and  his  invasion  of  Ashdod  in 
710,  or  between  the  latter  date  and  Sennacherib's 
accession  in  705. 

Chap.  iii.  contains  three  separate  oracles,  which 
exhibit  a  similar  state  of  affairs  :  the  abuse  of  the 
common  people  by  their  chiefs  and  rulers,  who  are 
implied  to  be  in  full  sense  of  power  and  security.  They 
have  time  to  aggravate  their  doings  (4) ;  their  doom  is 
still  future — then  at  that  time  (ib.).  The  bulk  of  the 
prophets  determine  their  oracles  by  the  amount  men 
give  them  (5),  another  sign  of  security.  Their  doom 
is  also  future  (6  f ).  In  the  third  of  the  oracles  the 
authorities  of  the  land  are  in  the  undisturbed  exercise  of 
their  judicial  offices  (9  f ),  and  the  priests  and  prophets 
of  their  oracles  (10),  though  all  these  professions  practise 
only  for  bribe  and  reward.  Jerusalem  is  still  being  built 
and  embellished  (9),  But  the  prophet,  not  because 
there  are  political  omens  pointing  to  this,  but  simply 
in  the  force  of  his  indignation  at  the  sins  of  the  upper 
classes,  prophesies  the  destruction  of  the  capital  (lo). 
It  is  possible  that  these  oracles  of  chap.  iii.  may  be 
later  than  those  of  the  previous  chapters.^ 
'  See  above,  p.  363,  n,  2. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MICAH  365 

Second  Section  :   Chaps.  IV.,  V. 

This  section  of  the  book  opens  with  two  passages, 
verses  I-5  and  verses  6,  7,  which  there  are  serious 
objections  against  assigning  to  Micah. 

I.  The  first  of  these,  1-5,  is  the  famous  prophecy  of 
the  Mountain  of  the  Lord's  House,  which  is  repeated  in 
Isaiah  ii.  2-5.  Probably  the  Book  of  Micah  presents 
this  to  us  in  the  more  original  form.*  The  alternatives 
therefore  are  four :  Micah  was  the  author,  and  Isaiah 
borrowed  from  him;  or  both  borrowed  from  an  earher 
source;^  or  the  oracle  is  authentic  in  Micah,  and  has 
been  inserted  by  a  later  editor  in  Isaiah  ;  or  it  has  been 
inserted  by  later  editors  in  both  Micah  and  Isaiah. 

The  last  of  these  conclusions  is  required  by  the 
arguments  first  stated  by  Stade  and  Hackmann,  and 
then  elaborated,  in  a  very  strong  piece  of  reasoning,  by 
Cheyne.  Hackmann,  after  marking  the  want  of  con- 
nection with  the  previous  chapter,  alleges  the  keynotes 
of  the  passage  to  be  three :  that  it  is  not  the  arbitra- 
tion of  Jehovah,'  but  His  sovereignty  over  foreign 
nations,  and  their  adoption  of  His  law,  which  the 
passage  predicts ;  that  it  is  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem 
whose  future  supremacy  is  affirmed  ;  and  that  there  is 
a  strong  feeling  against  war.  These,  Cheyne  contends, 
are  the  doctrines  of  a  much  later  age  than  that  ot 
Micah ;  he  holds  the  passage  to  be  the  work  of  a 
post-exilic  imitator   of   the  prophets,    which  was  first 

'  So  Hitzig  ("ohne  Zvveifel"),  and  Cheyne,  Introduction  to  the  Book 
of  Isaiah  ;  Ryssel,  op.  cit.,  pp.  218  1.  Hackmann  {Die  Zukunfts- 
erwartitng  des  Jesaia,  1 27-8,  n.)  prefers  the  Greek  of  Micah.  Ewald 
is  doubtful.  Duhm,  however,  inclines  to  authorship  by  Isaiah,  and 
would  assign  the  composition  to  Isaiah's  old  age. 

'  Hitzig  ;  Ewald  '  As  against  Duhm. 


366  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

intruded  into  the  Book  of  Micah  and  afterwards  bor- 
rowed from  this  by  an  editor  of  Isaiah's  prophecies. 
It  is  just  here,  however,  that  the  theory  of  these  critics 
loses  its  strength.  Agreeing  heartily  as  I  do  with  recent 
critics  that  the  genuine  v^Titings  of  the  early  prophets 
have  received  some,  and  perhaps  considerable,  additions 
from  the  Exile  and  later  periods,  it  seems  to  me  ex- 
tremely improbable  that  the  same  post-exilic  insertion 
should  find  its  way  into  two  separate  books.  And  I 
think  that  the  undoubted  bias  towards  the  post-exilic 
period  of  all  Canon  Cheyne's  recent  criticism,  has  in 
this  case  humed  him  past  due  consideration  of  the 
possibility  of  a  pre-exilic  date.  In  facf  the  gentle 
temper  shown  by  the  passage  towards  foreign  nations, 
the  absence  of  hatred  or  of  any  ambition  to  subject  the 
Gentiles  to  servitude  to  Israel,  contrasts  strongly  with 
the  temper  of  many  exilic  and  post-exilic  prophecies  ;  ^ 
while  the  position  which  it  demands  for  Jehovah  and 
His  religion  is  quite  consistent  with  the  fundamental 
principles  of  earlier  prophecy.  The  passage  really 
claims  no  more  than  a  suzerainty  of  Jehovah  over  the 
heathen  tribes,  with  the  result  only  that  their  war 
with  Israel  and  with  one  another  shall  cease,  not 
that  they  shall  become,  as  the  great  prophecy  of  the 
Exile  demands,  tributaries  and  servitors.  Such  a  claim 
was  no  more  than  the  natural  deduction  from  the  early 
prophets'  belief  of  Jehovah's  supremacy  in  righteous- 
ness. And  although  Amos  had  not  driven  the  principle 
so  far  as  to  promise  the  absolute  cessation  of  war,  he 
also  had  recognised  in  the  most  unmistakable  fashion 
the  responsibility  of  the  Gentiles  to  Jehovah,  and  His 
supreme  arbitrament  upon  them.^     And  Isaiah  himself, 

*  So  rightly  Duhm  on  Isa.  ii.  2-4. 

'  Amos  i.  and  ii.     See  above,  pp.  124,  l^. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MICAH  367 

in  his  prophecy  on  Tyre,  promised  a  still  more 
complete  subjection  of  the  life  of  the  heathen  to  the 
service  of  Jehovah.^  Moreover  the  fifth  verse  of  the 
passage  in  Micah  (though  it  is  true  its  connection 
with  the  previous  four  is  not  apparent)  is  much  more 
in  harmony  with  pre-exilic  than  with  post-exilic 
prophecy  :  All  the  nations  shall  walk  each  in  the  name 
of  his  god,  and  we  shall  walk  in  the  name  of  Jehovah  our 
God  for  ever  and  aye.  This  is  consistent  with  more 
than  one  prophetic  utterance  before  the  Exile/  but  it 
is  not  consistent  with  the  beliefs  of  Judaism  after  the 
Exile.  Finally,  the  great  triumph  achieved  for  Jeru- 
salem in  701  is  quite  sufficient  to  have  prompted  the 
feelings  expressed  by  this  passage  for  the  mountain  of 
the  house  of  the  Lord;  though  if  we  are  to  bring  it 
down  to  a  date  subsequent  to  701,  we  must  rearrange 
our  views  with  regard  to  the  date  and  meaning  of  the 
second  chapter  of  Isaiah.  In  Micah  the  passage  is 
obviously  devoid  of  all  connection,  not  only  with  the 
previous  chapter,  but  with  the  subsequent  verses  of 
chap.  iv.  The  possibility  of  a  date  in  the  eighth  or 
beginning  of  the  seventh  century  is  all  that  we  can 
determine  with  regard  to  it ;  the  other  questions  must 
remain  in  obscurity. 

2.  Verses  6,  7,  may  refer  to  the  Captivity  of  Northern 
Israel,  the  prophet  adding  that  when  it  shall  be  re- 
stored the  united  kingdom  shall  be  governed  from 
Mount  Zion  ;  but  a  date  during  the  Exile  is,  of  course, 
equally  probable. 

3.  Verses  8-13  contain  a  series  of  small  pictures  of 
Jerusalem  in  siege,  from  which,  however,    she  issues 


•  Isa.  xxiii.  17  f.  *  Jer.  xvii. 


368  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

triumphant.^  It  is  impossible  to  say  whether  such  a 
siege  is  actually  in  course  while  the  prophet  writes,  or 
is  pictured  by  him  as  inevitable  in  the  near  future. 
The  words  thou  shall  go  to  Babylon  may  be,  but  are  not 
necessarily,  a  gloss. 

4.  Chap.  iv.  14 — V.  8  again  pictures  such  a  siege  of 
Jerusalem,  but  promises  a  Deliverer  out  of  Bethlehem, 
the  city  of  David.^  Sufficient  heroes  will  be  raised  up 
along  with  him  to  drive  the  Assyrians  from  the  land, 
and  what  is  left  of  Israel  after  all  these  disasters  shall 
prove  a  powerful  and  sovereign  influence  upon  the 
peoples.  These  verses  were  probably  not  all  uttered 
at  the  same  time. 

5.  Verses  9-14. — In  prospect  of  such  a  deliverance 
the  prophet  returns  to  what  chap.  i.  has  already 
described  and  Isaiah  frequently  emphasises  as  the  sin 
of  Judah — her  armaments  and  fortresses,  her  magic  and 
idolatries,  the  things  she  trusted  in  instead  of  Jehovah. 
They  will  no  more  be  necessary,  and  will  disappear. 
The  nations  that  serve  not  Jehovah  will  feel  His  wrath. 

In  all  these  oracles  there  is  nothing  inconsistent 
with  authorship  in  the  eighth  century  :  there  is  much 
that  witnesses  to  this  date.  Everything  that  they 
threaten  or  promise  is  threatened  or  promised  by 
Hosea  and  by  Isaiah,  with  the  exception  of  the  destruc- 
tion (in  ver.    12)  of  the  Mag^eboth,   or  sacred  pillars, 

'  Wellhausen  indeed  thinks  that  ver.  8  presupposes  that  Jerusalem 
s  already  devastated,  reduced  to  the  state  of  a  shepherd's  tower 
in  the  wilderness.  This,  however,  is  incorrect.  The  verse  implies 
only  that  the  whole  country  is  overrun  by  the  loe,  Jerusalem  alone 
standing,  with  the  flock  of  God  in  it,  like  a  fortified  fold  (cf  Isaiah  i.). 
Roorda,  reasoning  from  the  Greek  text,  takes  House  of  Ephratha 
as  the  original  reading,  with  Bethlehem  added  later ;  and  Hitzig 
properly  reads  Ephrath,  giving  its  final  letter  to  the  next  word 
which  improves  the  grammar,  thus  :   I^UVH  HIDX 


THE  BOOK  OF  MICAH  369 

against  which  we  find  no  sentence  going  forth  from 
Jehovah  before  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy,  while  Isaiah 
distinctly  promises  the  erection  of  a  Mag9ebah  to 
Jehovah  in  the  land  of  Egypt.^  But  waiving  for  the 
present  the  possibility  of  a  date  for  Deuteronomy,  or  for 
part  of  it,  in  the  reign  of  Hezekiah,  we  must  remember 
the  destruction,  which  took  place  under  this  king,  of 
idolatrous  sanctuaries  in  Judah,  and  feel  also  that,  in 
spite  of  such  a  reform,  it  was  quite  possible  for  Isaiah 
to  introduce  a  Ma9gebah  into  his  poetic  vision  of  the 
worship  of  Jehovah  in  Egypt.  For  has  he  not  also 
dared  to  say  that  the  harlofs  hire  of  the  Phoenician 
commerce  shall  one  day  be  consecrated  to  Jehovah  ? 

Third  Section  :   Chaps.  VI.,  VII. 

The  style  now  changes.  We  have  had  hitherto  a 
series  of  short  oracles,  as  if  delivered  orally.  These 
are  succeeded  by  a  series  of  conferences  or  arguments, 
by  several  speakers.  Ewald  accounts  for  the  change 
by  supposing  that  the  latter  date  from  a  time  of  perse- 
cution, when  the  prophet,  unable  to  speak  in  public, 
uttered  himself  in  literature.  But  chap.  i.  is  also 
dramatic. 

I.  Chap.  vi.  1-8. — An  argument  in  which  the  prophet 
as  herald  calls  on  the  hills  to  listen  to  Jehovah's  case 
against  the  people  (i,  2).  Jehovah  Himself  appeals  to 
the  latter,  and  in  a  style  similar  to  Hosea's  cites  His 
deeds  in  their  history,  as  evidence  of  what  He  seeks 
from  them  (3-5).  The  people,  presumably  penitent,  ask 
how  they  shall  come  before  Jehovah  (6,  7).  And  the 
prophet  tells  them  what  Jehovah  has  decla\-ed  in  the 
matter   (8).     Opening   very    much    like    Micah's   first 

*  Isa.  xix,  19. 
VOL.  I.  24 


370  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

oracle  (chap.  i.  i),  this  argument  contains  nothing 
strange  either  to  Micah  or  the  eighth  century.  Excep- 
tion has  been  taken  to  the  reference  in  ver.  7  to  the 
sacrifice  of  the  first-born,  which  appears  to  have 
become  more  common  from  the  gloomy  age  of  Manasseh 
onwards,  and  which,  therefore,  led  Ewald  to  date  all 
chaps,  vi.  and  vii.  from  that  king's  reign.  But  child- 
sacrifice  is  stated  simply  as  a  possibility,  and — occurring 
as  it  does  at  the  climax  of  the  sentence — as  an  extreme 
possibility.^  I  see  no  necessity,  therefore,  to  deny  the 
piece  to  Micah  or  the  reign  of  Hezekiah.  Of  those 
who  place  it  under  Manasseh,  some,  like  Driver,  still 
reserve  it  to  Micah  himself,  whom  they  suppose  to 
have  survived  Hezekiah  and  seen  the  evil  days  which 
followed. 

2.  Verses  9-16. — Most  expositors*  take  these  verses 
along  with  the  previous  eight,  as  well  as  with  the  six 
which  follow  in  chap.  vii.  But  there  is  no  connection 
between  verses  8  and  9  ;  and  9-16  are  better  taken  by 
themselves.  The  prophet  heralds,  as  before,  the  speech 
of  Jehovah  to  tribe  and  city  (9).  Addressing  Jerusalem, 
Jehovah  asks  how  He  can  forgive  such  fraud  and 
violence  as  those  by  which  her  wealth  has  been  gathered 
(10-12).  Then  addressing  the  people  (note  the  change 
from  feminine  to  masculine  in  the  second  personal  pro- 
nouns) He  tells  them  He  must  smite ;  they  shall  not 
enjoy  the  fruit  of  their  labours  (14,  15).  They  have 
sinned  the  sins  of  Omri  and  the  house  of  Ahab  (query — 
should  it  not  be  of  Ahab  and  the  house  of  Omri  ?),  so 
that  they  must  be  put  to  shame  before  the  Gentiles  (16). 
In  this  section  three  or  four  words  have  been  marked 

'  So  also  Wellhausen. 

■  E.g.  Ewald  and  Driver. 

•  For  ^J2i;  read  D^DI?  with  the  LXX. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MIC  AH  371 

as  of  late  Hebrew.^  But  this  is  uncertain,  and  the  infer- 
ence made  from  it  precarious.  The  deeds  of  Omri  and 
Ahab's  house  have  been  understood  as  the  persecution 
of  the  adherents  of  Jehovah,  and  the  passage  has, 
therefore,  been  assigned  by  Ewald  and  others  to  the 
reign  of  the  tyrant  Manasseh.  But  such  habits  of 
persecution  could  hardly  be  imputed  to  the  City  or 
People  as  a  whole ;  and  we  may  conclude  that  the 
passage  means  some  other  of  that  notorious  dynasty's 
sins.  Among  these,  as  is  well  known,  it  is  possible  to 
make  a  large  selection — the  favouring  of  idolatry,  or 
the  tyrannous  absorption  by  the  rich  of  the  land  of 
the  poor  (as  in  Naboth's  case),  a  sin  which  Micah  has 
already  marked  as  that  of  his  age.  The  whole  treat- 
ment of  the  subject,  too,  whether  under  the  head  of  the 
sin  or  its  punishment,  strongly  resembles  the  style  and 
temper  of  Amos.  It  is,  therefore,  by  no  means  imposs- 
ible for  this  passage  also  to  have  been  Micah's,  and 
we  must  accordingly  leave  the  question  of  its  date 
undecided.  Certainly  we  are  not  shut  up,  as  the 
majority  of  modern  critics  suppose,  to  a  date  under 
Manasseh  or  Amon. 

3.  Chap.  vii.  1-6. — These  verses  are  spoken  by  the 
prophet  in  his  own  name  or  that  of  the  people's.  The 
land  is  devastated  ;  the  righteous  have  disappeared  ; 
everybody  is  in  ambush  to  commit  deeds  of  violence 
and  take  his  neighbour  unawares.  There  is  no  justice  : 
the  great  ones  of  the  land  are  free  to  do  what  they 
like  ;  they  have  intrigued  with  and  bribed  the  autho- 

'  Wellhausen  states  four.  But  IT'ti'iri  of  ver.  9  is  an  uncertain 
reading.  JT'D")  is  found  in  Hosea  vii.  16,  though  the  text  of  this,  it  is 
true,  is  corrupt.  HDT  in  another  verbal  form  is  found  in  Isa.  i.  16. 
There  only  remains  HtO^D,  but  again  it  is  uncertain  whether  we  should 
take  this  in  its  late  sense  of  tribe. 


372  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

rities.  Informers  have  crept  in  everywhere.  Men 
must  be  silent,  for  the  members  of  their  own  famihes 
are  their  foes.  Some  of  these  sins  have  ah-eady  been 
marked  by  Micah  as  those  of  his  age  (chap,  ii.),  but 
the  others  point  rather  to  a  time  of  persecution  such 
as  that  under  Manasseh.  Wellhausen  remarks  the 
similarity  to  the  state  of  affairs  described  in  Mai.  iii.  24 
and  in  some  Psalms.     We  cannot  fix  the  date. 

4.  Verses  7-20. — This  passage  starts  from  a  totally 
different  temper  of  prophecy,  and  presumably,  therefore, 
from  very  different  circumstances.  Israel,  as  a  whole, 
speaks  in  penitence.  She  has  sinned,  and  bows  herself 
to  the  consequences,  but  in  hope.  A  day  shall  come 
when  her  exiles  shall  return  and  the  heathen  acknow- 
ledge her  God.  The  passage,  and  with  it  the  Book  of 
Micah,  concludes  by  apostrophising  Jehovah  as  the 
God  of  forgiveness  and  grace  to  His  people.  Ewald, 
and  following  him  Driver,  assign  the  passage,  with 
those  which  precede  it,  to  the  times  of  Manasseh,  in 
which  of  course  it  is  possible  that  Micah  was  still 
active,  though  Ewald  supposes  a  younger  and  anony- 
mous prophet  as  the  author.  Wellhausen  ^  goes  further, 
and,  while  recognising  that  the  situation  and  temper  of 
the  passage  resemble  those  of  Isaiah  xl.  ff.,  is  inclined 
to  bring  it  even  further  down  to  post-exilic  times, 
because  of  the  universal  character  of  the  Diaspora. 
Driver  objects  to  these  inferences,  and  maintains  that 
a  prophet  in  the  time  of  Manasseh,  thinking  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem  to  be  nearer  than  it  actually  was,  may 
easily  have  pictured  it  as  having  taken  place,  and  put 
an  ideal  confession  in  the  mouth  of  the  people.  It 
seems  to  me  that  all  these  critics  have  failed  to  appre- 
ciate a  piece  of  evidence  even  more  remarkable  than 

'  And  also  Giesebrecht,  Beitriige,  p.  217. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MICAH  373 

any  they  have  insisted  on  in  their  argument  for  a  late 
date.  This  is,  that  the  passage  speaics  of  a  restoration 
of  the  people  only  to  Bashan  and  Gilead,  the  pro- 
vinces overrun  by  Tiglath-Pileser  III.  in  734.  It  is 
not  possible  to  explain  such  a  limitation  either  by  the 
circumstances  of  Manasseh's  time  or  by  those  of  the 
Exile.  In  the  former  surely  Samaria  would  have  been 
included ;  in  the  latter  Zion  and  Judah  would  have 
been  emphasised  before  any  other  region.  It  would 
be  easy  for  the  defenders  of  a  post-exilic  date,  and 
especially  of  a  date  much  subsequent  to  the  Exile, 
to  account  for  a  longing  after  Bashan  and  Gilead, 
though  they  also  would  have  to  meet  the  objection 
that  Samaria  or  Ephraim  is  not  mentioned.  But  how 
natural  it  would  be  for  a  prophet  writing  soon  after 
the  captivity  of  Tiglath-Pileser  III.  to  make  this  pre- 
cise selection  I  And  although  there  remain  difficulties 
(arising  from  the  temper  and  language  of  the  passage) 
in  the  way  of  assigning  all  of  it  to  Micah  or  his  con- 
temporaries, I  feel  that  on  the  geographical  allusions 
much  can  be  said  for  the  origin  of  this  part  of  the 
passage  in  their  age,  or  even  in  an  age  still  earlier :  that 
of  the  Syrian  wars  in  the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  with 
which  there  is  nothing  inconsistent  either  in  the  spirit 
or  the  language  of  vv.  14-17.  And  I  am  sure  that  if 
the  defenders  of  a  late  date  had  found  a  selection  of 
districts  as  suitable  to  the  post-exilic  circumstances 
of  Israel  as  the  selection  of  Bashan  and  Gilead  is  to 
the  circumstances  of  the  eighth  century,  they  would, 
instead  of  ignoring  it,  have  emphasised  it  as  a  con- 
clusive confirmation  of  their  theory.  On  the  other 
hand,  ver.  1 1  can  date  only  from  the  Exile,  or  the  fol- 
lowing years,  before  Jerusalem  was  rebuilt.  Again, 
vv.   18-20  appear  to  stand  by  themselves. 


374  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 


It  seems  likely,  therefore,  that  chap.  vii.  7-20  is  a 
Psalm  composed  of  little  pieces  from  various  dates, 
which,  combined,  give  us  a  picture  of  the  secular  sor- 
rows of  Israel,  and  of  the  conscience  she  ultimately  felt 
in  them,  and  conclude  by  a  doxology  to  the  everlasting 
mercies  of  her  God. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

MICAH  THE  MORASTHITE 

MiCAH  i. 

SOME  time  in  the  reign  of  Hezekiah,  when  the 
kingdom  of  Judah  was  still  inviolate,  but  shivering 
to  the  shock  of  the  fall  of  Samaria,  and  probably  while 
Sargon  the  destroyer  was  pushing  his  way  past  Judah 
to  meet  Egypt  at  Raphia,  a  Judaean  prophet  of  the 
name  of  Micah,  standing  in  sight  of  the  Assyrian  march, 
attacked  the  sins  of  his  people  and  prophesied  their 
speedy  overthrow  beneath  the  same  flood  of  war.  If 
we  be  coiTect  in  our  surmise,  the  exact  year  was 
720 — 719  B.C.  Amos  had  been  silent  thirty  years, 
Hosea  hardly  fifteen ;  Isaiah  was  in  the  midway  of 
his  career.  The  title  of  Micah's  book  asserts  that  he 
had  previously  prophesied  under  Jotham  and  Ahaz, 
and  though  we  have  seen  it  to  be  possible,  it  is  by  no 
means  proved,  that  certain  passages  of  the  book  date 
from  these  reigns. 

Micah  is  called  the  Morasthite.*  For  this  designation 
there  appears  to  be  no  other  meaning  than  that  of  a 
native  of  Moresheth-Gath,  a  village  mentioned  by  him- 
self.* It  signifies  Property  or  Territory  of  Gath,  and 
after  the  fall  of  the  latter,  which   from  this  time  no 

'  Micah  i. ;  Jer.  xxvi.  18.  *  i.  14. 

375 


376  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

more  appears  in  history,  Moresheth  may  have  been 
used  alone.  Compare  the  analogous  cases  of  Helkath 
{portion  of- — )  Galilee,  Ataroth,  ChesuUoth  and  lim.^ 

In  our  ignorance  of  Gath's  position,  we  should  be 
equally  at  fault  about  Moresheth,  for  the  name  has 
vanished,  were  it  not  for  one  or  two  plausible  pieces 
of  evidence.  Belonging  to  Gath,  Moresheth  must  have 
lain  near  the  Philistine  border :  the  towns  among 
which  Micah  includes  it  are  situate  in  that  region ; 
and  Jerome  declares  that  the  name — though  the  form, 
Morasthi,  in  which  he  cites  it  is  suspicious — was  in  his 
time  still  extant  in  a  small  village  to  the  east  of  Eleu- 
theropolis  or  Beit-Jibrin.  Jerome  cites  Morasthi  as 
distinct  from  the  neighbouring  Mareshah,  which  is  also 
quoted  by  Micah  beside  Moresheth-Gath.^ 

Moresheth  was,  therefore,  a  place  in  the  Shephelah, 
or  range  of  low  hills  which  lie  between  the  hill-country 
of  Judah  and  the  Philistine  plain.  It  is  the  opposite 
exposure  from  the  wilderness  of  Tekoa,^  some  seven- 
teen miles  away  across  the  watershed.  As  the  home 
of  Amos  is  bare  and  desert,  so  the  home  of  Micah 
is    fair   and    fertile.      The    irregular    chalk    hills    are 

'  Ataroth  (Numb,  xxxii.  3)  is  Atroth-Shophan  (/'6.  35) ;  ChesuUoth 
(Josh.  xix.  18)  is  Chisloth-Tabor  {ib.  12);  lim  (Numb,  xxxiii.  45)  is 
lye-Abarim  {ib.  44). 

*  "Michaeam  de  Morasthi  qui  usque  hodie  juxta  Eleutheropolim, 
baud  grandis  est  viculus." — Jerome,  Preface  to  Micha.  "Morasthi,  unde 
fuit  Micheas  propheta,  est  autem  vicus  contra  orientem  Eleuthero- 
poleos." — Onotnasticon,  which  also  gives  "  Maresa,  in  tribu  Juda ; 
cuius  nunc  tantummodo  sunt  ruinae  in  secundo  lapide  Eleuthero- 
poleos."  See,  too,  the  Epitaphium  S.  Paulce :  "  Videam  Morasthim 
sepulchrum  quondam  Michaese,  nunc  ecclesiam,  et  ex  latere  dere- 
Hnquam  Chorseos,  et  Gitthaeos  et  Maresam."  The  occurrence  of  a 
place  bearing  the  name  Property-of-Gath  so  close  to  Beit-Jibrin 
certainly  strengthens  the  claims  of  the  latter  to  be  Gath.  See 
Htst.  Geog.,  p.  196.  '  See  above,  pp.  74  ff. 


Micahi.]  MICAH   THE  MORASTHITE  377 

separated  by  broad  glens,  in  which  the  soil  is  alluvial 
and  red,  with  room  for  cornfields  on  either  side  of 
the  perennial  or  almost  perennial  streams.  The  olive 
groves  on  the  braes  are  finer  than  either  those  of 
the  plain  below  or  of  the  Judaean  tableland  above. 
There  is  herbage  for  cattle.  Bees  murmur  every- 
where, larks  are  singing,  and  although  to-day  you 
may  wander  in  the  maze  of  hills  for  hours  without 
meeting  a  man  or  seeing  a  house,  you  are  never  out 
of  sight  of  the  traces  of  ancient  habitation,  and  seldom 
be3'ond  sound  of  the  human  voice — shepherds  and 
ploughmen  calling  to  their  flocks  and  to  each  other 
across  the  glens.  There  are  none  of  the  conditions  or 
of  the  occasions  of  a  large  town.  But,  like  the  south 
of  England,  the  country  is  one  of  villages  and  home- 
steads, breeding  good  yeomen — men  satisfied  and  in 
love  with  their  soil,  yet  borderers  with  a  far  outlook 
and  a  keen  vigilance  and  sensibility.  The  Shephelah 
is  sufficiently  detached  from  the  capital  and  body  of  the 
land  to  beget  in  her  sons  an  independence  of  mind  and 
feeling,  but  so  much  upon  the  edge  of  the  open  world 
as  to  endue  them  at  the  same  time  with  that  sense 
of  the  responsibilities  of  warfare,  which  the  national 
statesmen,  aloof  and  at  ease  in  Zion,  could  not  possibly 
have  shared. 

Upon  one  of  the  westmost  terraces  of  this  Shephelah, 
nearly  a  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  lay  Moresheth 
itself.  There  is  a  great  view  across  the  undulating 
plain  with  its  towns  and  fortresses,  Lachish,  Eglon, 
Shaphir  and  others,  beyond  which  runs  the  coast  road, 
the  famous  war-path  between  Asia  and  Africa.  Ashdod 
and  Gaza  are  hardly  discernible  against  the  glitter  of 
the  sea,  twenty-two  miles  away.  Behind  roll  the  round 
bush-covered  hills  of  the  Shephelah,  v»^ith  David's  hold 


378  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

at  Adullam,*  the  field  where  he  fought  Goliath,  and 
many  another  scene  of  border  warfare ;  while  over 
them  rises  the  high  wall  of  the  Judaean  plateau, 
with  the  defiles  breaking  through  it  to  Hebron  and 
Bethlehem. 

The  valley-mouth  near  which  Moresheth  stands  has 
always  formed  the  south-western  gateway  of  Judaea, 
the  Philistine  or  Egyptian  gate,  as  it  might  be  called, 
with  its  outpost  at  Lachish,  twelve  miles  across  the 
plain.  Roads  converge  upon  this  valley-mouth  from 
all  points  of  the  compass.  Beit-Jibrin,  which  lies  in  it, 
is  midway  between  Jerusalem  and  Gaza,  about  twenty- 
five  miles  from  either,  nineteen  miles  from  Bethlehem 
and  thirteen  from  Hebron.  Visit  the  place  at  any 
point  of  the  long  history  of  Palestine,  and  you  find  it 
either  full  of  passengers  or  a  centre  of  campaign. 
Asa  defeated  the  Ethiopians  here.  The  Maccabees 
and  John  Hyrcanus  contested  Mareshah,  two  miles 
off,  with  the  Idumeans.  Gabinius  fortified  Mareshah. 
Vespasian  and  Saladin  both  deemed  the  occupation  of 
the  valley  necessary  before  they  marched  upon  Jeru- 
salem. Septimius  Severus  made  Beit-Jibrin  the  capital 
of  the  Shephelah,  and  laid  out  military  roads,  whose 
pavements  still  radiate  from  it  in  all  directions.  The 
Onomasticon  measures  distances  in  the  Shephelah  from 
Beit-Jibrin.  Most  of  the  early  pilgrims  from  Jerusalem 
by  Gaza  to  Sinai  or  Egypt  passed  through  it,  and  it  was 
a  centre  of  Crusading  operations  whether  against  Egypt 
during  the  Latin  kingdom  or  against  Jerusalem  during 
the  Third  Crusade.  Not  different  was  the  place  in  the 
time   of  Micah.     Micah  must  have  seen   pass  by  his 

'  For  the  situation  of  Adullam  in  the  Shephelah  see  Hist.  Geog., 
p.  229. 


Micahi.]  MICAH   THE  MORASTHITE  379 

door  the  frequent  embassies  which  Isaiah  tells  us  went 
down  to  Egypt  from  Hezekiah's  court,  and  seen  return 
those  Egyptian  subsidies  in  which  a  foolish  people  put 
their  trust  instead  of  in  their  God. 

In  touch,  then,  with  the  capital,  feeling  every  throb 
of  its  folly  and  its  panic,  but  standing  on  that  border 
which  must,  as  he  believed,  bear  the  brunt  of  the  in- 
vasion that  its  crimes  were  attracting,  Micah  lifted 
up  his  voice.  They  were  days  of  great  excitement. 
The  words  of  Amos  and  Hosea  had  been  fulfilled  upon 
Northern  Israel.  Should  Judah  escape,  whose  in- 
justice and  impurity  were  as  flagrant  as  her  sister's  ? 
It  were  vain  to  think  so.  The  Assyrians  had  come  up 
to  her  northern  border.  Isaiah  was  expecting  their 
assault  upon  Mount  Zion.^  The  Lord's  Controversy 
was  not  closed.  Micah  will  summon  the  whole  earth 
to  hear  the  old  indictment  and  the  still  unexhausted 
sentence. 

The  prophet  speaks : — 

Hear  ve,  peoples '  all; 

Hearken,  O  Earth,  and  her  fulness  f 

'  Isa.  X.  28  ff.  This  makes  it  quite  conceivable  that  Micah  i.  9, 
it  hath  struck  right  up  to  the  gate  of  Jerusalem,  was  composed 
immediately  after  the  fall  of  Samaria,  and  not,  as  Smend  imagines, 
during  the  campaign  of  Sennacherib.  Against  the  latter  date  there 
is  the  objection  that  by  then  the  fall  of  Samaria,  which  Micah  i.  6 
describes  as  present,  was  already  nearly  twenty  years  past. 

'  The  address  is  either  to  the  tribes,  in  which  case  we  must 
substitute  land  for  earth  in  the  next  line  ;  or  much  more  probably  it 
is  to  the  Gentile  nations,  but  in  this  case  we  caimot  translate  (as  all 
do)  in  the  third  line  that  the  Lord  will  be  a  witness  against  them, 
for  the  charge  is  only  against  Israel.  They  are  summoned  in  the 
same  sense  as  Amos  summons  a  few  of  the  nations  in  chap.  iii.  9  ft". 
— The  opening  words  of  Micah  are  original  to  this  passage,  and 
interpolated  in  the  exordium  of  the  other  Micah,  i  Kings  xxii.  28. 


38o  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

That  Jehovah  may  be  among  you  to  testify , 

The  Lord  from  His  holy  temple  ! 

For,  lo  I  Jehovah  goeth  forth  from  His  place  ; 

He  descendeth  and  marcheth  on  the  heights  of  the  earth} 

Molten  are  the  mountains  beneath  Him, 

And  the  valleys  gape  open. 

Like  wax  in  face  of  the  fire , 

Like  water  poured  over  a  fall. 

God  speaks  : — 

For  the  transgression  of  Jacob  is  all  this. 

And  for  the  sins  of  the  house  of  Israel 

What  is   the   transgression   of  Jacob  ?    is    it  not 

Samaria  ? 
And  what  is  the  sin  of  the  house '  of  Judah  ?  is  it 

not  Jerusalem  ? 
Therefore  do  I  turn  Samaria  into  a  ruin  of  the  field^ 
And  into  vineyard  terraces  ; 
And  I  pour  down  her  stones  to  the  glen, 
And  lay  bare  her  foundations} 
All  her  images  are  shattered, 
And  all  her  hires  are  being  burned  in  the  fire; 
And  all  her  idols  I  lay  desolate, 
For  from  the  hire  of  a  harlot  they  ivere  gathered,* 
And  to  a  harlofs  hire  they  return} 

'  Jehovah's  Temple  or  Place  is  not,  as  in  earlier  poems,  Sinai  or 
Seir  (cf.  Deborah's  song  and  Deut.  xxxiii.),  but  Heaven  (cf.  Isaiah 
xix.  or  Psalm  xxix.). 

•  So  LXX.  and  other  versions. 

•  Wellhausen's  objections  to  this  phrase  are  arbitrary  and  in- 
correct. A  ruin  in  the  midst  of  soil  gone  out  of  cultivation,  where 
before  there  had  been  a  city  among  vineyards,  is  a  striking  figure  of 
desolation. 

•  Which  is  precisely  how  Herod's  Samaria  lies  at  the  present  day. 

•  So  Ewald. 

•  It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  all  the  verbs  in  the  above  passage 


Micahi.]  MIC  AH  THE  MORASTHITE  381 

The  prophet  speaks  : — 

For  this  let  me  mourn,  let  me  wail, 

Let  me  go  barefoot  and  stripped  (of  my  robe), 

Let  me  make  lamentation  like  the  jackals, 

And  mourning  like  the  daughters  of  the  desert} 

For  her  stroke  ^  is  desperate; 

Yea,  it  hath  come  unto  fudah  / 

//  hath  smitten  right  up  to  the  gate  of  tny  people, 

Up  to  Jerusalem. 

Within  the  capital  itself  Isaiah  was  also  recording 
the  extension  of  the  Assyrian  invasion  to  its  walls, 
but  in  a  different  temper.^  He  was  full  of  the  exulting 
assurance  that,  although  at  the  very  gate,  the  Assyrian 
could  not  harm  the  city  of  Jehovah,  but  must  fall  when 
he  hfted  his  impious  hand  against  it.  Micah  has  no 
such  hope  :  he  is  overwhelmed  with  the  thought  of 
Jerusalem's  danger.  Provincial  though  he  be,  and  full 
of  wrath  at  the  danger  into  which  the  politicians  of 
Jerusalem  had  dragged  the  whole  country,  he  pro- 
foundly mourns  the  peril  of  the  capital,  the  gate  of  my 
people,  as  he  fondly  calls  her.  Therefore  we  must 
not  exaggerate  the  frequently  drawn  contrast  between 
Isaiah  and  himself.*  To  Micah  also  Jerusalem  was 
dear,  and  his  subsequent  prediction  of  her  overthrow  * 
ought   to   be  read    with    the   accent    of  this   previous 

may  as  correctly  be  given  in  the  fi'ture  tense;  in  that  case  the 
passage  will  be  dated  just  before  the  fall  of  Samaria,  in  722-1,  instead 
of  just  after. 

'  nJl?^  mJ3,  that  is,  the  ostriches  :  cf.  Arab,  wa  ana,  "  white,  barren 
ground."  The  Arabs  call  the  ostrich  "father  of  the  desert:  abu 
Sahara." 

'  LXX.  »  Isa.  X.  28  ff. 

^  It  is  well  put  by  Robertson  Smith's  Prophets  *,  pp.  289  flf. 

^  iii.  12. 


382  THE   TWELVE   PROPHETS 

mourning  for  her  peril.  Nevertheless  his  heart  clings 
most  to  his  own  home,  and  while  Isaiah  pictures  the 
Assyrian  entering  Judah  from  the  north  by  Migron, 
Michmash  and  Nob,  Micah  anticipates  invasion  by  the 
opposite  gateway  of  the  land,  at  the  door  of  his  own 
village.  His  elegy  sweeps  across  the  landscape  so 
dear  to  him.  This  obscure  province  was  even  more 
than  Jerusalem  his  world,  the  world  of  his  heart. 
It  gives  us  a  living  interest  in  the  man  that  the  fate 
of  these  small  villages,  many  of  them  vanished,  should 
excite  in  him  more  passion  than  the  fortunes  of  Zion 
herself.  In  such  a  passion  we  can  incarnate  his  spirit. 
Micah  is  no  longer  a  book,  or  an  oration,  but  flesh 
and  blood  upon  a  home  and  a  countryside  of  his  own. 
We  see  him  on  his  housetop  pouring  forth  his  words 
before  the  hills  and  the  far- stretching  heathen  land. 
In  the  name  of  every  village  within  sight  he  reads 
a  symbol  of  the  curse  that  is  coming  upon  his 
country,  and  of  the  sins  that  have  earned  the  curse. 
So  some  of  the  greatest  poets  have  caught  their  music 
from  the  nameless  brooklets  of  their  boyhood's  fields  ; 
and  many  a  prophet  has  learned  to  read  the  tragedy 
of  man  and  God's  verdict  upon  sin  in  his  experience 
of  village  life.  But  there  was  more  than  feeling  in 
Micah's  choice  of  his  own  country  as  the  scene  of  the 
Ass3Tian  invasion.  He  had  better  reasons  for  his 
fears  than  Isaiah,  who  imagined  the  approach  of  the 
Assyrian  from  the  north.  For  it  is  remarkable  how 
invaders  of  Judaea,  from  Sennacherib  to  Vespasian  and 
from  Vespasian  to  Saladin  and  Richard,  have  shunned 
the  northern  access  to  Jerusalem  and  endeavoured  to 
reach  her  by  the  very  gateway  at  which  Micah  stood 
mourning.  He  had,  too,  this  greater  motive  for  his 
fear,  that  Sargon,  as  we  have  seen,  was  actually  in 


MicahL]  MICAH   THE  MORASTHITE  383 

.he  neighbourhood,  marching  to  the  defeat  of  Judah's 
chosen  patron,  Egypt.  Was  it  not  probable  that,  when 
the  latter  was  overthrown,  Sargon  would  turn  back 
upon  Judah  by  Lachish  and  Mareshah?  If  we  keep  this 
in  mind  we  shall  appreciate,  not  only  the  fond  anxiety, 
but  the  political  foresight  that  inspires  the  following 
passage,  which  is  to  our  Western  taste  so  strangely 
cast  in  a  series  of  plays  upon  place-names.  The  dis- 
appearance of  many  of  these  names,  and  our  ignorance 
of  the  transactions  to  which  the  verses  allude,  often 
render  both  the  text  and  the  meaning  very  uncertain. 
Micah  begins  with  the  well-known  play  upon  the  name 
of  Gath  ;  the  Acco  which  he  couples  with  it  is  either 
the  Phoenician  port  to  the  north  of  Carmel,  the  modern 
Acre,  or  some  Philistine  town,  unknown  to  us,  but 
in  any  case  the  line  forms  with  the  previous  one  an 
intelligible  couplet :  Tell  it  not  in  Tell-town ;  Weep 
not  in  Weep-town.  The  following  Beth-le-'Aphrah, 
House  of  Dust,  must  be  taken  with  them,  for  in  the 
phrase  roll  thyself  there  is  a  play  upon  the  name 
Philistine.  So,  too,  Shaphir,  or  Beauty,  the  modern 
Suafir,  lay  in  the  Philistine  region.  Sa'anan  and 
Beth-esel  and  Maroth  are  unknown ;  but  if  Micah,  as 
is  probable,  begins  his  list  far  away  on  the  western 
horizon  and  comes  gradually  inland,  they  also  are  to 
be  sought  for  on  the  maritime  plain.  Then  he  draws 
nearer  by  Lachish,  on  the  first  hills,  and  in  the  leading 
pass  towards  Judah,  to  Moresheth-Gath,  Achzib, 
Mareshah  and  Adullam,  which  all  lie  within  Israel's 
territory  and  about  the  prophet's  own  home.  We 
understand  the  allusion,  at  least,  to  Lachish  in  ver.  13. 
As  the  last  Judaean  outpost  towards  Egypt,  and  on  a 
main  road  thither,  Lachish  would  receive  the  Egyptian 
subsidies  of  horses   and   chariots,   in   which    the  poli- 


384  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

ticians  put  their  trust  instead  of  in  Jehovah,  Therefore 
she  was  the  beginning  of  sin  to  the  daughter  of  Zion. 
And  if  we  can  trust  the  text  of  ver.  14,  Lachish  would 
pass  on  the  Egyptian  ambassadors  to  Moresheth-Gath, 
the  next  stage  of  their  approach  to  Jerusalem.  But 
this  is  uncertain.  With  Moresheth-Gath  is  coupled 
Achzib,  a  town  at  some  distance  from  Jerome's  site  for 
the  former,  to  the  neighbourhood  of  which,  Mareshah, 
we  are  brought  back  again  in  ver.  15.  Adullam,  with 
which  the  list  closes,  lies  some  eight  or  ten  miles  to 
the  north-east  of  Mareshah. 
The  prophet  speaks  : — 

Tell  it  not  in  Gath, 

Weep  not  in  Acco^ 

In  Beth-le-  Aphrah  ^  roll  thyself  in  dust. 

Pass  over,  inhabitress  of  Shaphir^  thy  shame  un- 
covered ! 

The  inhabitress  of  Sa'anan  *  shall  not  march  forth  ; 

The  lamentation  of  Beth-esel  ^  taketh  from  you  its 
standing. 

The  inhabitress  of  Maroth  *  trembleth  for  good, 


'  LXX.  Iv  'AK€ifi ;  Heb.  "  weep  not  at  all." 

*  rriSy?  cannot  be  the  Ophrah,  n^Q^^  of  Benjamin.  It  may  be 
connected  with  IQ]}  a  gazelle ;  and  it  is  to  be  noted  that  S.  of 
Beit-Jibrin  there  is  a  wady  now  called  El-Ghufr,  the  corresponding 
Arabic  word.  But,  as  stated  in  the  text  above,  the  name  ought  to  be 
one  of  a  Philistine  town. 

*  Beauty  town.  This  is  usually  taken  to  be  the  modern  Suafir  on 
the  Philistine  plain,  4^  miles  S.E.  of  Ashdod,  a  site  not  unsuitable 
for  identification  with  the  Xacpeip  of  the  Onont.,  "  between  Eleuthero- 
polls  and  Ascalon,"  except  that  'Za<j)iip  is  also  described  as  "  in  the  hill 
country."  Gu^rin  found  the  name  Safar  a  very  little  N.  of  Beit- 
Jibrin  (Jttde'e,  II.  317). 

*  March-town  :  perhaps  the  same  as  Senan  (J5V)  of  Josh.  xv.  37  ; 
given  along  with  Migdal-Gad  and  Hadashah  ;  not  identified. 

'  Unknown.  '  "Bitternesses":  unknown. 


\ 


Micahi.]  MICAH   THE  MORASTHITE  385 

For  evil  hath  come  down  from  Jehovah  to  the  gate 

of  Jerusalem. 
Harness   the   horse   to   the   chariot,    inhabitress   of 

Lachish^ 
That  hast  been  the  beginning  of  sin  to  the  daughter 

of  Zion; 
Yea,  in  thee  are  found  the  transgressions  of  Israel. 
Therefore  thou  givest  .  .  .^  to  Moresheth-Gath : ' 
The  houses  of  Achzib*  shall  deceive  the  kings  of 

Israel. 
Again  shall  I  bring  the  Possessor  [conqueror"]  to  thee, 

inhabitress  of  Mareshah  ;  " 
To  Adullam  "  shall  come  the  glory  of  Israel. 
Make  thee  bald,  aftd  shave  thee  for  thy  darlings; 
Make  broad  thy  baldness  like  the  vulture, 
For  they  go  into  banishment  from  thee. 

This  was  the  terrible  fate  which  the  Assyrian  kept 
before  the  peoples  with  whom  he  was  at  war.  Other 
foes  raided,  burned  and  slew  :  he  carried  off  whole 
populations  into  exile. 

Having  thus  pictured  the  doom  which  threatened 
his  people,  Micah  turns  to  declare  the  sins  for  which 
it  has  been  sent  upon  them. 

'  Tell-el-Hesy. 

*  Ambassadors  or  letters  0/ dismissal. 

*  See  above,  p.  376. 

*  Josh.  XV.  44  ;  mentioned  with  Keilah  and  Mareshah ;  perhaps  the 
present  Ain  Kezbeh,  8  miles  N.N.E.  of  Beit-Jibrin. 

*  HK'ID  but  in  Josh.  xv.  44  ^C^'N'^D,  which  is  identical  with  spelling 
of  the  present  name  of  a  ruin  I  mile  S.  of  Beit-Jibrin.  lHap-qaa  is 
placed  by  Eusebius  (Onom.^  2  Roman  miles  S.  of  Eleutheropolis 
(=  Beit-Jibrin). 

*  6  miles  N.E.  of  Beit-Jibrin, 

VOL,  L  25 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

THE  PROPHET  OF  THE  POOR 

MiCAH  ii.,  iii. 

WE  have  proved  Micah's  love  for  his  countryside  in 
the  effusion  of  his  heart  upon  her  villages  with 
a  grief  for  their  danger  greater  than  his  grief  for  Jeru- 
salem, Now  in  his  ti'eatment  of  the  sins  which  give  that 
danger  its  fatal  significance,  he  is  inspired  by  the  same 
partiality  for  the  fields  and  the  folk  about  him.  While 
Isaiah  chiefly  satirises  the  fashions  of  the  town  and 
the  intrigues  of  the  court,  Micah  scourges  the  avarice 
of  the  landowner  and  the  injustice  which  oppresses  the 
peasant.  He  could  not,  of  course,  help  sharing  Isaiah's 
indignation  for  the  fatal  politics  of  the  capital,  any 
more  than  Isaiah  could  help  sharing  his  sense  of  the 
economic  dangers  of  the  provinces ;  ^  but  it  is  the  latter 
with  which  Micah  is  most  familiar  and  on  which  he 
spends  his  wrath.  These  so  engross  him,  indeed,  that 
he  says  almost  nothing  about  the  idolatry,  or  the 
luxury,  or  the  hideous  vice,  which,  according  to  Amos 
and  Hosea,  were  now  corrupting  the  nation. 

Social  wrongs  are  always  felt  most  acutely,  not  in 
the  town,  but  in  the  country.  It  was  so  in  the  days 
of  Rome,  whose  earliest  social  revolts  were  agrarian.^ 

'  Isa.  V.  8. 

*  Mr.  Congreve,  in  his  Essay  on  Slavery  appended  to  his  edition 
386 


\ 


Micah  ii.,  iii.]      THE  PROPHET  OF  THE  POOR  387 

It  was  SO  in  the  Middle  Ages  :  the  fourteenth  century 
saw  both  the  Jacquerie  in  France  and  the  Peasants' 
Rising  in  England  ;  Langland,  who  was  equally  familiar 
with  town  and  country,  expends  nearly  all  his  sympathy 
upon  the  poverty  of  the  latter,  "  the  poure  folk  in  cotes." 
It  was  so  after  the  Reformation,  under  the  new  spirit 
of  which  the  first  social  revolt  was  the  Peasants'  War 
in  Germany.  It  was  so  at  the  French  Revolution, 
which  began  with  the  march  of  the  starving  peasants 
into  Paris.  And  it  is  so  still,  for  our  new  era  of  social 
legislation  has  been  forced  open,  not  by  the  poor  of 
London  and  the  large  cities,  but  by  the  peasantry  of 
Ireland  and  the  crofters  of  the  Scottish  Highlands. 
Political  discontent  and  religious  heresy  take  their 
start  among  industrial  and  manufacturing  centres,  but 
the  first  springs  of  the  social  revolt  are  nearly  always 
found  among  rural  populations. 

Why  the  country  should  begin  to  feel  the  acuteness 
of  social  wrong  before  the  town  is  sufficiently  obvious. 
In  the  town  there  are  mitigations,  and  there  are  escapes. 
If  the  conditions  of  one  trade  become  oppressive,  it  is 
easier  to  pass  to  another.  The  workers  are  better 
educated  and  better  organised ;  there  is  a  middle  class, 
and  the  tyrant  dare  not  bring  matters  to  so  high  a 
crisis.  The  might  of  the  wealthy,  too,  is  divided  ;  the 
poor  man's  employer  is  seldom  at  the  same  time  his 
landlord.  But  in  the  country  power  easily  gathers  into 
the  hands  of  the  few.  The  labourer's  opportunities  and 
means  of  work,  his  home,  his  very  standing-ground,  are 
often   all  of  them   the  property  of  one   man.     In   the 


of  Aristotle's  Politics,  p.  496,  points  out  that  all  the  servile  wars  from 
which  Rome  suffered  arose,  not  in  the  capital,  but  in  the  provinces, 
notably  in  Sicily. 


388  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

country  the  rich  have  a  real  power  of  life  and  death, 
and  are  less  hampered  by  competition  with  each  other 
and  by  the  force  of  public  opinion.  One  man  cannot 
hold  a  city  in  fee,  but  one  man  can  affect  for  evil  or  for 
good  almost  as  large  a  population  as  a  city's,  when 
it  is  scattered  across  a  countryside. 

This  is  precisely  the  state  of  wrong  which  Micah 
attacks.  The  social  changes  of  the  eighth  century  in 
Israel  were  peculiarly  favourable  to  its  growth.^  The 
enormous  increase  of  money  which  had  been  produced 
by  the  trade  of  Uzziah's  reign  threatened  to  over- 
whelm the  simple  economy  under  which  every  family 
had  its  croft.  As  in  many  another  land  and  period, 
the  social  problem  was  the  descent  of  wealthy  men, 
land-hungry,  upon  the  rural  districts.  They  made  the 
poor  their  debtors,  and  bought  out  the  peasant  pro- 
prietors. They  absorbed  into  their  power  numbers  of 
homes,  and  had  at  their  individual  disposal  the  lives 
and  the  happiness  of  thousands  of  their  fellow-country- 
men. Isaiah  had  cried,  Woe  upon  them  that  join  house 
to  house,  that  lay  field  to  field,  till  there  be  no  room  for  the 
common  people,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  rural  districts 
grow  fewer  and  fewer.^  Micah  pictures  the  recklessness 
of  those  plutocrats — the  fatal  ease  with  which  their 
wealth  enabled  them  to  dispossess  the  yeomen  of 
Judah. 

The  prophet  speaks  : — 

Woe  to  them  that  plan  mischief 

And  on  their  beds  work  out  evil! 

As  soon  as  morning  breaks  they  put  it  into  execution, 

For — it  lies  to  the  power  of  their  hands  I 


*  See  above,  pp.  32  ff.  *  Isa,  v.  8. 


Micah  ii.,  iii.J      THE  PROPHET  OF  THE  POOR  389 

They  covet  fields  and — seize  them, 
Houses  and — lift  them  up. 
So  they  crush  a  good  man  and  his  home, 
A  man  and  his  heritage. 

This  is  the  evil — the  ease  with  which  wrong  is  done 
in  the  country  1  It  lies  to  the  power  of  their  hands : 
they  covet  and  seize.  And  what  is  it  that  they  get  so 
easily — not  merely  field  and  house,  so  much  land  and 
stone  and  lime :  it  is  human  life,  with  all  that  makes 
up  personal  independence,  and  the  security  of  home 
and  of  the  family.  That  these  should  be  at  the  mercy 
of  the  passion  or  the  caprice  of  one  man — this  is  what 
stirs  the  prophet's  indignation.  We  shall  presently 
see  how  the  tyranny  of  wealth  was  aided  by  the 
bribed  and  unjust  judges  of  the  country;  and  how, 
growing  reckless,  the  rich  betook  themselves,  as  the 
lords  of  the  feudal  system  in  Europe  continually  did, 
to  the  basest  of  assaults  upon  the  persons  of  peaceful 
men  and  women.  But  meantime  Micah  feels  that  by 
themselves  the  economic  wrongs  explain  and  justify  the 
doom  impending  on  the  nation.  When  this  doom  falls, 
by  the  Divine  irony  of  God  it  shall  take  the  form  of  a 
conquest  of  the  land  by  the  heathen,  and  the  disposal 
of  these  great  estates  to  the  foreigner. 

The  prophet  speaks  : — 

Therefore  thus  saith  Jehovah  : 

Behold,  I  am  planning  evil  against  this  race^ 

From  which  ye  shall  not  withdraw  your  necks, 

Nor  walk  upright ; 

For  an  evil  time  it  is  /  * 


•  Cf.  Amos  V.  13. 


390  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

In  that  day  shall  they  raise  a  taunt-song  against 

you, 
And  wail  out  the  wailing  ("It  is  done  ");^  and  say, 
"  We  be  utterly  undone : 
My  people^s  estate  is  measured  off  I ' 
How  they  take  it  away  from  me  /' 
To  the  rebel  our  fields  are  allotted!^ 
So  thou  shalt  have  none  to  cast  the  line  by  lot 
In  the  congregation  of  Jehovah. 

No  restoration  at  time  of  Jubilee  for  lands  taken  away 
in  this  fashion  1  1  here  will  be  no  congregation  of 
Jehovah  left  1 

At  this  point  the  prophet's  pessimist  discourse,  that 
must  have  galled  the  rich,  is  interrupted  by  their 
clamour  to  him  to  stop. 

The  rich  speak  : — 

Prate  not,  they  prate,  let  none  prate  of  such  things  ! 
Revilings  will  never  cease  ! 
O  thou  that  speakest  thus  to  the  house  of  Jacob, ^ 
Is  the  spirit  of  Jehovah  cut  short  ? 
Or  are  such  His  doings  ? 

Shall  not  His  words  mean  well  with  him  that  walketh 
uprightly  ? 

So  the  rich,  in  their  immoral  confidence  that  Jehovah 
was  neither  weakened  nor  could  permit  such  a  disaster 

'  "  Fuit."  But  whether  this  is  a  gloss,  as  of  the  name  of  the  dirge  or  of 
the  tune,  or  a  part  of  the  text,  is  uncertain.    Query  :  "lONI  rtPIJ*  nPIJI. 

^  So  LXX.,  and  adds  :  "  with  the  measuring  rope." 

'  Or  (after  the  LXX.)  tliere  is  none  to  give  it  back  to  me. 

*  Uncertain.  "  Is  the  house  of  Jacob  ...?"  (Wellhausen).  "What 
a  saying,  O  house  of  Jacob  ?  "  (Ewald  and  Guthe).  In  the  latter 
case  the  interruption  of  the  rich  ceases  with  the  previous  line,  and 
this  one  is  the  beginning  of  the  prophet's  answer  to  them. 


Micah  ii.,  iii.]      THE  PROPHET  OF  THE  POOR  391 

to  fall  on  His  own  people,  tell  the  prophet  that  his 
sentence  of  doom  on  the  nation,  and  especially  on  them- 
selves, is  absurd,  impossible.  They  cry  the  eternal  cry 
of  Respectability  :  "  God  can  mean  no  harm  to  the 
like  of  us  !  His  words  are  good  to  them  that  walk 
uprightly — and  we  are  conscious  of  being  such.  What 
you,  prophet,  have  charged  us  with  are  nothing  but 
natural  transactions."  The  Lord  Himself  has  His 
answer  ready.  Upright  indeed  1  They  have  been 
unprovoked  plunderers  1 
God  speaks  : — 

But  ye  are  the  foes  of  My  people, 

Rising  against  those  that  are  peaceful ; 

The  mantle  ye  strip  front  them  that  ivalk  quietly  by. 

Averse  to  war  !^ 

Women   of  My  people  ye   tear  from  their   happy 

homes^ 
From  their  children  ye  take  My  glory  for  ever. 
Rise  and  begone — for  this  is  no  resting-place  ! 
Because  of  the  uncleanness  that  bringeth  destruction, 
Destruction  incurable. 

Of  the  outrages  on  the  goods  of  honest  men,  and  the 
persons  ot  women  and  children,  which  are  possible  in 
a    time    ot    peace,    when  the    rich    are    tyrannous  and 

'  So  we  may  conjecture  the  very  obscure  details  of  a  verse  whose 
general  meaning,  however,  is  evident.  For  ?10nN1  read  7  DnXI.  The 
LXX.  takes  riDT'K'  as  peace  and  not  as  cloak,  for  which  there  seems 
to  be  no  place  beside  inN  (or  JTnN).  Wellhausen  with  further  altera- 
tions renders :  "  But  ye  come  forward  as  enemies  against  My  people; 
from  good  friends  ye  rob  their  .  .  .  ,  from  peaceful  wanderers  war- 
booty." 

*  Wellhausen  reads  '•JS  tor  n''3,  "tenderly  bred  children,"  another 
of  the  many  emendations  which  he  proposes  in  the  interests  of 
complete  parallelism.      See  the  Preface  to  this  volume. 


392  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

abetted  by  mercenary  judges  and  prophets,  we  have 
an  illustration  analogous  to  Micah's  in  the  complaint 
of  Peace  in  Langland's  vision  of  English  society  in  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  parallel  to  our  prophet's  words 
is  very  striking  :  — 

"  And  thanne  come  Pees  into  parlement  •  and  put  forth  a  bille, 
How  Wronge  ageines  his  wille  •  had  his  wyf  taken. 
'Both  my  gees  and  my  grys '  •  his  gadelynges'  feccheth; 
I  dar  noughte  for  fere  of  hym  •  fyghte  ne  chyde. 
He  borwed  of  me  bayard  '  •  he  broughte  hym  home  nevre, 
Ne  no  ferthynge  ther-fore  •  for  naughte  I  couthe  plede. 
He  meynteneth  his  men  •  to  marther  myne  hewen/ 
Forstalleth  my  feyres*  •  and  fighteth  in  my  chepynge, 
And  breketh  up  my  bernes  dore  •  and  bereth  aweye  my  whete. 
And  taketh  me  but  a  taile  *  •  for  ten  quarters  of  otes, 
And  yet  he  bet  me  ther-to  •  and  lyth  bi  my  mayde, 
I  nam '  noughte  hardy  for  hym  •  uneth  *  to  loke.' " 

They  pride  themselves  that  all  is  stable  and  God  is 
with  them.  How  can  such  a  state  of  affairs  be  stable  1 
They  feel  at  ease,  yet  injustice  can  never  mean  rest. 
God  has  spoken  the  final  sentence,  but  with  a  rare 
sarcasm  the  prophet  adds  his  comment  on  the  scene. 
These  rich  men  had  been  flattered  into  their  religious 
security  by  hireling  prophets,  who  had  opposed  himself. 
As  they  leave  the  presence  of  God,  having  heard  their 
sentence,  Micah  looks  after  them  and  muses  in  quiet 
prose. 

The  prophet  speaks  : — 

Yea,  if  one  whose  walk  is  wind  and  falsehood  were  to  try 
to  cozen  thee,  saying,  /  will  babble  to  thee  of  wine  and 
strong  drink,  then  he  might  be  the  prophet  of  such  a  people. 

At  this  point  in  chap.  ii.  there  have  somehow  slipped 
into  the  text  two  verses  (i2,  13),  which  all  are  agreed 

•  Little  pigs.        *  A  horse.  *  Fairs,  markets.        '  Am  not. 

•  Fellows.  *  Servants.        *  A  tally.  •  Scarcely. 


Micah  ii.,  iii.]      THE  PROPHET  OF  THE  POOR  393 

do  not  belong  to  it,  and  for  which  we  must  find  another 
place.*  They  speak  of  a  return  from  the  Exile,  and 
interrupt  the  connection  between  ver.  1 1  and  the  first 
verse  of  chap.  iii.  With  the  latter  Micah  begins  a  series 
of  three  oracles,  which  give  the  substance  of  his  own 
prophesying  in  contrast  to  that  of  the  false  prophets 
whom  he  has  just  been  satirising.  He  has  told  us 
what  they  say,  and  he  now  begins  the  first  of  his  own 
oracles  with  the  words,  But  I  said.  It  is  an  attack  upon 
the  authorities  of  the  nation,  whom  the  false  prophets 
flatter.  Micah  speaks  very  plainly  to  them.  Their 
business  is  to  know  justice,  and  yet  they  love  wrong. 
They  flay  the  people  with  their  exactions ;  they  cut  up 
the  people  like  meat. 

The  prophet  speaks  : — But  I  said, 
Hear  now,  O  chiefs  of  Jacob, 
And  rulers  of  the  house  of  Israeli 
Is  it  not  yours  to  know  justice  ? — 
Haters  of  good  and  lovers  of  evil, 
Tearing  their  hide  from  upon  them 

(he  points  to  the  people). 
And  their  flesh  from  the  bones  oj  them; 
And  who  devour  the  flesh  of  my  people, 
And  their  hide  they  have  stripped  from  them 
And  their  bones  have  they  cleft, 

'  I  will  gather,  gather  thee,  O  Jacob,  in  mass, 
I  will  bring,  bring  together  the  Remnant  of  Israel  t 
I  will  set  them  tike  sheep  in  a  fold. 
Like  a  flock  in  the  tntdst  of  the  pasture. 
They  shall  hum  with  men  ! 
The  breach-breaker  hath  gone  up  before  them  ! 
They  have  broken  the  breach,  have  carried  the  gate,  and  are  gont 

out  by  it ; 
And  their  king  hath  passed  on  before  them,  and  Jehovah  at  their 
head. 


394  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

And  served  it  up  as  if  from  a  pot, 
Like  meat  from  the  thick  of  the  caldron  t 
At  that  time  shall  they  cry  to  fehovah, 
And  He  ivill  not  answer  them  ; 
But  hide  His  face  from  them  at  that  time, 
Because  they  have  aggravated  their  deeds. 

These  words  of  Micah  are  terribly  strong,  but  there 
have  been  many  other  ages  and  civilisations  than  his 
own  of  which  they  have  been  no  more  than  true. 
"They  crop  us,"  said  a  French  peasant  of  the  lords 
of  the  great  Louis'  time,  "  as  the  sheep  crops  grass." 
"  They  treat  us  like  their  food,"  said  another  on  the 
eve  of  the  Revolution. 

Is  there  nothing  of  the  same  with  ourselves?  While 
Micah  spoke  he  had  wasted  lives  and  bent  backs  before 
him.  His  speech  is  elliptic  till  you  see  his  finger 
pointing  at  them.  Pinched  peasant-faces  peer  between 
all  his  words  and  fill  the  ellipses.  And  among  the 
living  poor  to-day  are  there  not  starved  and  bitten 
faces — bodies  with  the  blood  sucked  from  them,  with 
the  Divine  image  crushed  out  of  them  ?  Brothers,  we 
cannot  explain  all  of  these  by  vice.  Drunkenness  and 
unthrift  do  account  for  much ;  but  how  much  more 
is  explicable  only  by  the  following  facts !  Many  men 
among  us  are  able  to  live  in  fashionable  streets  and 
keep  their  families  comfortable  only  by  pa3dng  their 
employes  a  wage  upon  which  it  is  impossible  for  men 
to  be  strong  or  women  to  be  virtuous.  Are  those  not 
using  these  as  their  food  ?  They  tell  us  that  if  they 
are  to  give  higher  wages  they  must  close  their  busi- 
ness, and  cease  paying  wages  at  all ;  and  they  are 
right  if  they  themselves  continue  to  live  on  the  scale 
they  do.     As  long  as  many  families  are  maintained  in 


Micah  ii.,  iii.]      THE  PROPHET  OF  THE  POOR  395 

comfort  by  the  profits  of  businesses  in  which  some  or 
all  of  the  employes  work  for  less  than  they  can  nourish 
and  repair  their  bodies  upon,  the  simple  fact  is  that  the 
one  set  are  feeding  upon  the  other  set.  It  may  be 
inevitable,  it  may  be  the  fault  of  the  system  and  not  of 
the  individual,  it  may  be  that  to  break  up  the  system 
would  mean  to  make  things  worse  than  ever — but 
all  the  same  the  truth  is  clear  that  many  families 
of  the  middle  class,  and  some  of  the  very  wealthiest 
of  the  land,  are  nourished  by  the  waste  of  the  lives  of 
the  poor.  Now  and  again  the  fact  is  acknowledged 
with  as  much  shamelessness  as  was  shown  by  any  tyrant 
in  the  days  of  Micah.  To  a  large  employer  of  labour, 
who  was  complaining  that  his  employes,  by  refusing 
to  live  at  the  low  scale  of  Belgian  workmen,  were 
driving  trade  from  this  country,  the  present  writer 
once  said  :  "  Would  it  not  meet  your  wishes  if,  instead 
of  your  workmen  being  levelled  down,  the  Belgians 
were  levelled  up  ?  This  would  make  the  competition 
fair  between  you  and  the  employers  in  Belgium."  His 
answer  was,  "  I  care  not  so  long  as  I  get  my  profits." 
He  was  a  religious  man,  a  liberal  giver  to  his  Church, 
and  he  died  leaving  more  than  one  hundred  thousand 
pounds. 

Micah's  tyrants,  too,  had  religion  to  support  them. 
A  number  of  the  hireling  prophets,  whom  we  have 
seen  both  Amos  and  Hosea  attack,  gave  their  blessing 
to  this  social  system,  which  crushed  the  poor,  for  they 
shared  its  profits.  They  lived  upon  the  alms  of  the 
rich,  and  flattered  according  as  they  were  fed.  To  them 
Micah  devotes  the  second  oracle  of  chap,  iii.,  and  we 
find  confirmed  by  his  words  the  principle  we  laid  down 
before,  that  in  that  age  the  one  great  difference  between 
the  false  and  the  true  prophet  was  what  it  has  been 


396  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

in  every  age  since  then  till  now—  an  ethical  difference ; 
and  not  a  difference  of  dogma,  or  tradition,  or  ecclesi- 
astical note.  The  false  prophet  spoke,  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  for  himself  and  his  living.  He  sided 
with  the  rich  ;  he  shut  his  eyes  to  the  social  condition 
of  the  people ;  he  did  not  attack  the  sins  of  the  day. 
This  made  him  false — robbed  him  of  insight  and  the 
power  of  prediction.  But  the  true  prophet  exposed 
the  sins  of  his  people.  Ethical  insight  and  courage, 
burning  indignation  of  wrong,  clear  vision  of  the  facts 
of  the  day — this  was  what  Jehovah's  spirit  put  into 
him,  this  was  what  Micah  felt  to  be  inspiration. 
The  prophet  speaks  : — 

Thus  saith  Jehovah  against  the  prophets  who  lead 

my  people  astray , 
Who   while    they   have    ought    between   their    teeth 

proclaim  peace, 
But  against  him  who  will  not  lay  to  their  mouths 

they  sanctify  war  I 
Wherefore  ntght  shall  be  yours  without  vision. 
And  yours  shall  be  darkness  without  divination  / 
And  the  sun  shall  go  down  on  the  prophets, 
And  the  day  shall  darken  about  them; 
And  the  seers  shall  be  put  to  the  blush, 
And  the  diviners  be  ashamed: 
All  of  them  shall  cover  the  beard, 
For  there  shall  be  no  answer  from  God. 
But  I — /  am  full  of  power  by  the  spirit  of  Jehovah, 

and  justice  and  might. 
To  declare  to  Jacob  his  transgressions  and  to  Israel 

hts  sin. 

In    the    third    oracle    of   this    chapter    rulers    and 
prophets    are    combined — how    close    the    conspiracy 


Micah  ii.,  iii.]      THE  PROPHET  OF  THE  POOR  397 

between  them  1  It  is  remarkable  that,  in  harmony 
with  Isaiah,  Micah  speaks  no  word  against  the  king. 
But  evidently  Hezekiah  had  not  power  to  restrain  the 
nobles  and  the  rich.  When  this  oracle  was  uttered  it 
was  a  time  of  peace,  and  the  lavish  building,  which 
we  have  seen  to  be  so  marked  a  characteristic  of 
Israel  in  the  eighth  century,*  was  in  process.  Jeru- 
salem was  larger  and  finer  than  ever.  Ah,  it  was  a 
building  of  God's  own  city  in  blood  I  Judges,  priests  and 
prophets  were  all  alike  mercenary,  and  the  poor  were 
oppressed  for  a  reward.  No  v/alls,  however  sacred, 
could  stand  on  such  foundations.  Did  they  say  that 
they  built  her  so  grandly,  for  Jehovah's  sake  ?  Did 
they  believe  her  to  be  inviolate  because  He  was  in 
her  ?  They  should  see.  Zion — yes,  Zion — should  be 
ploughed  like  a  field,  and  the  Mountain  of  the  Lord's 
Temple  become  desolate. 
The  prophet  speaks  : — 

Hear  now  this,  O  chiefs  of  the  house  ofjacob^ 

And  rulers  of  the  house  of  Israel, 

Who  spurn  justice  and  twist  all  that  is  straight. 

Building  Zion  in  blood,  and  Jerusalem  with  crime  I 

Her  chiefs  give  judgment  for  a  bribe, 

And  her  priests  oracles  for  a  reward, 

And  her  prophets  divine  for  silver ; 

And  on  Jehovah  they  lean,  saying : 

"Is  not  Jehovah  in  the  midst  of  us? 

Evil  cannot  come  at  us.^* 

Therefore  for  your  sakes  shall  Zion  be  ploughed  like 

a  field, 
And  Jerusalem  become  heaps. 
And  the  Mount  of  the  House  mounds  in  a  jungle. 

'  See  above,  p.  33. 


398  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

It  is  extremely  difficult  for  us  to  place  ourselves  in 
a  state  of  society  in  which  bribery  is  prevalent,  and 
the  fingers  both  of  justice  and  of  religion  are  gilded  by 
their  suitors.  But  this  corruption  has  always  been 
common  in  the  East.  "  An  Oriental  state  can  never 
altogether  prevent  the  abuse  by  which  officials,  small 
and  great,  enrich  themselves  in  illicit  ways."  ^  The 
strongest  government  takes  the  bribery  for  granted, 
and  periodically  prunes  the  rank  fortunes  of  its  great 
officials.  A  weak  government  lets  them  alone.  But 
in  either  case  the  poor  suffer  from  unjust  taxation 
and  from  laggard  or  perverted  justice.  Bribery  has 
always  been  found,  even  in  the  more  primitive  and 
puritan  forms  of  Semitic  life.  Mr.  Doughty  has  borne 
testimony  with  regard  to  this  among  the  austere 
Wahabees  of  Central  Arabia.  "  When  I  asked  if 
there  were  no  handling  of  bribes  at  Hayil  by  those  who 
are  nigh  the  prince's  ear,  it  was  answered,  '  Nay.'  The 
Byzantine  corruption  cannot  enter  into  the  eternal  and 
noble  simplicity  of  this  people's  (airy)  life,  in  the  poor 
nomad  country ;  but  (we  have  seen)  the  art  is  not 
unknown  to  the  subtle-headed  Shammar  princes,  who 
thereby  help  themselves  with  the  neighbour  Turkish 
governments."  *  The  bribes  of  the  ruler  of  Hayil  "  are, 
according  to  the  shifting  weather  of  the  world,  to  great 
Ottoman  government  men  ;  and  now  on  account  of 
Kheybar,  he  was  gilding  some  of  their  crooked  fingers 
in  Medina." '  Nothing  marks  the  difference  of  Western 
government  more  than  the  absence  of  all  this,  especially 
from  our  courts  of  justice.     Yet  the  improvement  has 

'  Neldeke,  Sketches  from  Eastern  History,  translated  by  Black, 
pp.  134  f. 

*  Arabia  Deserta,  I.  607.  •  Id.,  II.  20. 


Micah  ii.,  iii.]     THE  PROPHET  OF   THE  POOR  399 

only  come  about  within  comparatively  recent  centuries. 
What  a  large  space,  for  instance,  does  Langland  give 
to  the  arraigning  of  "  Mede,"  the  corrupter  of  all 
authorities  and  influences  in  the  society  of  his  day  I 
Let  us  quote  his  words,  for  again  they  provide  a  most 
exact  parallel  to  Micah's,  and  may  enable  us  to  realise 
a  state  of  life  so  contrary  to  our  own.  It  is  Conscience 
who  arraigns  Mede  before  the  King  : — 

"  By  ihesus  with  here  jeweles  •  youre  justices  she  shendeth,' 

And  lith^  agein  the  lawe  •  and  letteth  hym  the  gate, 

That  faith  may  noughte  have   his  forth '  •  here  floreines  go  so 

thikke, 
She  ledeth  the  lawe  as  hire  list  •  and  lovedays  tnaketh 
And  doth  men  lese  thorw  hire  love  •  that  law  myghte  wynne, 
The  mase  *  for  a  mene  man  •  though  he  mote*  hir  eure. 
Law  is  so  lordeliche  •  and  loth  to  make  ende, 
Without  presentz  or  pens  '  •  she  pleseth  wel  fewe. 

•  *•**• 

For  pore  men  mowe '  have  no  powere  •  to  pleyne  *  hem  though 

thei  smerte; 
Suche  a  maistre  is  Mede  •  amonge  men  of  gode."* 

'  Ruins.  *  Confusion.  *  May. 

•  Lieth.  •  Summon.  •  Complain. 

•  Course.  •  Pence.  •  Substance  or  property. 


CHAPTER  XXVll 

ON    TIME'S   HORIZON 
MicAH  iv.  1-7. 

THE  immediate  prospect  of  Zion's  desolation  which 
closes  chap.  iii.  is  followed  in  the  opening  of 
chap.  iv.  by  an  ideal  picture  of  her  exaltation  and 
supremacy  in  the  issue  of  the  days.  We  can  hardly 
doubt  that  this  arrangement  has  been  made  of  pur- 
pose, nor  can  we  deny  that  it  is  natural  and  artistic. 
Whether  it  be  due  to  Micah  himself,  or  whether 
he  wrote  the  second  passage,  are  questions  we  have 
already  discussed,-'  Like  so  many  others  of  their 
kind,  they  cannot  be  answered  with  certainty,  far  less 
with  dogmatism.  But  I  repeat,  I  see  no  conclusive 
reason  for  denying  either  to  the  circumstances  of 
Micah's  times  or  to  the  principles  of  their  prophecy 
the  possibility  of  such  a  hope  as  inspires  chap.  iv.  1-4. 
Remember  how  the  prophets  of  the  eighth  century 
identified  Jehovah  with  supreme  and  universal  right- 
eousness ;  remember  how  Amos  explicitly  condemned 
the  aggravations  of  war  and  slavery  among  the 
heathen  as  sins  against  Him,  and  how  Isaiah  claimed 
the  future  gains  of  Tyrian  commerce  as  gifts  for  His 
sanctuary  ;  remember  how  Amos  heard  His  voice  come 
forth    from   Jerusalem,   and    Isaiah  counted  upon   the 

'  See  above,  pp.  365  fl". 
400 


Micah  iv.  1-7-]  ON   TIME'S  HORIZON  401 

eternal  inviolateness  of  His  shrine  and  city, — and  you 
will  not  think  it  impossible  for  a  third  Judaean  prophet 
of  that  age,  whether  he  was  Micah  or  another,  to 
have  drawn  the  prospect  of  Jerusalem  which  now 
opens  before  us. 

It  is  the  far-off  horizon  of  time,  which,  like  the 
spatial  horizon,  always  seems  a  fixed  and  eternal 
line,  but  as  constantly  shifts  with  the  shifting  of  cm- 
standpoint  or  elevation.  Every  prophet  has  his  own 
vision  o{ihe  latter  days  ;  seldom  is  that  prospect  the  same. 
Determined  by  the  circumstances  of  the  seer,  by  the 
desires  these  prompt  or  only  partially  fulfil,  it  changes 
from  age  to  age.  The  ideal  is  always  shaped  by  the 
real,  and  in  this  vision  of  the  eighth  century  there 
is  no  exception.  This  is  not  any  of  the  ideals  of  later 
ages,  when  the  evil  was  the  oppression  of  the  Lord's 
people  by  foreign  armies  or  their  scattering  in  exile  ; 
it  is  not,  in  contrast  to  these,  the  spectacle  of  the 
armies  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts  imbrued  in  the  blood  of 
the  heathen,  or  of  the  columns  of  returning  captives 
filling  all  the  narrow  roads  to  Jerusalem,  like  streams 
in  the  south ;  nor,  again,  is  it  a  nation  of  priest? 
gathering  about  a  rebuilt  temple  and  a  restored  ritual. 
But  because  the  pain  of  the  greatest  minds  of  the 
eighth  century  was  the  contradiction  between  faith  in 
the  God  of  Zion  as  Universal  Righteousness  and  the 
experience  that,  nevertheless,  Zion  had  absolutely  no 
influence  upon  surrounding  nations,  this  vision  shows 
a  day  when  Zion's  influence  will  be  as  great  as  her 
right,  and  from  far  and  wide  the  nations  whom  Amos 
has  condemned  for  their  transgressions  against  Jehovah 
will  acknowledge  His  law,  and  be  drawn  to  Jerusalem 
to  learn  of  Him.  Observe  that  nothing  is  said  of 
Israel  going  forth  to  teach  the  nations  the  law  of  the 

VOL.  I.  26 


402  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Lord.  That  is  the  ideal  of  a  later  age,  when  Jews 
were  scattered  across  the  world.  Here,  in  conformity 
with  the  experience  of  a  still  untravelled  people,  we 
see  the  Gentiles  drawing  in  upon  the  Mountain  of  the 
House  of  the  Lord.  With  the  same  lofty  impartiality 
which  distinguishes  the  oracles  of  Amos  on  the  heathen, 
the  prophet  takes  no  account  of  their  enmity  to  Israel ; 
nor  is  there  any  talk — such  as  later  generations  were 
almost  forced  by  the  hostility  of  neighbouring  tribes 
to  indulge  in — of  politically  subduing  them  to  the  king 
in  Zion.  Jehovah  will  arbitrate  between  them,  and 
the  result  shall  be  the  institution  of  a  great  peace^ 
with  no  special  political  privilege  to  Israel,  unless  this 
be  understood  in  ver.  5,  which  speaks  of  such  security 
to  life  as  was  impossible,  at  that  time  at  least,  in  all 
borderlands  of  Israel.  But  among  the  heathen  them- 
selves there  will  be  a  resting  from  war  :  the  factions 
and  ferocities  of  that  wild  Semitic  world,  which  Amos 
so  vividly  characterised,^  shall  cease.  In  all  this  there 
is  nothing  beyond  the  possibility  of  suggestion  by  the 
circumstances  of  the  eighth  century  or  by  the  spirit  of 
its  prophecy. 

A  prophet  speaks : — 

And  it  shall  come  to  pass  tn  the  tssue  of  the  days,* 


'  See  above,  Chap.  VII. 

*  JT'inX  is  the  hindmost,  furthest,  ultimate,  whether  of  space 
(Psalm  cxxxix.  9 :  "  the  uttermost  part  of  the  sea "),  or  of  time 
(Deut.  xi.  12:  "the  end  of  the  year  ").  It  is  the  end  as  compared 
with  the  beginning,  the  sequel  with  the  start,  the  future  with  the 
present  (Job  xlii.  12).  In  Proverbs  it  is  chiefly  used  in  the  moral 
sense  of  issue  or  result.  But  it  chiefly  occurs  in  the  phrase  used 
here,  D^DTt  JT'inX,  not  "the  latter  days,"  as  A.V.,  nor  ultimate  days, 
for  in  these  phrases  lurks  the  idea  of  time  having  an  end,  but  the 
after-days  (Cheyne),  or,  better  still,  the  issue  of  the  days. 


Micahiv.  1-7.]  ON  TIME'S  HORIZON  4<'5 

That  the  Mount  of  the  House  of  Jehovah  shall  be 
established  on  the  tops  ^  of  the  mountains^ 

And  lifted  shall  it  be  above  the  hills, 

And  peoples  shall  flow  to  it, 

And  many  nations  shall  go  and  say : 

"  Come,  and  let  us  up  to  the  Mount  ofjehoirdhf 

And  to  the  House  of  the  God  of  Jacob, 

That  He  may  teach  us  of  His  ways, 

And  we  will  walk  in  His  pathsP 

For  from  Zion  goeth  forth  the  law. 

And  the  word  of  Jehovah  from  out  ofjtrm'malem  t 

And  He  shall  judge  between  many  pe&ptes, 

And  decide  "'for  strong  nations  far  and  wide  ;  ' 

And  they  shall  hammer  their  swords  into  plough- 
shares, 

And  their  spears  into  pruning-ho^ks  : 

They  shall  not  lift  up,  nation  against  nation,  a  sword, 

And  they  shall  not  any  more  leayn  war. 

Every  man  shall  dwell  under  hts  vine 

And  under  his  fig-tree, 

And  none  shall  make  afraid; 

For  the  mouth  of  Jehovah  of  /f'osts  has  spoken. 

What  connection  this  last  veise  is  intended  to  have 
with  the  preceding  is  not  quite  obvious.  It  may  mean 
that  every  family  among  the  Gentiles  shall  dwell  in 
peace  ;  or,  as  suggested  abovr;,  that  with  the  volun- 
tary disarming  of  the  surrounaing  heathendom,  Israel 
herself  shall  dwell  secure,  in  no  fear  of  border  raids  and 
slave-hunting  expeditions,  with  which  especially  Micah's 
Shephelah  and  other  borderlands  were  familiar.  The 
verse  does  not  occur  in  Isaiah's  quotation  of  the  three 
which  precede  it.     We  can  scarcely  suppose,  fain  though 


'  LXX.  *  Or  arbitrate.         '  Literally :  "  up  to  far  away." 


404  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

we  may  be  to  do  so,  that  Micah  added  the  verse  in  order 
to  exhibit  the  future  correction  of  the  evils  he  has  been 
deploring  in  chap.  iii. :  the  insecurity  of  the  householder 
in  Israel  before  the  unscrupulous  land-grabbing  of  the 
wealthy.  Such  are  not  the  evils  from  which  this 
passage  prophesies  redemption.  It  deals  only,  like  the 
first  oracles  of  Amos,  with  the  relentlessness  and 
ferocity  of  the  heathen  :  under  Jehovah's  arbitrament 
these  shall  be  at  peace,  and  whether  among  themselves 
or  in  Israel,  hitherto  so  exposed  to  their  raids,  men 
shall  dwell  in  unalarmed  possession  of  their  houses  and 
fields.  Security  from  war,  not  from  social  tyranny,  is 
what  is  promised. 

The  following  verse  (5)  gives  in  a  curious  way  the 
contrast  of  the  present  to  that  future  in  which  all  men 
will  own  the  sway  of  one  God.  For  at  the  present 
time  all  the  nations  are  walking  each  in  the  name  of  his 
Godf  but  we  go  in  the  name  of  Jehovah  for  ever  and  aye. 

To  which  vision,  complete  in  itself,  there  has  been 
added  by  another  hand,  of  what  date  we  cannot  tell, 
a  further  effect  of  God's  blessed  influence.  To  peace 
among  men  shall  be  added  healing  and  redemption,  the 
ing!\thering  of  the  outcast  and  the  care  of  the  crippled. 

In  that  day — His  the  oracle  of  Jehovah — 

/  will  gather  the  halt, 
And  the  cast-off  I  will  bring  in,  and  all  that  I  have 

afflicted; 
And  I  will  make  the  halt  for  a  Remnant,^ 
And  her  that  was  weakened^  into  a  strong  people, 
And  Jehovah  shall  reign  over  them 
In  the  Mount  of  Zion  from  noiv  and  for  ever, 

'  That  which  shall  abide  and  be  the  stock  of  the  future. 
^  LXX.  cast  off. 


Micahiv.l-7.]  ON  TIME'S  HORIZON  405 

Whatever  be  the  origin  of  the  separate  oracles  which 
compose  this  passage  (iv.  1-7),  they  form  as  they  now 
stand  a  beautiful  whole,  rising  from  Peace  through 
Freedom  to  Love.  They  begin  with  obedience  to  God 
and  they  culminate  in  the  most  glorious  service  which 
God  or  man  may  undertake,  the  service  of  saving  the 
lost.  See  how  the  Divine  spiral  ascends.  We  have, 
first,  Religion  the  centre  and  origin  of  all,  compelling 
the  attention  of  men  by  its  historical  evidence  of  justice 
and  righteousness.  We  have  the  world's  willingness 
to  learn  of  it.  We  have  the  results  in  the  widening 
brotherhood  of  nations,  in  universal  Peace,  in  Labour 
freed  from  War,  and  with  none  of  her  resources  absorbed 
by  the  conscriptions  and  armaments  which  in  our  times 
are  deemed  necessary  for  enforcing  peace.  We  have 
the  universal  diffusion  and  security  of  Property,  the 
prosperity  and  safety  of  the  humblest  home.  And, 
finally,  we  have  this  free  strength  and  wealth  inspired 
by  the  example  of  God  Himself  to  nourish  the  broken 
and  to  gather  in  the  forwandered. 

Such  is  the  ideal  world,  seen  and  promised  two 
thousand  five  hundred  years  ago,  out  of  as  real  an 
experience  of  human  sin  and  failure  as  ever  mankind 
awoke  to.  Are  we  nearer  the  Vision  to-day,  or  does 
it  still  hang  upon  time's  horizon,  that  line  which  seems 
so  stable  from  every  seer's  point  of  view,  but  which 
moves  from  the  generations  as  fast  as  they  travel  to  it  ? 

So  far  from  this  being  so,  there  is  much  in  the 
Vision  that  is  not  only  nearer  us  than  it  was  to  the 
Hebrew  prophets,  and  not  only  abreast  of  us,  but 
actually  achieved  and  behind  us,  as  we  live  and  strive 
still  onward.  Yes,  brothers,  actually  behind  us ! 
History  has  in  part  fulfilled  the  promised  influence  of 
religion  upon  the  nations.     The  Unity  of  God  has  been 


4o6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

owned,  and  the  civilised  peoples  bow  to  the  standards 
of  justice  and  of  mercy  first  revealed  from  Mount 
Zion.  Many  nations  and  powerful  nations  acknowledge 
the  arbitrament  of  the  God  of  the  Bible.  We  have 
had  revealed  that  High  Fatherhood  of  which  every 
family  in  heaven  and  earth  is  named  ;  and  wherever 
that  is  believed  the  brotherhood  of  men  is  confessed. 
We  have  seen  Sin,  that  profound  discord  in  man  and 
estrangement  from  God,  of  which  all  human  hatreds 
and  malices  are  the  fruit,  atoned  for  and  reconciled  by 
a  Sacrifice  in  face  of  which  human  pride  and  passion 
stand  abashed.  The  first  part  of  the  Vision  is  fulfilled. 
The  nations  stream  to  the  God  of  Jerusalem  and  His 
Christ.  And  though  to-day  our  Peace  be  but  a  paradox, 
and  the  "  Christian "  nations  stand  still  from  war  not 
in  love,  but  in  fear  of  one  another,  there  are  in  every 
nation  an  increasing  number  of  men  and  women,  with 
growing  influence,  who,  without  being  fanatics  for  peace, 
or  blind  to  the  fact  that  war  may  be  a  people's  duty 
in  fulfilment  of  its  own  destiny  or  in  relief  of  the 
enslaved,  do  yet  keep  themselves  from  foolish  forms  of 
patriotism,  and  by  their  recognition  of  each  other  across 
all  national  differences  make  sudden  and  unconsidered 
war  more  and  more  of  an  impossibility.  I  write  this 
in  the  sound  of  that  call  to  stand  upon  arms  which 
broke  like  thunder  upon  our  Christmas  peace  ;  but, 
amid  all  the  ignoble  jealousies  and  hot  rashness  which 
prevail,  how  the  air,  burned  clean  by  that  first  electric 
discharge,  has  filled  with  the  determination  that  wai 
shall  not  happen  in  the  interests  of  mere  wealth  o! 
at  the  caprice  of  a  tyrant  1  God  help  us  to  use  this 
peace  for  the  last  ideals  of  His  prophet !  May  we 
see,  not  that  of  which  our  modern  peace  has  been  far 
too  full,   mere  freedom  for  the  wealth  of  the   few  to 


Micah  iv.  1-7.]  ON  TIME'S  HORIZON  407 

increase  at  the  expense  of  the  mass  of  mankind.  May 
our  Peace  mean  the  gradual  disarmament  of  the  nations, 
the  increase  of  labour,  the  diffusion  of  property,  and, 
above  all,  the  redemption  of  the  waste  of  the  people 
and  the  recovery  of  our  outcasts.  Without  this,  peace 
is  no  peace ;  and  better  were  war  to  burn  out  by  its 
fierce  fires  those  evil  humours  of  our  secure  comfort, 
which  render  us  insensible  to  the  needy  and  the  fallen 
at  our  side.  Without  the  redemptive  forces  at  work 
which  Christ  brought  to  earth,  peace  is  no  peace ;  and 
the  cruelties  of  war,  that  slay  and  mutilate  so  many, 
are  as  nothing  to  the  cruelties  of  a  peace  which  leaves 
us  insensible  to  the  outcasts  and  the  perishing,  of 
whom  there  are  so  many  even  in  our  civilisation. 

One  application  of  the  prophecy  may  be  made  at  this 
moment.  We  are  told  by  those  who  know  best  and 
have  most  responsibility  in  the  matter  that  an  ancient 
Church  and  people  of  Christ  are  being  left  a  prey  to 
the  wrath  of  an  infidel  tyrant,  not  because  Chris- 
tendom is  without  strength  to  compel  him  to  deliver, 
but  because  to  use  the  strength,  would  be  to  imperil 
the  peace,  of  Christendom.  It  is  an  ignoble  peace 
which  cannot  use  the  forces  of  redemption,  and  with 
the  cry  of  Armenia  in  our  ears  the  Unity  of  Europe  is 
but  a  mockery. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

THE     KING     TO     COME 
MiCAH  iv.  8 — V 

WHEN  a  people  has  to  be  purged  of  long 
injustice,  when  some  high  aim  of  Hberty  or 
of  order  has  to  be  won,  it  is  remarkable  how  often 
the  drama  of  revolution  passes  through  three  acts. 
There  is  first  the  period  of  criticism  and  of  vision, 
in  which  men  feel  discontent,  dream  of  new  things, 
and  put  their  hopes  into  systems  :  it  seems  then  as 
if  the  future  were  to  come  of  itself.  But  often  a 
catastrophe,  relevant  or  irrelevant,  ensues  :  the  visions 
pale  before  a  vast  conflagration,  and  poet,  philosopher 
and  prophet  disappear  under  the  feet  of  a  mad  mob 
of  wreckers.  Yet  this  is  often  the  greatest  period  of 
all,  for  somewhere  in  the  midst  of  it  a  strong  character 
is  forming,  and  men,  by  the  very  anarchy,  are  being 
taught,  in  preparation  for  him,  the  indispensableness 
of  obedience  and  loyalty.  With  their  chastened  minds 
he  achieves  the  third  act,  and  fulfils  all  of  the  early 
vision  that  God's  ordeal  by  fire  has  proved  worthy  to 
survive.  Thus  history,  when  distraught,  rallies  again 
upon  the  Man. 

To  this  law  the  prophets  of  Israel  only  gradually 
gave  expression.  We  find  no  trace  of  it  among  the 
earliest  of  them  ;  and  in  the  essential  faith  of  all  there 

408 


Micah  iv.  8-v,]  THE  KING   TO   COME  409 

was  much  which  predisposed  them  against  the  convic- 
tion of  its  necessity.  For,  on  the  one  hand,  the  seers 
were  so  filled  with  the  inherent  truth  and  inevitableness 
of  their  visions,  that  they  described  these  as  if  already 
realised ;  there  was  no  room  for  a  great  figure  to  rise 
before  the  future,  for  with  a  rush  the  future  was  upon 
them.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  ever  a  principle  of 
prophecy  that  God  is  able  to  dispense  with  human  aid. 
"In  presence  of  the  Divine  omnipotence  all  secondary 
causes,  all  interposition  on  the  part  of  the  creature, 
fall  away."  ^  The  more  striking  is  it  that  before  long 
the  prophets  should  have  begun,  not  only  to  look  for 
a  Man,  but  to  paint  him  as  the  central  figure  of  their 
hopes.  In  Hosea,  who  has  no  such  promise,  we  already 
see  the  instinct  at  work.  The  age  of  revolution  which 
he  describes  is  cursed  by  its  want  of  men  :  there  is 
no  great  leader  of  the  people  sent  from  God ;  those 
who  come  to  the  front  are  tlie  creatures  of  faction  and 
party ;  there  is  no  king  from  God.^  How  different 
it  had  been  in  the  great  days  of  old,  when  God  had 
ever  worked  for  Israel  through  some  man — a  Moses, 
a  Gideon,  a  Samuel,  but  especially  a  David.  Thus 
memory  equally  with  the  present  dearth  of  personalities 
prompted  to  a  great  desire,  and  with  passion  Israel 
waited  for  a  Man.  The  hope  of  the  mother  for  her 
firstborn,  the  pride  of  the  father  in  his  son,  the  eager- 
ness of  the  woman  for  her  lover,  the  devotion  ot  the 
slave  to  his  liberator,  the  enthusiasm  of  soldiers  for 
their  captain — unite  these  noblest  affections  of  the 
human  heart  and  you  shall  yet  fail  to  reach  the  pas- 
sion and  the  glory  with  which  prophecy  looked  for  the 
King  to  Come.     Each  age,  of  course,  expected  him  in 

'  Schultz,  A.  T.  T/ieoL,  p.  722.  '  See  above,  pp.  276  flF. 


410  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  qualities  of  power  and  character  needed  for  its 
own  troubles,  and  the  ideal  changed  from  glory  unto 
glory.  From  valour  and  victory  in  war,  it  became 
peace  and  good  government,  care  for  the  poor  and 
the  oppressed,  sympathy  with  the  sufferings  of  the 
whole  people,  but  especially  of  the  righteous  among 
them,  with  fideUty  to  the  truth  delivered  unto  the  fathers, 
and,  finally,  a  conscience  for  the  people's  sin,  a  bearing 
of  their  punishment  and  a  travail  for  their  spiritual  re- 
demption. But  all  these  qualities  and  functions  were 
gathered  upon  an  individual — a  Victor,  a  King,  a 
Prophet,  a  Martyr,  a  Servant  of  the  Lord. 

Micah  stands  among  the  first,  if  he  is  not  the  very 
first,  who  thus  focussed  the  hopes  of  Israel  upon  a 
great  Redeemer ;  and  his  promise  of  Him  shares  all 
the  characteristics  just  described.  In  his  book  it  lies 
next  a  number  of  brief  oracles  with  which  we  are 
unable  to  trace  its  immediate  connection.  They  differ 
from  it  in  style  and  rhythm :  they  are  in  verse,  while 
it  seems  to  be  in  prose.  They  do  not  appear  to  have 
been  uttered  along  with  it.  But  they  reflect  the 
troubles  out  of  which  the  Hero  is  expected  to  emerge, 
and  the  deliverance  which  He  shall  accomplish,  though 
at  first  they  picture  the  latter  without  any  hint  of 
Himself.  They  apparently  describe  an  invasion  which 
is  actually  in  course,  rather  than  one  which  is  near 
and  inevitable  ;  and  if  so  they  can  only  date  from 
Sennacherib's  campaign  against  Judah  in  701  b.c. 
Jerusalem  is  in  siege,  standing  alone  in  the  land,^  like 
one   of  those  solitary   towers  with  folds  round   them 

'  Wclihausen  declares  that  this  is  unsuitable  to  the  position  of 
Jerusalem  in  the  eighth  century,  and  virtually  implies  her  ruin  and 
desolation.  But,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  not  so :  Jerusalem  is  still 
standing,  though  alone  (cf,  the  similar  figure  in  Isa,  i,^,     Conse- 


Micah  iv.  8-v.]  THE  KING   TO   COME  411 

which  were  built  here  and  there  upon  the  border 
pastures  of  Israel  for  defence  of  the  flock  against  the 
raiders  of  the  desert.*  The  prophet  sees  the  possi- 
bility of  Zion's  capitulation,  but  the  people  shall  leave 
her  only  for  their  deliverance  elsewhere.  Many  are 
gathered  against  her,  but  he  sees  them  as  sheaves 
upon  the  floor  for  Zion  to  thresh.  This  oracle  (vv. 
11-13)  cannot,  of  course,  have  been  uttered  at  the  same 
time  as  the  previous  one,  but  there  is  no  reason  why 
the  same  prophet  should  not  have  uttered  both  at 
different  periods.  Isaiah  had  prospects  of  the  fate  of 
Jerusalem  which  differ  quite  as  much.*  Once  more 
(ver.  14)  the  blockade  is  established.  Israel's  ruler 
is  helpless,  smitten  on  the  cheek  by  the  foe}  It  is  to 
this  last  picture  that  the  promise  of  the  Deliverer  is 
attached. 

The  prophet  speaks : — 

But  thoUy  O  Tower  of  the  Flock, 

Hill  of  the  daughter  of  Zion, 

To  thee  shall  arrive  the  former  rule, 

And  the  kingdom  shall  come  to  the  daughter  of 

Zion. 
Now  wherefore  criest  thou  so  loud  ? 


quently  the  contradiction  which  Wellhausen  sees  between  this 
eighth  verse  and  vv.  9,  10,  does  not  exist.  He  grants  that  the 
latter  may  belong  to  the  time  of  Sennacherib's  invasion — unless  it  be 
a  vaticiniunt  post  evetttunt  I 

'  See  above,  p.  32. 

*  This  in  answer  to  Wellhausen,  who  thinks  the  two  oracles  in- 
compatible, and  that  the  second  one  is  similar  to  the  eschatological 
prediction  common  from  Ezekiel  onwards.  Jerusalem,  however,  is 
surely  still  standing. 

'  Even  Wellhausen  agrees  that  this  verse  is  most  suitably  dated 
from  the  tiroe  of  Micah, 


4ia  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Is  there  no  king  in  thee^  or  is  thy  counsellor  perished, 

That  throes  have  seized  thee  like  a  woman  in  child- 
birth ? 

Quiver  and  writhe,  daughter  of  Zion,  like  one  in 
childbirth : 

For  now  must  thou  forth  from  the  city, 

And  encamp  on  the  field  (and  come  unto  Babel)  ;  ^ 

There  shalt  thou  be  rescued, 

There  shall  Jehovah  redeem  thee  Jrom  the  hand  of 
thy  foes  I 

And  now  gather  against  thee   many  nations,  that 

say, 
"  Let  her  be  violate,   that  our  eyes  may  fasten  on 

Zion  !  " 
But  they  know  not  the  plans  of  Jehovah, 
Nor  understand  they  His  counsel, 
For  He  hath  gathered  them  in  like  sheaves  to  the 

floor. 
Up  and  thresh,  O  daughter  of  Zion  I 
For  thy  horns  will  I  turn  into  iron, 
And  thy  hoofs  will  I  turn  into  brass/ 
And  thou  wilt  beat  down  ma)iy  nations, 
And  devote  to  Jehovah  their  spoil. 
And  their  wealth  to  the  Lord  of  all  earth. 

Now  press  thyself  together,  thou  daughter  of  pressure:^ 

The  foe  hath  set  a  wall  around  us, 

With  a  rod  they  smite  on  the  cheek  Israel's  regent  1 


'  Those  who  maintain  the  exilic  date  understand  by  this  Jehovah 
Himself.     In  any  case  it  may  be  He  who  is  meant. 
^  The  words  in  parenthesis  are  perhaps  a  gloss. 
•  Uncertain. 


Micahiv.8-v.]  THE  KING   TO   COME  413 

But  thou,  Beth-Ephrath^  smallest  among  the  thou- 
sands ^  ofjudah, 

From  thee  unto  Me  shall  come  forth  the  Ruler  to 
be  in  Israel ! 

Yea,  of  old  are  His  goings  forth,  from  the  days  of 
long  ago  ! 

Therefore  shall  He  suffer  them  till  the  time  that  one 
bearing  shall  have  born} 

(Then  the  rest  of  His  brethren  shall  return  with  the 
children  of  Israel.^* 

And  He  shall  stand  and  shepherd  His  flock  ^  in  the 
strength  of  Jehovah, 

In  the  pride  of  the  name  of  His  God. 

And  they  shall  abide  I 

For  now  is  He  great  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

And  Such  an  One  shall  be  our  Peace.^ 

Bethlehem  was  the  birthplace  of  David,  but  when 
Micah  says  that  the  Deliverer  shall  emerge  from  her 
he  does  not  only  mean  what  Isaiah  affirms  by  his 
promise  of  a  rod  from  the  stock  of  Jesse,  that  the  King 
to  Come  shall  spring  from  the  one  great  dynasty  in 
Judah.  Micah  means  rather  to  emphasise  the  rustic 
and  popular  origin  of  the  Ivlessiah,  too  small  to  be  among 
the  thousands  of  Judah.  David,  the  son  of  Jesse  the 
Bethlehemite,  was  a  dearer  figure  than  Solomon  son 
of  David  the  King.  He  impressed  the  people's  imagina- 
tion, because  he  had  sprung  from  themselves,  and  in 

'  The  name  Bethlehem  is  probably  a  later  insertion,  I  read  with 
Hitzig  and  others  TiyVH  mSts,  and  omit  ni^n^. 

*  Smallest  form  of  district :  cf.  English  hundreds. 
'  Cf.  the  prophecy  of  Immanuel,  Isa.  vii, 

*  This  seems  like  a  later  insertion:  it  disturbs  both  sense  and  rh3rthm. 
»  So  LXX. 

'  Take  this  clause  from  ver.  4  and  the  following  oracle  and  put  it 
v\  ith  ver,  3. 


414  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

his  lifetime  had  been  the  popular  rival  of  an  unlovable 
despot.  Micah  himself  was  the  prophet  of  the  country 
as  distinct  from  the  capital,  of  the  peasants  as  against 
the  rich  who  oppressed  them.  When,  therefore,  he 
fixed  upon  Bethlehem  as  the  Messiah's  birthplace,  he 
doubtless  desired,  without  departing  from  the  orthodox 
hope  in  the  Davidic  dynasty,  to  throw  round  its  new 
representative  those  associations  which  had  so  endeared 
to  the  people  their  father-monarch.  The  shepherds 
of  Judah,  that  strong  source  of  undefiled  life  from 
which  the  fortunes  of  the  state  and  prophecy  itself  had 
ever  been  recuperated,  should  again  send  forth  salvation. 
Had  not  Micah  already  declared  that,  after  the  over- 
throw of  the  capital  and  the  rulers,  the  glory  of  Israel 
should  come  to  Adullam,  where  of  old  David  had 
gathered  its  soiled  and  scattered  fragments? 

We  may  conceive  how  such  a  promise  would  affect 
the  crushed  peasants  for  whom  Micah  wrote.  A 
Saviour,  who  was  one  of  themselves,  not  born  up  there 
in  the  capital,  foster-brother  of  the  very  nobles  who 
oppressed  them,  but  born  among  the  people,  sharer 
of  til  r  toils  and  of  their  wrongs  I — it  would  bring 
hope  to  every  broken  heart  among  the  disinherited  poor 
of  Israel.  Yet  meantime,  be  it  observed,  this  was  a 
promise,  not  for  the  peasants  only,  but  for  the  whole 
people.  In  the  present  danger  of  the  nation  the  class 
disputes  are  forgotten,  and  the  hopes  of  Israel  gather 
upon  their  Hero  for  a  common  deliverance  from  the 
foreign  foe.  Such  an  One  shall  be  our  peace.  But  in 
the  peace  He  is  to  stand  and  shepherd  His  flock,  conspic- 
uous and  watchful.  The  country-folk  knew  what  such 
a  figure  meant  to  themselves  for  security  and  weal  on 
the  land  of  their  fathers.  Heretofore  their  rulers  had 
not  been  shepherds,  but  thieves  and  robbers. 


Micah  iv.  8-v.]  THE  KING    TO   COME  415 


We  can  imagine  the  contrast  which  such  a  vision 
must  have  offered  to  the  fancies  of  the  false  prophets. 
What  were  they  beside  this  ?  Deity  descending  in 
fire  and  thunder,  with  all  the  other  features  of  the 
ancient  Theophanies  that  had  now  become  so  much 
cant  in  the  mouths  of  mercenary  traditionalists.  Be- 
sides those,  how  sane  was  this,  how  footed  upon  the 
earth,  how  practical,  how  popular  in  the  best  sense  1 

We  see,  then,  the  value  of  Micah's  prophecy  for  his 
own  day.  Has  it  also  any  value  for  ours — especially 
in  that  aspect  of  it  which  must  have  appealed  to  the 
hearts  of  those  for  whom  chiefly  Micah  arose  ?  "  Is  it 
wise  to  paint  the  Messiah,  to  paint  Christ,  so  much  as 
a  working-man  ?  Is  it  not  much  more  to  our  purpose 
to  remember  the  general  fact  of  His  humanity,  by  which 
He  is  able  to  be  Priest  and  Brother  to  all  classes,  high 
and  low,  rich  and  poor,  the  noble  and  the  peasant  alike  ? 
Is  not  the  Man  of  Sorrows  a  much  wider  name  than 
the  Man  of  Labour  ?  "     Let  us  answer  these  questions. 

The  value  of  such  a  prophecy  of  Christ  lies  in  the 
correctives  which  it  supplies  to  the  Christian  apocalypse 
and  theology.  Both  of  these  have  raised  Christ  to 
a  throne  too  far  above  the  actual  circumstance  of  His 
earthly  ministry  and  the  theatre  of  His  eternal  sym- 
pathies. Whether  enthroned  in  the  praises  of  heaven, 
or  by  scholasticism  relegated  to  an  ideal  and  abstract 
humanity,  Christ  is  lifted  away  from  touch  with  the 
common  people.  But  His  lowly  origin  was  a  fact. 
He  sprang  from  the  most  democratic  of  peoples.  His 
ancestor  was  a  shepherd,  and  His  mother  a  peasant 
girl.  He  Himself  was  a  carpenter  :  at  home,  as  His 
parables  show,  in  the  fields  and  the  folds  and  the 
barns  of  His  country ;  with  the  servants  of  the  great 
houses,  with  the  unemployed  in  the  market ;  with  the 


4i6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

woman  in  the  hovel  seeking  one  piece  of  silver,  with 
the  shepherd  on  the  moors  seeking  the  lost  sheep. 
The  poor  had  the  gospel  preached  to  them;  and  the 
common  people  heard  Him  gladly.  As  the  peasants 
of  Judaea  must  have  listened  to  Micah's  promise  of  His 
origin  among  themselves  with  new  hope  and  patience, 
so  in  the  Roman  empire  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ 
was  welcomed  chiefly,  as  the  Apostles  and  the  Fathers 
bear  witness,  by  the  lowly  and  the  labouring  of  every 
nation.  In  the  great  persecution  which  bears  his  name, 
the  Emperor  Domitian  heard  that  there  were  two 
relatives  alive  of  this  Jesus  whom  so  many  acknow- 
ledged as  their  King,  and  he  sent  for  them  that  he 
might  put  them  to  death.  But  when  they  came,  he 
asked  them  to  hold  up  their  hands,  and  seeing  these 
brown  and  chapped  with  toil,  he  dismissed  the  men, 
saying,  **  From  such  slaves  we  have  nothing  to  fear," 
Ah  but,  Emperor  1  it  is  just  the  horny  hands  of  this 
religion  that  thou  and  thy  gods  have  to  fear  1  Any 
cynic  or  satirist  of  thy  literature  from  Celsus  onwards 
could  have  told  thee  that  it  was  by  men  who  worked 
with  their  hands  for  their  daily  bread,  by  domestics, 
artisans  and  all  manner  of  slaves,  that  the  power  of 
this  King  should  spread,  which  meant  destruction  to 
thee  and  thine  empire  1  From  little  Bethlehem  came  forth 
(he  Ruler,  and  now  He  is  great  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

There  follows  upon  this  prophecy  of  the  Shepherd 
a  curious  fragment  which  divides  His  office  among  a 
number  of  His  order,  though  the  grammar  returns 
towards  the  end  to  One.  The  mention  of  Assyria 
stamps  this  oracle  also  as  of  the  eighth  century.  Mark 
ih^  refrain  which  opens  and  closes  it.^ 

'  Wellhausen  alleges  in  the  numbers  another  trace  of  the  late 
Apocalyptic  writings — but  this  is  not  conclusive. 


Micah  iv.  8-v.]  THE  KING   TO   COME  417 


When  Asshur  cometh  into  our  land, 

And  when  he  marcheth  on  our  borders^ 

Then  shall  we  raise  against  him  ueven  shepherds 

And  eight  princes  of  men. 

And  they  shall  shepherd  AsshUr  with  a  sword y 

And  Nimrod's  land  with  her  own  bare  blades. 

And  He  shall  deliver  from  AsshUr, 

When  he  cometh  into  our  land, 

And  marcheth  upon  our  borders. 

There  follows  an  oracle  in  which  there  is  no 
evidence  of  Micah's  hand  or  of  his  times ;  but  if  it 
cairies  any  proof  of  a  date,  it  seems  a  late  one. 

And  the  remnant  of  facob  shall  be  among  many 

peoples 
Like  the  dew  from  Jehovah, 
Like  showers  upon  grass, 
Which  wait  not  for  a  man, 
Nor  tarry  for  the  children  of  men. 
And  the  remnant  of  Jacob  {among  nations,)  among 

many  peoples, 
Shall  be  like  the  lion  among  the  beasts  of  the  jungle. 
Like  a  young  lion  among  the  sheepfolds. 
Who,  when  he  cometh  by,  treadeth  and  teareth, 
And  none  may  deliver. 
Let  thine  hand  be  high  on  thine  adversaries^ 
And  all  thine  enemies  be  cut  off  ! 

Finally  in  this  section  we  have  an  oracle  full  of 
the  notes  we  had  from  Micah  in  the  first  two  chapters. 
It  explains  itself.     Compare  Micah  ii.  and  Isaiah  ii. 

'  So  LXX.     Cf.  the  refrain  at  the  close. 
VOL.  I.  27 


4i8  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

And  it  shall  be  in   that  day — 'tis    the   oracle    of 

Jehovah — 
That  I  will  cut  off  thy  horses  from  the  midst  of  thee, 
And  I  will  destroy  thy  chariots; 
That  I  will  cut  off  the  cities  of  thy  land, 
And  tear  down  all  thy  fortresses, 
And  I  will  cut  off  thine   enchantments  from  thy 

hand, 
And  thou  shall  have  no  more  soothsayers  ; 
And  I  will  cut  off  thine  images  and  thy  pillars  from 

the  midst  of  thee, 
And  thou  shall  not  bow  down  any  more  to  the  work 

of  thy  hands; 
And  I  ivill  uproot  thine  Asheras  from  the  midst  oj 

thee. 
And  will  destroy  thine  idols. 
So  shall  I  do,  in  My  wrath  and  Mine  anger, 
Vengeance  to  the  nations,  who  have  not  known  Me. 


CHAPTER    XXIX 

THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION 
MicAH  vi.  1-8. 

WE  have  now  reached  a  passage  from  which  all 
obscurities  of  date  and  authorship^  disappear 
before  the  transparence  and  splendour  of  its  contents. 
"These  few  verses,"  says  a  great  critic,  "in  which 
Micah  sets  forth  the  true  essence  of  religion,  may  raise 
a  well-founded  title  to  be  counted  as  the  most  important 
in  the  prophetic  literature.  Like  almost  no  others,  they 
afford  us  an  insight  into  the  innermost  nature  of  the 
religion  of  Israel,  as  delivered  by  the  prophets." 

Usually  it  is  only  the  last  of  the  verses  upon  which 
the  admiration  of  the  reader  is  bestowed :  What  doth 
the  Lord  require  of  thee,  O  man,  but  to  do  justice  and 
love  mercy  and  walk  humbly  with' thy  God?  But  in  truth 
the  rest  of  the  passage  differeth  not  in  glory ;  the 
wonder  of  it  lies  no  more  in  its  peroration  than  in  its 
argument  as  a  whole. 

The  passage  is  cast  in  the  same  torm  as  the  opening 
chapter  of  the  book — that  of  an  Argument  or  Debate 
between  the  God  of  Israel  and  His  people,  upon  the 
great  theatre  of  Nature.  The  heart  must  be  dull  that 
does  not  leap  to  the  Presences  before  which  the  trial 
is  enacted. 

'  See  above,  pp.  369  ft, 
419 


420  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

The  prophet  speaks  : — 

Hear  ye  now  that  which  Jehovah  is  saying; 

Arise,  contend  before  the  mountains, 

And  let  the  hills  hear  thy  voice  1 

Hear,  O  mountains,  the  Lord's  Argument, 

And  ye,  the  everlasting!  foundations  of  earth  f 

This  is  not  mere  scenery.  In  all  the  moral  questions 
between  God  and  man,  the  prophets  feel  that  Nature 
is  involved.  Either  she  is  called  as  a  witness  to  the 
long  history  of  their  relations  to  each  other,  or  as 
sharing  God's  feeling  of  the  intolerableness  of  the 
evil  which  men  have  heaped  upon  her,  or  by  her 
droughts  and  floods  and  earthquakes  as  the  executioner 
of  their  doom.  It  is  in  the  first  of  these  capacities  that 
the  prophet  in  this  passage  appeals  to  the  mountains 
and  eternal  foundations  of  earth.  They  are  called,  not 
because  they  are  the  biggest  of  existences,  but  because 
they  are  the  most  full  of  memories  and  associations  with 
both  parties  to  the  Trial. 

The  main  idea  of  the  passage,  however,  is  the  Trial 
itself.  We  have  seen  more  than  once  that  the  forms 
of  religion  which  the  prophets  had  to  combat  were 
those  which  expressed  it  mechanically  in  the  form  of 
ritual  and  sacrifice,  and  those  which  expressed  it  in 
mere  enthusiasm  and  ecstasy.  Between  such  extremes 
the  prophets  insisted  that  religion  was  knowledge  and 
that  it  was  conduct — rational  intercourse  and  loving 
duty  between  God  and  man.  This  is  what  they  figure 
in  their  favourite  scene  of  a  Debate  which  is  now  before 
us. 

Jehovah  hath  a  Quarrel  with  His  People, 
And  with  Israel  He  cometh  to  argue. 

To  us,  accustomed  to  communion  with   the  Godhead, 


Micah  vi.  1-8.]  REASONABLENESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION  421 

as  with  a  Father,  this  may  seem  formal  and  legal. 
But  if  we  so  regard  it  we  do  it  an  injustice.  The  form 
sprang  by  revolt  against  mechanical  and  sensational 
ideas  of  religion.  It  emphasised  religion  as  rational 
and  moral,  and  at  once  preserved  the  reasonableness 
of  God  and  the  freedom  of  man.  God  spoke  with  the 
people  whom  He  had  educated  :  He  pled  with  them, 
listened  to  their  statements  and  questions,  and  produced 
His  own  evidences  and  reasons.  Religion,  such  a 
passage  as  this  asserts — religion  is  not  a  thing  of 
authority  nor  of  ceremonial  nor  of  mere  feeling,  but 
of  argument,  reasonable  presentation  and  debate. 
Reason  is  not  put  out  of  court :  man's  freedom  is 
respected ;  and  he  is  not  taken  by  surprise  through  his 
fears  or  his  feelings.  This  sublime  and  generous  con- 
ception of  religion,  which  we  owe  first  of  all  to  the 
prophets  in  their  contest  with  superstitious  and  slothful 
theories  of  religion  that  unhappily  survive  among  us, 
was  carried  to  its  climax  in  the  Old  Testament  by 
another  class  of  writers.  We  find  it  elaborated  with 
great  power  and  beauty  in  the  Books  of  Wisdom.  In 
these  the  Divine  Reason  has  emerged  from  the  legal 
forms  now  before  us,  and  has  become  the  Associate 
and  Friend  of  Man.  The  Prologue  to  the  Book  of 
Proverbs  tells  how  Wisdom,  fellow  of  God  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  descends  to  dwell  among  men. 
She  comes  forth  into  their  streets  and  markets,  she 
argues  and  pleads  there  with  an  urgency  which  is  equal 
to  the  urgency  of  temptation  itself.  But  it  is  not  till 
the  earthly  ministry  of  the  Son  of  God,  His  arguments 
with  the  doctors.  His  parables  to  the  common  people. 
His  gentle  and  prolonged  education  of  His  disciples, 
that  we  see  the  reasonableness  of  religion  in  all  its 
strength  and  beauty. 


422  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

In  that  free  court  of  reason  in  which  the  prophets 
saw  God  and  man  plead  together,  the  subjects  were 
such  as  became  them  both.  For  God  unfolds  no 
mysteries,  and  pleads  no  power,  but  the  debate  pro- 
ceeds upon  the  facts  and  evidences  of  life :  the  ap- 
pearance of  Character  in  history ;  whether  the  past  be 
not  full  of  the  efforts  of  Love  ;  whether  God  had  not,  as 
human  wilfulness  permitted  Him,  achieved  the  liberation 
and  progress  of  His  people. 

God  speaks : — 

My  people,  what  have  I  done  unto  thee  ? 

And  how  have  I  wearied  thee — answer  Me  t 

For  I  brought  thee  up  from  the  land  of  Misraitn, 

And  from  the  house  of  slavery  I  redeemed  thee. 

I  sent  before  thee  Moses,  Aharon  and  Miriam. 

My  people,   remember    now   what   Balak    king    of 

Moab  counselled, 
And  how  he  was  answered  by  Balaam,    Bear's 

son — 
So  that  thou  mayest  know   the  righteous  deeds  of 

Jehovah} 

Always  do  the  prophets  go  back  to  Egypt  or  the 
wilderness.  There  God  made  the  people,  there  He 
redeemed  them.  In  lawbook  as  in  prophecy,  it  is  the 
fact  of  redemption  which  forms  the  main  ground  of 
His  appeal.  Redeemed  by  Him,  the  people  are  not 
their  own,  but  His.  Treated  with  that  wonderful  love 
and  patience,  like  patience  and  love  they  are  called  to 
bestow  upon  the  weak  and  miserable   beneath  them,* 

'  Omitted  from  the  above  is  the  strange  clause  from,  Shittim  to 
Gilgal,  which  appears  to  be  a  gloss. 

*  See  the  passages  on  the  subject  in  Professcff  Harper's  work  on 
Deuteronomy  in  this  series. 


Micah  vi.  1-8.]  REASONABLENESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION  423 

One  of  the  greatest  interpreters  of  the  prophets  to  our 
own  age,  Frederick  Denison  Maurice,  has  said  upon 
this  passage  :  "  We  do  not  know  God  till  we  recognise 
him  as  a  Deliverer ;  we  do  not  understand  our  own 
work  in  the  world  till  we  believe  we  are  sent  into  it 
to  carry  out  His  designs  for  the  deliverance  of  ourselves 
and  the  race.  The  bondage  I  groan  under  is  a  bondage 
cf  the  will.  God  is  emphatically  the  Redeemer  of  the 
will.  It  is  in  that  character  He  reveals  Himself  to  us. 
We  could  not  think  of  God  at  all  as  the  God,  the  living 
God,  if  we  did  not  regard  Him  as  such  a  Redeemer. 
But  if  of  my  will,  then  of  all  wills  :  sooner  or  later  I 
am  convinced  He  will  be  manifested  as  the  Restorer, 
Regenerator — not  of  something  else,  but  of  this — of 
the  fallen  spirit  that  is  within  us." 

In  most  of  the  controversies  which  the  prophets 
open  between  God  and  man,  the  subject  on  the  side 
of  the  latter  is  his  sin.  But  that  is  not  so  here.  In 
the  controversy  which  opens  the  Book  of  Micah  the 
argument  falls  upon  the  transgressions  of  the  people, 
but  here  upon  their  sincere  though  mistaken  methods 
of  approaching  God.  There  God  deals  with  dull  con- 
sciences, but  here  with  darkened  and  imploring  hearts. 
In  that  case  we  had  rebels  forsaking  the  true  God  for 
idols,  but  here  are  earnest  seekers  after  God,  who  have 
lost  their  way  and  are  weary.  Accordingly,  as  indig- 
nation prevailed  there,  here  prevails  pity  ;  and  though 
formally  this  be  a  controversy  under  the  same  legal  form 
as  before,  the  passage  breathes  tenderness  and  gentle- 
ness from  first  to  last.  By  this  as  well  as  by  the 
recollections  of  the  ancient  history  of  Israel  we  are 
reminded  of  the  style  of  Hosea.  But  there  is  no 
expostulation,  as  in  his  book,  with  the  people's  con- 
tinued devotion  to  ritual.     All  that  is  past,  and  a  new 


424  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

temper  prevails.  Israel  have  at  last  come  to  feel  the 
vanity  of  the  exaggerated  zeal  with  v/hich  Amos  pictures 
them  exceeding  the  legal  requirements  of  sacrifice;^ 
and  with  a  despair,  sufficiently  evident  in  the  super- 
latives which  they  use,  they  confess  the  futility  and 
weariness  of  the  whole  system,  even  in  the  most  lavish 
and  impossible  forms  of  sacrifice.  What  then  remains 
for  them  to  do  ?  The  prophet  answers  with  the 
beautiful  words,  that  express  an  ideal  of  religion  to 
which  no  subsequent  century  has  ever  been  able  to  add 
either  grandeur  or  tenderness. 
The  people  speak  : — 

Wherewithal  shall  I  come  before  Jehovah, 

Shall  I  bow  myself  to  God  the  Most  High  ? 

Shall  I  come  before  Him  with  burnt-offerings, 

With  calves  of  one  year  ? 

Will  Jehovah  be  pleased  with  thousands  of  rams, 

With  myriads  of  rivers  oj  oil  ? 

Shall  I  give  my  firstborn  for  a  guilt-offering, 

The  fruit  of  tny  body  for  the  sin  of  my  soul? 

The  prophet  answers  : — 

He  hath  shown  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good; 
And  what  is  the  LORD  seeking  from  thee. 
But  to  do  justice  and  love  mercy, 
And  humbly '  to  ivalk  with  thy  God? 

'  See  above,  p.  i6i. 

"^  See  above,  p.  370,  on  the  futility  of  the  argument  which  because 
ot  this  line  would  put  the  whole  passage  in  Manasseh's  reign. 

'  This  word  yjVH  is  onlj^  once  used  again,  in  Prov.  xi.  2,  in 
another  grammatical  form,  where  also  it  might  mean  humbly.  But 
the  root-meaning  is  evidently  in  secret,  or  secretly  (cf.  the  Aram, 
yj^,  to  be  hidden;  1?''JV,  one  who  lives  noiselessly,  humble,  pious; 
in  the  feminine  of  a  bride  who  is  modest) ;  and  it  is  uncertain 
whether  we  should  not  take  that  sense  here. 


Micahvi.  i-8.]  REASONABLENESS  OF  TRUE  RELIGION  425 

This  is  the  greatest  saying  of  the  Old  Testament; 
and  there  is  only  one  other  in  the  New  which  excels 
it:— 

Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest. 

Take  My  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  Me;  for  I  am 
meek  and  lowly  in  heart :  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto 
your  souls. 

For  My  yoke  is  easy,  and  My  burden  is  light. 


CHAPTER   XXX 

THE  SIN  OF  THE  SCANT  MEASURE 
MicAH  vi.  9 — vii,  6. 

THE  State  of  the  text  of  Micah  vi.  9 — vii.  6  is  as 
confused  as  the  condition  of  society  which  it 
describes  :  it  is  difficult  to  get  reason,  and  impossible 
to  get  rhyme,  out  of  the  separate  clauses.  We  had 
best  give  it  as  it  stands,  and  afterwards  state  the 
substance  of  its  doctrine,  which,  in  spite  of  the  obscurity 
of  details,  is,  as  so  often  happens  in  similar  cases,  per- 
fectly clear  and  forcible.  The  passage  consists  of  two 
portions,  which  may  not  originally  have  belonged  to 
each  other,  but  which  seem  to  reflect  the  same  dis- 
order of  civic  life,  with  the  judgment  that  impends  upon 
it.^  In  the  first  of  them,  vi.  9-16,  the  prophet  calls 
for  attention  to  the  voice  of  God,  which  describes  the 
fraudulent  life  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  evils  He  is  bringing 
on  her.  In  the  second,  vii.  1-6,  Jerusalem  bemoans  her 
corrupt  society  ;  but  perhaps  we  hear  her  voice  only 
in  ver.  i,  and  thereafter  the  prophet's. 
The  prophet  speaks  : — 

Hark  !  Jehovah  crieth  to  the  city  ! 
(^Tt's  salvation  to  fear  Thy  Name  /)* 

*  See  above,  pp.  370  ff. 

^  Probably  a  later  parenthesis.     The  word    iT'IiJ'in   is  one  which, 
unusual  in  the  prophets,   the  Wisdom  literature  has  made  its  own 
Prov.  ii.  7,  xviii.  i  ;  Job  v.  12,  etc.     For  Thy  LXX.  read  Hts. 

426 


Micah  vi.  9-vii.  6.]    THE  SIN  OF  THE  SCANT  MEASURE       427 

Hear  ye^  O  tribe  and  council  of  the  city  I  (?)  ^ 

God  speaks : — 

...  in  the  house  of  the  wicked  treasures  of  wicked- 
ness, 
And  the  scant  measure  accursed! 
Can  she  be  pure  with  the  evil  balances^ 
And  with  the  bag  of  false  weights, 
Whose  rich  men  are  full  of  violence,^ 
And  her  citizens  speak  falsehood, 
And  their  tongue  is  deceit  in  their  mouth  ? 
But  I  on  My  part  have  begun  to  plague  thee. 
To  lay  thee  in  ruin  because  of  thy  sins. 
Thou  eatest  and  art  not  filled, 
But  thy  famine^  is  iti  the  very  midst  of  thee  f 

'  Translation  of  LXX,  emended  by  Wellhausen  so  as  to  read 
Tiyn  lyiD,  the  T'y  being  obtained  by  taking  and  transferring  the  HW 
of  the  next  verse,  and  relieving  that  verse  of  an  unusual  formation, 
viz.  nil'  before  the  interrogative  K'NH.  But  for  an  instance  of  1117 
preceding  an  interrogative  see  Gen.  xix.  12, 

*  The  text  of  the  two  preceding  verses,  which  is  acknowledged  to 
be  corrupt,  must  be  corrected  by  the  undoubted  3rd  feminine  suffix 
in  this  one — '*  her  rich  men."  Throughout  the  reference  must  be  to 
the  city.  We  ought  therefore  to  change  riDTXH  of  ver.  Ii  into  nStnn, 
which  agrees  with  the  LXX.  diKaiwdiiaerai.  Ver.  lO  is  more  uncertain, 
but  for  the  same  reason  that  "  the  city  "  is  referred  to  throughout 
vv.  9-12,  it  is  possible  that  it  is  the  nominative  to  HOiyT ;  translate 
"  cursed  with  the  short  measure."  Again  for  miVX  LXX.  read 
ni"lV'^  ri"?.^^^,  to  which  also  the  city  would  be  nominative.  And  this 
suggests  the  query  whether  in  the  letters  JT'^  t^'Nll,  that  make  little 
sense  as  they  stand  in  the  Massoretic  Text,  there  was  not  originally 
another  feminine  participle.  The  recommendation  of  a  transformation 
of  this  kind  is  that  it  removes  the  abruptness  of  the  appearance  of 
the  3rd  feminine  suffix  in  ver.  12. 

'  The  word  is  found  only  here.  The  stem  tJTI*  is  no  doubt  the 
same  as  the  Arabic  verb  wahash,  which  in  Form  V.  means  "Inani 
ventre  fuit  prae  fame ;  vacuum  reliquit  stomachum "  (Freytag).  In 
modern  colloquial  Arabic  wahsha  means  a  "longing  for  an  absent 
friend." 


428  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

And  but  try  to  remove,^  thou  canst  not  bring  off; 

And  what  thou  bringest  off,  I  give  to  the  sword. 

Thou  sowest,  but  never  reapest; 

Treadest  olives,  but  never  anointest  with  oil^ 

And  must,  but  not  to  drink  wine  ! 

So  thou  keepest  the  statutes  of  Omri^ 

And  the  habits  of  the  house  of  Ahab, 

And  walkest  in  their  principles, 

Only  that  I  may  give  thee  to  ruin, 

And  her  inhabitants  for  sport — 

Yea,  the  reproach  of  the  Gentiles^  shall  ye  heart 

Jerusalem  speaks : — 

Woe,  woe  is  me,  for  I  am  become  like  sweepings  of 

harvest. 
Like  gleanings  of  the  vintage — 
Not  a  cluster  to  eat,  not  a  fig  that  my  soul  lusteth 

after. 
Perished  are  the  leal  from  the  land. 
Of  the  upright  among  men  there  is  none : 
All  of  them  are  lurking  for  blood; 
Every  man  takes  his  brother  in  a  net. 
Their  hands  are  on  evil  to  do  it  thoroughly.^ 
The  prince  makes  requisition. 
The  judge  judgeth  for  payment. 
And  the  great  man  he  speaketh  his  lust; 
So  together  they  weave  it  out. 
The  best  of  them  is  but  a  thorn  thicket,^ 


'  Jussive.  The  objects  removed  can  hardly  be  goods,  as  Hitzig 
und  others  infer;  for  it  is  to  the  sword  they  afterwards  falL  They 
roust  be  persons. 

*  LXX.  Ziwiri.  *  Uncertain. 

•  So  LXX.  ;  but  Heb,  My  people.  •  Cf.  Prov.  xv.  19. 


Micah  vi.  9-vil  6.]    THE  SIN  OF  THE  SCANT  MEASURE       429 

The  most  upright  worse  than  a  prickly  hedge} 

The  day  that  thy  sentinels  saw,  thy  visitation,  draweth 
on; 

Now  is  their  havoc  ^  come  I 

Trust  not  any  friend!    Rely  on  no  confidant ! 

Front  her  that  lies  in  thy  bosom  guard  the  gates  of 
thy  mouth. 

For  son  insulteth  father^  daughter  is  risen  against 
her  mother,  daughter-in-law  against  her  mother- 
in-law; 

And  the  enemies  of  a  man  are  the  men  oj  his  house. 

Micah,  though  the  prophet  of  the  country  and  stern 
critic  of  its  hfe,  characterised  Jerusalem  herself  as  the 
centre  of  the  nation's  sins.  He  did  not  refer  to  idolatry 
alone,  but  also  to  the  irreligion  of  the  politicians,  and 
the  cruel  injustice  of  the  rich  in  the  capital.  The 
poison  which  weakened  the  nation's  blood  had  found 
its  entrance  to  their  veins  at  the  very  heart.  There 
had  the  evil  gathered  which  was  shaking  the  state  to 
a  rapid  dissolution. 

This  section  of  the  Book  of  Micah,  whether  it  be  by 
that  prophet  or  not,  describes  no  features  of  Jerusalem's 
life  which  were  not  present  in  the  eighth  century ; 
and  it  may  be  considered  as  the  more  detailed  picture 
of  the  evils  he  summarily  denounced.  It  is  one 
of  the  most  poignant  criticisms  of  a  commercial  com- 
munity which   have   ever   appeared   in  literature.     In 

'  Roorda,  by  rearranging  letters  and  clauses  (some  of  them  after 
LXX.),  and  by  changing  points,  gets  a  reading  which  may  be  ren- 
dered :  For  evil  are  their  hands  /  To  do  good  the  prince  demandeth 
a  bribe,  and  the  judge,  for  the  reward  of  the  great,  speaketh  what  he 
desireth.  And  they  entangle  the  good  more  than  thorns,  and  the 
righteous  more  than  a  thorn  hedge. 

*  Cf.  Isa.  xxii,  5, 


430  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

equal  relief  we  see  the  meanest  instruments  and  the 
most  prominent  agents  of  covetousness  and  cruelty — 
the  scant  measure,  the  false  weights,  the  unscrupulous 
prince  and  the  venal  judge.  And  although  there  are 
some  sins  denounced  which  are  impossible  in  our 
civilisation,  yet  falsehood,  squalid  fraud,  pitilessness 
of  the  everlasting  struggle  for  life  are  exposed  exactly 
as  we  see  them  about  us  to-day.  Through  the 
prophet's  ancient  and  often  obscure  eloquence  we  feel 
just  those  shocks  and  sharp  edges  which  still  break 
everywhere  through  our  Christian  civilisation.  Let 
us  remember,  too,  that  the  community  addressed  by 
the  prophet  was,  like  our  own,  professedly  religious. 

The  most  widespread  sin  with  which  the  prophet 
charges  Jerusalem  in  these  days  of  her  commercial 
activity  is  falsehood :  Her  inhabitants  speak  lies,  and 
their  tongue  is  deceit  in  their  mouth.  In  Mr.  Lecky's 
History  of  European  Morals  we  find  the  opinion  that 
"  the  one  respect  in  which  the  growth  of  industrial  life 
has  exercised  a  favourable  influence  on  morals  has 
been  in  the  promotion  of  truth."  The  tribute  is  just, 
but  there  is  another  side  to  it.  The  exigencies  of 
commerce  and  industry  are  fatal  to  most  of  the  con- 
ventional pretences,  insincerities  and  flatteries,  which 
tend  to  grow  up  in  all  kinds  of  society.  In  commercial 
life,  more  perhaps  than  in  any  other,  a  man  is  taken,  and 
has  to  be  taken,  in  his  inherent  worth.  Business,  the 
life  which  is  called  par  excellence  Busy-ness,  wears 
off  every  mask,  all  false  veneer  and  unction,  and 
leaves  no  time  for  the  cant  and  parade  which  are  so 
prone  to  increase  in  all  other  professions.  Moreover 
the  soul  of  commerce  is  credit.  Men  have  to  show 
that  they  can  be  trusted  before  other  men  will  traffic 
with   them,   at  least  upon  that  large  and  lavish  scale 


Micah  vi.  9-vii.  6.]    THE  SIN  OF  THE  SCANT  MEASURE       431 

on  which  alone  the  great  undertakings  of  commerce 
can  be  conducted.  When  we  look  back  upon  the 
history  of  trade  and  industry,  and  see  how  they  have 
created  an  atmosphere  in  which  men  must  ultimately 
seem  what  they  really  are ;  how  they  have  of  their 
needs  replaced  the  jealousies,  subterfuges,  intrigues, 
which  were  once  deemed  indispensable  to  the  relations 
of  men  of  different  peoples,  by  large  international 
credit  and  trust ;  how  they  break  through  the  false 
conventions  that  divide  class  from  class,  we  must 
do  homage  to  them,  as  among  the  greatest  instruments 
of  the  truth  which  maketh  free. 

But  to  all  this  there  is  another  side.  If  commerce 
has  exploded  so  much  conventional  insincerity,  it  has 
developed  a  species  of  the  genus  which  is  quite  its 
own.  In  our  days  nothing  can  lie  like  an  adver- 
tisement. The  saying  "  the  tricks  of  the  trade  "  has 
become  proverbial.  Every  one  knows  that  the  awful 
strain  and  harassing  of  commercial  life  is  largely  due 
to  the  very  amount  of  falseness  that  exists.  The  haste 
to  be  rich,  the  pitiless  rivalry  and  competition,  have 
developed  a  carelessness  of  the  rights  of  others  to  the 
truth  from  ourselves,  with  a  capacity  for  subterfuge 
and  intrigue,  which  reminds  one  of  nothing  so  much 
as  that  state  of  barbarian  war  out  of  which  it  was  the 
ancient  glory  of  commerce  to  have  assisted  mankind 
to  rise.  Are  the  prophet's  words  about  Jerusalem  too 
strong  for  large  portions  of  our  own  commercial 
communities  ?  Men  who  know  these  best  will  not 
say  that  they  are.  But  let  us  cherish  rather  the 
powers  of  commerce  which  make  for  truth.  Let  us 
tell  men  who  engage  in  trade  that  there  are  none 
for  whom  it  is  more  easy  to  be  clean  and  straight; 
that  lies,  whether  of  action  or  of  speech,   only   in- 


43«  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

crease  the  mental  expense  and  the  moral  strain  of  life ; 
and  that  the  health,  the  capacity,  the  foresight,  the 
opportunities  of  a  great  merchant  depend  ultimately 
on  his  resolve  to  be  true  and  on  the  courage  with  which 
he  sticks  to  the  truth. 

One  habit  of  falseness  on  which  the  prophet  dwells 
is  the  use  of  unjust  scales  and  short  measures.  Tlie 
stores  or  fortunes  of  his  day  are  stores  of  wickedness^ 
because  they  have  been  accumulated  by  the  use  of  the 
lean  ephaJi,  the  balances  of  wrong  and  the  bag  of  false 
weights.  These  are  evils  more  common  in  the  East 
than  with  us :  modern  government  makes  them  almost 
impossible.  But,  all  the  same,  ours  is  the  sin  of  the 
scant  measure,  and  the  more  so  in  proportion  to  the 
greater  speed  and  rivalry  of  our  commercial  life.  The 
prophet's  name  for  it,  measure  of  leanness,  of  con- 
sumption or  shrinkage,  is  a  proper  symbol  of  all  those 
duties  and  offices  of  man  to  man,  the  full  and  generous 
discharge  of  which  is  diminished  by  the  haste  and  the 
grudge  of  a  prevalent  selfishness.  The  speed  of 
modern  life  tends  to  shorten  the  time  expended  on 
every  piece  of  work,  and  to  turn  it  out  untempered 
and  incomplete.  The  struggle  for  life  in  commerce, 
the  organised  rivalry  between  labour  and  capital,  not 
only  puts  every  man  on  his  guard  against  giving  any 
other  more  than  his  due,  but  tempts  him  to  use  every 
opportunity  to  scamp  and  curtail  his  own  service  and 
output.  You  will  hear  men  defend  this  parsimony  as 
if  it  were  a  law.  They  say  that  business  is  impossible 
without  the  temper  which  they  call  "  sharpness  "  or 
the  habit  which  they  call  "  cutting  it  fine."  But 
such  character  and  conduct  are  the  very  decay  of 
society.  The  shrinkage  of  the  units  must  always 
and  everywhere  mean  the  disintegration  of  the  mass. 


Micah  vi.  9-vii.  6.]    THE  SIN  UF  THE  SCANT  ME  AS  URE        433 


A  society  whose  members  strive  to  keep  within  their 
duties  is  a  society  which  cannot  continue  to  cohere. 
Selfishness  may  be  firmness,  but  it  is  the  firmness  of 
ft-ost,  the  rigour  of  death.     Only  the  unselfish  excess 

'  of  duty,  only  the  generous  loyalty  to  others,  give  to 
society  the  compactness  and  indissolubleness  of  life. 
Who  is  responsible  for  the  enmity  of  classes,  and  the 
distrust  which  exists  between  capital  and  labour  ? 
It  is  the  workman  whose  one  aim  is  to  secure  the 
largest  amount  of  wages  for  the  smallest  amount  of 
work,  and  who  will,  in  his  blind  pursuit  of  that, 
wreck  the  whole  trade  of  a  town  or  a  district ;  it  is 
the  employer  who  believes  he  has  no  duties  to  his 
men  beyond  paying  them  for  their  work  the  least  that 
he  can  induce  them  to  take ;  it  is  the  customer  who 
only  and  ever  looks  to  the  cheapness  of  an  article — 
procurer  in  that  prostitution  of  talent  to  the  work  of 
scamping  which  is  fast  killing  art,  and  joy  and  all 
pity  for  the  bodies  and  souls  of  our  brothers.  These 
are  the  true  anarchists  and  breakers-up  of  society. 
On  their  methods  social  coherence  and  harmony  are 
impossible.  Life  itself  is  impossible.  No  organism 
can  thrive  whose  various  limbs  are  ever  shrinking  in 
upon  themselves.     There  is  no  life  except   by  living 

,  to  others. 

i  But  the  prophet  covers  the  whole  evil  when  he  says 
that  the  pious  are  perished  out  of  the  land.  Pious  is  a 
translation  of  despair.  The  original  means  the  man 
distinguished  by  "  hesedh,"  that  word  which  we  have  on 
several  occasions  translated  leal  love,  because  it  implies 
not  only  an  affection  but  loyalty  to  a  relation.  And, 
as  the  use  of  the  word  frequently  reminds  us,  "  hesedh  " 
is  love  and  loyalty  both  to  God  and  to  our  fellow-men. 
We  need  not  dissociate  these  :  they  are  one.  But 
VOL.  X.  28 


434  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

here  it  is  the  human  direction  in  which  the  word 
looks.  It  means  a  character  which  fulfils  all  the  rela- 
tions of  society  with  the  fidelity,  generosity  and 
grace,  which  are  the  proper  affections  of  man  to  man. 
Such  a  character,  says  the  prophet,  is  perished  from  the 
land.  Every  man  now  lives  for  himself,  and  as  a 
consequence  preys  upon  his  brother.  They  all  lie  in 
wait  for  blood;  they  hunt  every  man  his  brother  with  a 
net.  This  is  not  murder  which  the  prophet  describes : 
it  is  the  reckless,  pitiless  competition  of  the  new 
conditions  of  life  developed  in  Judah  by  the  long  peace 
and  commerce  of  the  eighth  century.  And  he  carries 
this  selfishness  into  a  very  striking  figure  in  ver.  4: 
The  best  of  them  is  as  a  thorn  thicket,  the  most  upright 
worse  than  a  prickly  hedge.  He  realises  exactly  what 
we  mean  by  sharpness  and  sharp-dealing :  bristling 
self-interest,  all  points ;  splendid  in  its  own  defence, 
but  barren  of  fruit,  and  without  nest  or  covert  for  any 
Ufe. 


CHAPTER   XXXI 

OUR  MOTHER  OF  SORROWS 

MiCAH  vii.  7-20, 

AFTER  so  stern  a  charge,  so  condign  a  sentence, 
confession  is  natural,  and,  with  prayer  for  for- 
giveness and  praise  to  the  mercy  of  God,  it  fitly  closes 
the  whole  book.  As  we  have  seen,^  the  passage  is  a 
cento  of  several  fragments,  from  periods  far  apart  in  the 
history  of  Israel.  One  historical  allusion  suits  best  tht 
age  of  the  Syrian  wars  ;  another  can  only  refer  to 
the  day  of  Jerusalem's  ruin.  In  spirit  and  language 
the  Confessions  resemble  the  prayers  of  the  Exile.  The 
Doxology  has  echoes  of  several  Scriptures.^ 

But  from  these  fragments,  it  may  be  of  many  cen- 
turies, there  rises  clear  the  One  Essential  Figure  :  Israel, 
all  her  secular  woes  upon  her ;  our  Mother  of  Sorrows, 
at  whose  knees  we  learned  our  first  prayers  of  con- 
fession and  penitence.  Other  nations  have  been  our 
teachers  in  art  and  wisdom  and  government.  But  she 
is  our  mistress  in  pain  and  in  patience,  teaching  men 
with  what  conscience  they  should  bear  the  chastening 
of  the  Almighty,  with  what  hope  and  humility  they 
should  wait  for  their  God.  Surely  not  less  lovable, 
but  only  more  human,  that  her  pale  cheeks  flush  for 

'  Above,  pp.  372  fif. 

'  Cf.  with  it  Exod.  xxxiv.  6,  7  (J);  Jer.  iii.  5,  1.  20;  Isa.  ivii.  16; 
Psalms  ciii.  9,  cv.  9,  10. 

435 


436  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

a  moment  with  the  hate  of  the  enemy  and  the  assurance 
of  revenge.  Her  passion  is  soon  gone,  for  she  feels 
her  guilt  to  be  greater ;  and,  seeking  forgiveness,  her 
last  word  is  what  man's  must  ever  be,  praise  to  the 
grace  and  mercy  of  God. 
Israel  speaks : — 

But  I  will  look  for  the  LORD, 

I  will  wait  for  the  God  of  my  salvation  f 

My  God  will  hear  me  ! 

Rejoice  not,  O  mine  enemy,  at  me  : 

If  I  befallen,  I  rise  ; 

If  I  sit  in  the  darkness,  the  LORD  is  a  light  to  tne. 

The  anger  of  the  LORD  will  I  bear — 

For  I  have  sinned  against  Him — 

Until  that  He  take  up  my  quarrel. 

And  execute  my  right. 

He  will  carry  me  forth  to  the  light; 

I  will  look  on  His  righteousness : 

So  shall  mine  enemy  see,  and  shame  cover  her, 

She  that  saith  unto  tne,  Where  is  Jehovah  thy  God  ? — 

Mine  eyes  shall  see  her. 

Now  is  she  for  trampling,  like  mire  in  the  streets  t 

The  prophet  *  responds  : — 

A  day  for  the  building  of  thy  walls  shall  that  day  be  ! 
Broad  shall  thy  border  be  ^  on  that  day  / 

'  It  was  a  woman  who  spoke  before,  the  People  or  the  City.  But 
the  second  personal  pronouns  to  which  this  reply  of  the  prophet  ia 
addressed  are  all  masculine.  Notice  the  same  change  in  vi.  9-16 
(above  p  427). 

*  pn"pm\  Ewald  :  "  distant  the  date."  Notice  the  assonance.  It 
explains  the  use  of  the  unusual  word  for  border.  LXX.  thy  bordtr. 
The  LXX.  also  takes  into  ver.  W  [»&  above)  the  NIH  DV  of  ver.  12. 


Micahvii.7-2o.]  OUR  MOTHER  OF  SORROWS  437 

*  and  shall  come  to  thee 

From  Assyria  unto  Egypt,  and  from  Egypt  to  the 
River, 

And  to  Sea  from  Sea,  and  Mountain  from  Moun- 
tain ;  * 

Though  ^  the  land  be  waste  on  account  of  her  in- 
habitants, 

Because  of  the  fruit  of  their  doings. 

An  Ancient  Prayer  : — 

Shepherd  Thy  people  with  Thy  staff, 

The  sheep  of  Thy  heritage  dwelling  solitarily.  .  ,  ,* 

May  they  pasture  in  Bashan  and  Gilead  as  in  days 

of  old! 
As  in  the  days  when  Thou  wentest  forth  from  thi 

land  of  Misraim,  give  us  wonders  to  see  ! 
Nations  shall  see  and  despair  of  all  their  might; 
Their  hands  to  their  mouths  shall  they  put, 
Their  ears  shall  be  deafened. 
They  shall  lick  the  dust  like  serpents; 
Like  worms  of  the  ground  from  their  fastnesses^ 
To  Jehovah  our  God  they  shall  come  trembling. 
And  in  fear  before  Thee  I 


'  Something  has  probably  been  lost  here. 
«  For  -inn  read  IHO. 

•  It  is  difficult  to  get  sense  when  translating  the  conjunction  in  anj 
other  way.     But  these  two  lines  may  belong  to  the  following. 

*  The  words  omitted  above  are  literally  jungle  in  the  midst  of 
gardenland  or  Carntel.  Plausible  as  it  would  be  to  take  the  proper 
name  Carmel  here  along  with  Bashan  and  Gilead  (see  Hist.  Geog.,  338), 
the  connection  prefers  the  common  noun  garden  or  gardenland'. 
translate  "dwelling  alone  like  a  bit  of  jungle  in  the  midst  of  cultivated 
land."  Perhaps  the  clause  needs  rearrangement :  ?D"lD3in3"ll?',  with 
a  verb  to  introduce  it.  Yet  compare  i^P"??  *iy^,  2  Kings  xix.  23; 
Isa.  xxxvii.  24. 


438  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

A  Doxology  : — 

Who  is  a  God  like  to  Thee  ?    Forgiving  iniquity ^ 
And  passing  by  transgression,  to   the   remnant  oj 

His  heritage; 
He  keepeth  not  hold  of  His  anger  for  ever^ 
But  One  who  delighteth  in  mercy  is  He; 
He  will  come  back,  He  will  pity  us, 
He  will  tread  under  foot  our  iniquities — 
Yea,  Thou  wilt  cast  to  the  depths  of  the  sea  every  one 

of  our  sins. 
Thou  wilt  show  faithfulness  to  facob,  leal  love  to 

Abraham, 
As  Thou  hast  sworn  to  our  fathers  from  the  days 

of  yore. 


INDEX    OF    PASSAGES    AND    TEXTS 

A  single  text  will  always  be  found  treated  in  the  exposition  of  the  passage 
to  which  it  belongs.  Only  the  other  important  references  to  it  are  given  in 
this  index.  In  the  second  of  the  columns  Roman  numerals  indicate  the 
chapters,  Arabic  numerals  the  pages. 


Amos 

viii.  9 

.        .         .        66,95 

i.,  iL        1 

62 

ix.  1-6      . 

,         .  64 ;  X.,  Sec.  2 

i.  I 

,           61,  67f.,  69«. 

ix.  I 

.    Ill,  151 

i.2 

.        .         81,  93.  98 

ix.  5,  6 

201  ff. 

i.  3-ii. 

VII. 

ix.  7-is 

64 ;  X.,  Sec.  3 

ii.  13 

.        .        .     72 

HOSEA 

iii.-vi. 

62fr. 

i.  I,  TitU 

.    215  n.  I 

iii.-iv.  3 

.        .     62,  63,  VIII. 

i.-iii.       2 

II,  2i2ff.;  XIV.;  XXIII. 

iii.  3-8 

81  ff,,  89  ff.,  196 

i.  7  . 

.    213  «.  I 

iii.  7 

.  198 

ii.  1-3 

.    213,  249  n.  2 

iv.4-13  ; 

.    IX.,  Sec.  I ;  199  f. 

ii.8 

341 

iv.  II 

68 

ii.  9 

•  335 

iv.  12 

•  197 

ii.  10 

.       .       .       .  328 

iv.  13 

164,  201  ff. 

iii.  I 

214 

V.      . 

63;  IX.,  Sec.  2 

iii.  5 

.  214 

V.  8,  9     , 

.         .         166,  201  ff. 

iv.-xiv. 

.     215  ff.;  XV. 

V.  26,  27 

108,  170  ff.,  204 

iv.-vii.  7 

223;  XVI. 

vi.    . 

63;   IX.,  Sec.  3 

iv.    . 

.     XVI.,  Sec.  I 

vi.  9,  10 

IX.,  Sec.  4 

iv.  I 

•  323 

vi.  12 

198 

iv.  2 

.  320 

vii.-ix. 

.        .        .        .          63f. 

iv.  4 

.        .        .221  n.  4 

vii.-viii.  4 

.  70;  I.,  Sec.  3 

iv.  4-9 

324 

vii.  . 

218 

iv.  6 

.    320,  326,  330 

vii.  12 

28  f. 

iv.  9 

335 

vii.  14,  IS 

.      27,  74,  76  ff. 

iv.  12-14 

241,  282,  323  ;  XXIII. 

viii.  4-ix. 

.      64;  X. 

iv.  15 

224 

viii.  4-14 

.  X.,  Sec.  I 

iv.  17 

342 

viii.  8       . 

.        .        68,  95,  198 

V.  I-14 

.    XVI.,  Sec.  2 

439 


440 


INDEX  OF  PASSAGES  AND   TEXTS 


v-5 

V.  lo,  12-14 
V.  15-vii.  2 
V.   14-vi.  I 
vi.  1-4 
vi.  5 
vi,  8,  9 
vi.  il-vii 
vii.  3-7 
vii.  8-x. 
vii.  8-viii 
vii.  9-1 1 
vii.  16 
viii.  4-13 
viii.  4 
viii.  5 
viii.  10 
viii.  13 
viii.  14 
ix.  1-9 
ix.  I 
ix.  2 
ix.  7 
ix.  8,9 
ix.  10-17 
ix.  17 

X.   . 

X.  1,2 

X.  S   22 
X.9 

X.  II,  12 
X.  13 

X.  14 
x.lS 
xi. 
xi.  I 
xi.  2-4 
xi.  5 
xi.  8 
xii.-xiv. 
xii.  . 
xii.  I 
xiu  2 


«.6 


XVII., 


(read 


225,  337  f. 

.  225 

XVI.,  Sec.  3 

.   .  222 

•  344 
.  221 n.  3 

.  216 

.  222 

XVI.,  Sec.  4 

XVII 

XVII.,  Sec.  I 

•  323.  337 

•  335  »»•  * 
XVII.,  Sec.  2 

.  221  n.  4 

•  341 
.  221  n.  6 
.  221  «.  7 

.  224 

XVII.,  Sec.  3 

.  340 

.  221  M.  6 

28,  222  n.  I 

.  222  M.  I 

Sec.  4;  XXIII. 

.  222  n.  2 

XVII.,  Sec.  5 

.   38  «.  4 

X.  5);  341, 342 

,  327  M.  10 

225,  344  f- 
.  221  n.  6 
.  217  «.  5 
.  221  n.  6 
.  XVIII. 

•  327 
221  nn.  1-4 

n.  4,  336  n.  2 

XXIII. ;  351 

XIX. 

XIX.,  Sec.  I 

.  225 

.  221  n.  6 


xn.  3 

xii.  4,  5    . 
xii.  7        . 
xii.  8 
xii.  13,  14 
xiii.-xiv.  I 
xiii.  2 
xiii.  4 
xiii.  6 
xiii.  7 
xiv.  2-10 
xiv.  3 
xiv.  5 
xiv.  6-9 


.  I,  TitU 


1.,  111. 
i.  12,  13 
ii.  14 
v.,  v. 
V.  1-7 
v.  1-5 

V.  5 
V.  6-8 
V.  8-13 
V.  8-v. 
V.  9-14 
V.  II-13 
V.  14-V.  8 
V.  8 

V.  9-14  . 
vi.,  vii.  . 
vi.  1-8  . 
vi.  9-vii.  6 
vi.  9-16  . 
vii.  1-6  . 
vii.  7-20  . 
vii.  II 
vii.  14-17 
vii.  18-20 


MiCAH 


.        .  225 

•  .  326 

•  •  34S 
•  33 
.  327 

XIX.,  Sec.  2 

.  342 
.  203,  226 

•  327,330 

•  330  f. 

XX. 

•  .  343 
.  335  M-  I 

•  .  233 


.        .        .358 

358.  360,  36a  ff. 

.    362  f.;  XXV. 

363,  364;  XXVI 

359.  360,  362,  393 «.  I 

.    363  «.  2 

357,  358,  360,  365  ff. 

XXVII. 

358.  365 

.  367 

358»  367 

.  367 

XXVIII. 

358.  359 
.358 
.368 

•  359 
.  368 

360,  369 

369;  XXIX. 

XXX. 

•  370 

359,  371 
;  XXXI. 

•  373 

•  373 

•  373 


357,  358,  359, 


359, 


372  ff. 


THE    BOOK 

or 

THE   TWELVE    PROPHETS 

COMMONLY  CALLED  THE  MINOR 


GEORGE  ADAM   SMITH,   D.D.,   LL.D. 

rROFSSSOR  OF  HEBREW  AND  OLD  TESTAMENT  EXEGESIS 
rREE   CHURCH  COLLEGE,  GLASGOW 


IN  TWO_  VOLUMES 

VOL.    11.— ZEPHANIAH,    NAHUM,    HABAKKUK,    OBADIAH, 

HAGGAI,  ZECHARIAH  I.-VIII.,   "MALACHI,"  JOEL, 

"ZECHARIAH"   IX.-XIV.   AND   JONAH 

WITH  HISTORICAL  AND   CRITICAL  INTRODUCTIONS 


NEW  YORK 

C.  ARMSTRONG  AND  SON 

3  and  5  West  Eighteenth  Street 

London;  Hodder  and  Stoughton 

1903 


PREFACE 

THE  first  volume  on  the  Twelve  Prophets  d«dt 
with  the  three  who  belonged  to  the  Eighth 
Century :  Amos,  Hosea  and  Micah.  This  second 
volume  includes  the  other  nine  books  arranged  in 
chronological  order :  Zephaniah,  Nahum  and  Habak- 
kuk,  of  the  Seventh  Century ;  Obadiah,  of  the  Exile ; 
Haggai,  Zechariah  i. — viii.,  "  Malachi "  and  Joel,  of 
the  Persian  Period,  538 — 331  ;  "Zechariah"  ix. — xiv. 
and  the  Book  of  Jonah,  of  the  Greek  Period,  which 
began  in  332,  the  date  of  Alexander's  Syrian  campaign. 
The  same  plan  has  been  followed  as  in  Volume  I. 
A  historical  introduction  is  offered  to  each  period. 
To  each  prophet  are  given,  first  a  chapter  of  critical 
introduction,  and  then  one  or  more  chapters  of  ex- 
position. A  complete  translation  has  been  furnished, 
with  critical  and  explanatory  notes.  All  questions 
of  date  and  of  text,  and  nearly  all  of  interpretation, 
have  been  confined  to  the  introductions  and  the 
notes,  so  that  those  who  consult  the  volume  only 
for  expository  purposes  will  find  the  exposition  un- 
encumbered by  the  discussion  of  technical  points. 


VI  PREFACE 

The  accessity  of  ,'ncluding  within  one  volume  so 
many  js'cphats,  scattered  over  more  than  three 
centuries,  sind  each  of  them  requiring  a  separate 
introduction,  hi.s  reduced  the  space  available  for  the 
practical  application  of  their  teaching  to  modern  life. 
But  this  is  the  less  to  be  regretted,  that  the  contents 
of  the  nine  books  before  us  are  not  so  applicable 
to  our  own  day,  as  we  have  found  their  greater 
predecessors  to  be.  Oii  the  other  hand,  however, 
they  form  a  more  varied  introduction  to  Old  Testament 
Criticism,  while,  by  the  long  range  of  time  which  they 
cover,  and  the  many  stages  of  religion  to  which  they 
belong,  they  afford  a  wider  view  of  the  development 
of  prophecy.  Let  us  look  for  a  little  at  these  two 
points.   ^ 

I.  To  Old  Testament  Criticism  these  books  furnish 
valuable  introduction — some  of  them,  like  Obadiah,  Joel 
and  "  Zechariah "  ix. — xiv.,  by  the  great  variety  of 
opinion  that  has  prevailed  as  to  their  dates  or  their 
relation  to  other  prophets  with  whom  they  have  pas- 
sages in  common  ;  some,  like  Zechariah  and  "  Malachi," 
by  their  relation  to  the  Law,  in  the  light  of  modern 
theories  of  the  origin  of  the  latter ;  and  some,  like 
Joel  and  Jonah,  by  the  question  whether  we  are  to 
read  them  as  history,  or  as  allegories  of  history, 
or  as  apocalypse.  That  is  to  say,  these  nine  books 
raise,  besides  the  usual  questions  of  genuineness 
and  integrity,    every    other    possible  problem    of  Old 


PREFACE  vii 

Testament  Criticism.      It  has,  therefore,  been   neces- 
sary to  make  the  critical  introductions  full  and  detailed. 
The  enormous  differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  dates 
of  some  must  start  the  suspicion  of  arbitrariness,  unless 
there  be  included  in  each  case  a  history  of  the  develop- 
ment of  criticism,  so  as  to  exhibit  to  the  English  reader 
the   principles  and  the  evidence  of  fact   upon  which 
that   criticism   is  based.     I   am  convinced   that   what 
is  chiefly  required  just  now  by  the  devout  student  of 
the  Bible  is  the  opportunity  to  judge  for  himself  how 
far  Old  Testament  Criticism  is  an  adult  science ;  with 
what  amount  of  reasonableness  it  has  been  prosecuted  ; 
how  gradually  its  conclusions  have  been  reached,  how 
jealously   they    have    been    contested ;    and   how   far, 
amid    the    many    varieties    of   opinion    which    must 
always   exist   with  reference   to   facts  so  ancient  and 
questions  so  obscure,  there  has  been  progress  towards 
agreement  upon  the  leading  problems.     But,   besides 
the  accounts  of  past  criticism   given  in  this  volume, 
the   reader  will   find    in    each    case   an    independent 
attempt  to  arrive  at  a  conclusion.     This  has  not  always 
been  successful.     A  number  of  points  have  been  left 
in   doubt;  and   even  where  results  have  been   stated 
with   some   degree   of  positiveness,   the   reader   need 
scarcely  be  warned  (after  what  was  said  in  the  Pre- 
face to  Vol.  I.)  that  many  of  these  must  necessarily 
be  provisional.     But,  in  looking  back  from   the  close 
of  this   work  upon  the  discussions  which   it  contains, 


rm  PREFACE 

I  am  more  than  ever  convinced  of  the  extreme  pro- 
bability of  most  of  the  conclusions.  Among  these 
are  the  following :  that  the  correct  interpretation  of 
Habakkuk  is  to  be  found  in  the  direction  of  the  posi- 
tion to  which  Budde's  ingenious  proposal  has  been 
carried  on  pages  1 23  fF.  with  reference  to  Egypt ;  that 
the  most  of  Obadiah  is  to  be  dated  from  the  sixth 
century ;  that  "  Malachi "  is  an  anonymous  work 
from  the  eve  of  Ezra's  reforms ;  that  Joel  follows 
"  Malachi "  ;  and  that  "  Zechariah  "  ix. — xiv.  has  been 
rightly  assigned  by  Stade  to  the  early  years  of  the 
Greek  Period.  I  hAve  ventured  to  contest  Kosters' 
theory  that  there  was  no  return  of  Jewish  exiles  under 
Cyrus,  and  am  the  more  disposed  to  believe  his 
strong  argument  inconclusive,  not  only  upon  a  review 
of  the  reasons  I  have  stated  in  Chap.  XVI.,  but  on  this 
ground  also,  that  many  of  its  chief  adherents  in  this 
country  and  Germany  havo  so  modified  it  as  virtually 
to  give  up  its  main  contention.  I  think,  too,  there 
can  be  little  doubt  as  to  the  substantial  authenticity 
of  Zephaniah  ii,  (except  the  verses  on  Moab  and 
Ammon)  and  iii.  I-13,  of  Habakkuk  ii.  5  ff.,  and  of  the 
whole  of  Haggai ;  or  as  to  the  ungenuine  character  of 
the  lyric  piece  in  Zechariah  li.  and  the  intrusion  of 
"Malachi"  ii.  11-130!.  On  these  and  smaller  points 
the  reader  will  find  full  discussion  at  the  proper  places. 
p  may  here  add  a  word  or  two  upon  some  of  the 
critical   conclusions   reached    in   Vol.    I.,   which   have 


PREFACE  ix 

been  recently  contested.  The  student  will  find  strong 
grounds  offered  by  Canon  Driver  in  his  Joel  and 
Amos^  for  the  authenticity  of  those  passages  in  Amos 
which,  following  other  critics,  I  regarded  or  suspected 
as  not  authentic.  It  makes  one  diffident  in  one's 
opinions  when  Canon  Driver  supports  Professors 
Kuenen  and  Robertson  Smith  on  the  other  side. 
But  on  a  survey  of  the  case  I  am  unable  to  feel  that 
even  they  have  removed  what  they  admit  to  be 
"  forcible "  objections  to  the  authorship  by  Amos  of 
ihe  passages  in  question.  They  seem  to  me  to  have 
established  not  more  than  a  possibility  that  the 
passages  are  authentic;  and  on  the  whole  I  still  feel 
that  the  probability  is  in  the  other  direction.  If  I  am 
right,  then  I  think  that  the  date  of  the  apostrophes 
to  Jehovah's  creative  power  which  occur  in  the 
Book  of  Amos,  and  the  reference  to  astral  deities  in 
chap.  V.  27,  may  be  that  which  I  have  suggested  on 
pages  8  and  9  of  this  volume.  Some  critics  have 
charged  me  with  inconsistency  in  denying  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  epilogue  to  Amos  while  defending  that 
of  the  epilogue  to  Hosea.  The  two  cases,  as  my 
arguments  proved,  are  entirely  different.  Nor  do  I 
see  any  reason  to  change  the  conclusions  of  Vol.  I. 
upon  the  questions  of  the  authenticity  of  various 
parts  of  Micah.] 

The  text  of  the  nine  prophets  treated  in  this  volume 

'  Cambridge  Bible  for  Schools,  1897 


X  PREFACE 

has  presented  even  more  difficulties  than  that  of  the 
three  treated  in  Vol.  I.  And  these  difficulties  must 
be  my  apology  for  the  delay  of  this  volume. 

2.  But  the  critical  and  textual  value  of  our  nine 
books  is  far  exceeded  by  the  historical.  Each  exhibits 
a  development  of  Hebrew  prophecy  of  the  greatest 
interest.  From  this  point  of  view,  indeed,  the  volume 
might  be  entitled  "  The  Passing  of  the  Prophet." 
For  throughout  our  nine  books  we  see  the  spirit 
and  the  style  of  the  classic  prophecy  of  Israel 
gradually  dissolving  into  other  forms  of  religious 
thought  and  feeling.  The  clear  start  from  the  facts 
of  the  prophet's  day,  the  ancient  truths  about 
Jehovah  and  Israel,  and  the  direct  appeal  to  the 
conscience  of  the  prophet's  contemporaries,  are  not 
always  given,  or  when  given  are  mingled,  coloured 
and  warped  by  other  religious  interests,  both  present 
and  future,  which  are  even  powerful  enough  to  shake 
the  ethical  absolutism  of  the  older  prophets.  With 
Nahura  and  Obadiah  the  ethical  is  entirely  missed 
m  the  presence  of  the  claims — and  we  cannot  deny 
that  they  were  natural  claims — of  the  long-suffering 
nation's  hour  of  revenge  upon  her  heathen  tyrants. 
With  Zephaniah  prophecy,  still  austerely  ethical, 
passes  under  the  shadow  of  apocalypse ;  and  the 
future  is  solved,  not  upon  purely  historical  Hnes,  but  by 
the  intervention  of  "  supernatural "  elements.  With 
Habakkuk  the  ideals  of  the  older  prophets  encounter 


PREFACE  xi 

the  shock  of  the  facts  of  experience :  we  have  the 
prophet  as  sceptic.  Upon  the  other  margin  of  the 
Exile,  Haggai  and  Zechariah  (i. — viii.),  although  they 
are  as  practical  as  any  of  their  predecessors,  exhibit 
the  influence  of  the  exilic  developments  of  ritual, 
angelology  and  apocalypse.  God  appears  further  off 
from  Zechariah  than  from  the  prophets  of  the  eighth 
century,  and  in  need  of  mediators,  human  and  super- 
human. With  Zechariah  the  priest  has  displaced 
the  prophet,  and  it  is  very  remarkable  that  no  place 
is  found  for  the  latter  beside  the  two  sons  of  oil,  the 
political  and  priestly  heads  of  the  community,  who, 
according  to  the  Fifth  Vision,  stand  in  the  presence 
of  God  and  between  them  feed  the  religious  life 
of  Israel.  Nearly  sixty  years  later  "  Malachi "  ex- 
hibits the  working  of  Prophecy  within  the  Law,  and 
begins  to  employ  the  didactic  style  of  the  later  Rab- 
binism.  Joel  starts,  like  any  older  prophet,  from  the 
facts  of  his  own  day,  but  these  hurry  him  at  once 
into  apocalypse ;  he  calls,  as  thoroughly  as  any  of 
his  predecessors,  to  repentance,  but  under  the  immi- 
nence of  the  Day  of  the  Lord,  with  its  "  supernatural " 
terrors,  he  mentions  no  special  sin  and  enforces  no 
single  virtue.  The  civic  and  personal  ethics  of  the 
earlier  prophets  are  absent.  In  the  Greek  Period, 
the  oracles  now  numbered  from  the  ninth  to  the 
fourteenth  chapters  of  the  Book  of  Zechariah  repeat 
to  aggravation  the    exulting   revenge  of  Nahum   and 


zii  PREFACE 

Obadiah,  without  the  strong  style  or  the  hold  upon 
history  which  the  former  exhibits,  and  show  us 
prophecy  still  further  enwrapped  in  apocalypse.  But 
in  the  Book  of  Jonah,  though  it  is  parable  and 
not  history,  we  see  a  great  recovery  and  expansion 
of  the  best  elements  of  prophecy.  God's  character 
and  Israel's  true  mission  to  the  world  are  revealed  in 
the  spirit  of  Hosea  and  of  the  Seer  of  the  Exile,  with 
much  of  the  tenderness,  the  insight,  the  analysis  of 
character  and  even  the  humour  of  classic  prophecy. 
These  qualities  raise  the  Book  of  Jonah,  though  it 
is  probably  the  latest  of  our  Twelve,  to  the  highest 
rank  among  them.  No  book  is  more  worthy  to  stand 
by  the  side  of  Isaiah  xl. — Iv. ;  none  is  nearer  in 
spirit  to  the  New  Testament. 

All  this  gives  unity  to  the  study  of  prophets  so  far 
separate  in  time,  and  so  very  distinct  in  character,  from 
each  other.  From  Zephaniah  to  Jonah,  or  over  a  period 
of  three  centuries,  they  illustrate  the  dissolution  of 
Prophecy  and  its  passage  into  other  forms  of  religion. 

The  scholars,  to  whom  every  worker  in  this  field 
is  indebted,  are  named  throughout  the  volume.  I 
regret  that  Nowack's  recent  commentary  on  the  Minor 
Prophets  (Gottingen  :  Vandenhoeck  &  Ruprecht) 
reached  me  too  late  for  use  (except  in  footnotes)  upon 
the  earlier  of  the  nine  prophets. 

GEORGE  ADAM  SMITH. 


CONTElNTS    OF     VOL.    II. 

rAGE 

Preface    •••••••••v 

Chronological  Tables    •        •        •        •       Facing  p.  i 

INTRODUCTION    TO    THE    PROPHETS    OF 
THE    SEVENTH    CENTURY 

CHAF. 

I.    THE   SEVENTH    CENTURY    BEFORE   CHRIST  .  .         3 

1.  Reaction  under  Manasseh  and  Amon  (695? — 639). 

2.  The  Early  Years  of  Josiah  (639 — 625) :  Jeremiah 

AND    ZePHANIAH. 

3.  The    Rest    of    the    Century    (625 — 586)  :    The 

Fall  of  Niniveh  ;  Nahum  and  Habakkuk. 

ZEPHANIAH 

II.    THE   BOOK    OF   ZEPHANIAH       .....      35 

III.  THE    PROPHET   AND    THE   REFORMERS       .  •  .46 

ZEPHANIAH    i. — ii.   3. 

IV.  NINIVE    DELENDA 61 

Zephaniah  ii,  4-15. 

V.    SO   AS    BY   FIRE        .••...•      67 
Zkphamah  iii. 


CONTENTS 


NAHUM 

CHAP. 

VI.    THE  BOOK   OF  NAHUM  .  • 

1.  The  Position  of  Elk6sh. 

2.  The  Authenticity  of  Chap.  L 

3.  The  Date  of  Chaps,  ii.  and  iii, 

VII.   THE   VENGEANCE  OF  THE  LORD   . 
Nahum  i. 

VIII.    THE   SIEGE    AND    FALL   OF    NINIVEH 
Nahum  ii.  and  iii. 


rAGif 

77 


QO 


.    96 


HABAKKUK 

IX.    THE    BOOK    OF    HABAKKUK     .  , 

1.  Chap.  i.  2 — ii.  4  (or  8), 

2.  Chap.  ii.  5-20. 

3.  Chap.  iii. 

X.    THE    PROPHET    AS    SCEPTIC    • 
Habakkuk  i. — ii.  4. 


•        •  "5 


129 


XI.    TYRANNY    IS    SUICIDE 
Habakkuk  ii.    5-20. 


XII.       IN    THE    MIDST    OF   THE   YEARS 
Habakkuk  iii. 


143 


•         •         .  149 


OBADIAH 

XIII.  THE   BOOK   OF   OBADIAH  . 

XIV.  EDOM   AND   ISRAEL        ,  • 

Obadiah   I -2 1, 


I      .  163 

i        .  >77 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION   TO    THE   PROPHETS    OF 
THE   PERSIAN  PERIOD 

(539—331    B.C) 
CHAP.  PAGE 

XV.    ISRAEL   UNDER    THE    PERSIANS    .  «  •  .    187 

XVI.    FROM     THE     RETURN     FROM     BABYLON     TO     THE 

BUILDING    OF   THE   TEMPLE    (53^—5 '6  B.C.)  .    198 

With  a  Discussion  of  Professor  Kosters'  The<?*y. 


HAGGAI 

XVII.    THE    BOOK    OF    HAGGAI  •  •  •  Z  •   92$ 

XVIII.    HAGGAI   AND   THE    BUILDING   OF   THE  TEMPLE      .    234 
Haggai  i.,  ii. 

1.  The  Call  to  Build  (Chap.  i.). . 

2.  Courage,  Zerubbabel  !  Courage,  Jehoshu*-  •<lnp 

all  the  People  1  (Chap.  ii.  1-9). 

3.  The   Power  of  the  Unclean  (Chap.  ii.  it  ''O). 

4.  The  Reinvestment  of  Israel's  Hope  (Cha»     iL 

20-23). 

ZECHARIAH 
ii.-viii.) 

XIX.    THE    BOOK    OF   ZECHARIAH    (l. — VIII.)  ]  •    255 

XX.    ZECHARIAH   THE    PROPHET  •  •  '/  .264 

Zechariah  i.  1-6,  ETC. ;   Ezra  v.  I,  vi.  14. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

XXI.   THE   VISIONS   OF   ZECHARIAH        .  .  .  .273 

Zechariah  i.  7 — vi. 

I.  The  Influences  which  Moulded  the  Visions. 

a.  General  Features  of  the  Visions. 

3.  Exposition  of  the  Several  Visions: 

The  First:  The  Angel- Horsemen  (i.  7-17). 

The   Second  :   The   Four  Horns  and    the   Four 

Smiths  (i.  18-21    Eng.). 
The  Third  :  The  City  of  Peace  (ii.   1-5  Eng.). 
The  Fourth  :  The  High  Priest  and  the  Satan  (iii.). 
The    Fifth  :    The  Temple   Candlestick    and   the 

Two  Olive-Trees  (iv.). 
The  Sixth:   The  Winged  Volume  (v,  1-4). 
The  Seventh  :  The  Woman  in  the  Barrel  (v.  S-ll). 
The  Eighth:   The  Chariots  of  the  Four  Winds 

(vi.  1-8). 
The  Result  of  the  Visions  (vi.  9-15). 

XXII.   THE   ANGELS   OF   THE   VISIONS  .  .  ,310 

Zechariah  i.  7 — vi.  8^ 

XXIII.  "the   SEED    OF   PEACE"  •  •  t  •  32C 
Zechariah  vii.,  viii. 

''MALACHI'* 

XXIV.  the  book  of  "  malachi  "      .        •        •        '  ZZ^ 

XXV.  FROM    zechariah    TO    "  MALACHI  "    .  .  .341 

XXVI.    prophecy   WITHIN   THE   LAW    ....   348 

"Malachi"  i. — iv.  (Eng.). 

I.  God's  Love   for    Israel   and   Hatred  of  Edom 
(i.  2-S). 


CONTENTS 


CHAPi  rAGE 

a.  "Honour  Thy  Father"  (i.  6-14). 

3.  The  Priesthood  of  Knowledge  (ii.  1-9). 

4.  The  Cruelty  of  Divorce  (ii.  10-16). 

5.  "  Where  IS  THE  God  OF  Judgment?"  (ii.  17 — iii.  5). 

6.  Repentance  by  Tithes  (iii.  6-12), 

7.  The  Judgment  to  Come  (iii.  13 — iv.  2  Eng.). 

8.  The  Return  of  Elijah  (iv.  3-5  Eng.). 

JOEL 

XXVII.    THE   BOOK   OF   JOEL  .....   375 

1.  The  Date  of  the  Book 

2.  The  Interpretation  of  the  Book. 

3.  State   of   the   Text    and   the    Style    of   the 

Book. 

XXVIII.    THE   LOCUSTS  AND   THE   DAY   OF   THE   LORD        .    398 
Joel  i. — ii.  17. 

XXIX.    PROSPERITY   AND  THE  SPIRIT   .  •  «  .  418 

Joel  ii.  18-32  (Eng.). 

I.  The  Return  of  Prosperity  (ii.   19-27). 
3.  The  Outpouring  of  the  Spirit  (ii.  28-32). 

XXX.  THE  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  HEATHEN  .     *     .431 
Joel  iii.  (Eng.). 

INTRODUCTION   TO    THE    PROPHETS    OF 
THE    GRECIAN  PERIOD 

(From  331  Onwards) 
XXXI.    ISRAEL   AND  THE   GREEKS  .  •  •  •  439 


xvUi  CONTENTS 


"ZECBAJ^IAIf 
ax.— XIV.) 

CHAT.  MGB 

XXXII.    "  ZECHARIAH  "   IX. — XIV.  •  i  •  •  449 

XXXIII.   THE    CONTENTS   OF    "  ZECHARIAH  "   IX. — XIV.    .    463 

1.  The  Coming  of  the  Greeks  (ix.  1-8). 

2.  The  Prince  of  Peace  (ix.  9-12). 

3.  The  Slaughter  of  the  Greeks  (ix.  13-17). 

4.  Against  the  Teraphim  and  Sorcerers  (x.  I,  2), 

5.  Against  Evil  Shepherds  (x.  3-12). 

6.  War  upon  the  Syrian  Tyrants  (xi.  1-3). 

7.  The    Rejection    and    Murder    of    the    Good 

Shepherd  (xi.  4-17,  xiii.  7-9). 

8.  Judah  versus  Jerusalem  (xii.   1-7). 

9.  Four    Results    of    Jerusalem's    Deliveranc* 

(xii.  8 — xiii.  6). 

10.  Judgment  of  the  Heathen  and  Sanctificatiom 
OF  Jerusalem  (xiv.). 

/0J\rAJi 

XXXIV.   THE   BOOK   OF   JONAH      .  •  •  •  •  493 

1.  The  Date  of  the  Book. 

2.  The  Character  of  the  Book. 

3.  The  Purpose  of  the  Book. 

4.  Our  Lord's  Use  of  the  Book. 

5.  The  Unity  of  the  Book. 

XXXV.   THE   GREAT  REFUSAL     •  •  •  •  •  SI4 

Jonah  i. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAOB 

XXXVI.    THE     GREAT      FISH    AND      WHAT    IT    MEANS — 

THE    PSALM 523 

Jonah  ii. 

XXXVII.    THE    REPENTANCE    OF   THE    CITY     •  i  ,   529 

Jonah  iii. 

XXXVIII.  Israel's  jealousy  of  jehovah   .        ,        ,  536 

Jonah  iv. 
(NDEX  or  PROPHATS    ..«.«•.   543 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE    No.    II 

FROM  sjS   TO   /39   B.C. 


•/  e.  =  n>M.     The  mere 

•"•"  °' ' " 

g  opposite  a  date  signifies 

that   it   is  the  year  of  his  acce 

510  . 





EGVFT. 

TH.J.WS. 

PRoTSItS.      I          SYE.»  «»I,  CYPRUS.           | 

— 

CP..C^ 

Conquest  of  Egypt  by 

The  Jews  return  10  Jerusalem 

Foundation-stone  ofTemple(?) 
Attacks  of  Samaritans  begin. 

Building  of  thcTcmplc  begun 
by  Zerubbabd  and  Joshua. 

Compleiion  of  Temple. 

_ 

_ 

Cyrufl  takes  Babylon. 
rom  Babylon  under 

Cyrus  dies.    Cambyaes. 
Carabyses. 

barluBUHystaspis). 

Darius  overcomes  insurrections 
.       in  his  Empire, 

visits  and  conciliates  Egypt. 
Persian    Empire    organised    uito 

Satrapies. 

aids  Darius  against 

but  are  afterwards  defeated. 

crosses  to  Europe,  and  with  help 

and    invades  Scythio.     loolans 
revolt. 

(he  Greeks,  who  win  at  . 
Greeks  at  Marathon  (.£scbylui). 

(Herod.,  I.  183). 

mis  (Themislodes). 
Plattea.       Liberation    of    lonUn 

coast  begins, 
the  Greeks  sail  (Herod.,  I.  lag). 
by  Athens. 

byCimon.  Ionian  coast  liberated. 

Themistocles. 

by  aoo  Athenian  ships. 

of  Greek  army  in  Egypt. 

S3« 

5"! 

HasgaL 

Id  Syria      '.'.,, 

5»a 

S>7 
S16 

51! 

Egypt  subdued. 
Second   Egyplian 

- 

"MaiacbL" 

Phcenician  fleet  bI  Cyprus  . 

Salamis  of  Cyprus,  . 

500  4. 

48S 

,8s 
48) 

m 
464 

To  Cyprus .... 
Cyprus  taken      . 

Ai  Cyprus  .   "  .       ,       . 

The  Persians  take  .        .        . 
Babylon  revolts  and  is  uken  . 

Persians  cleared  out  of  . 
80  Persian  ships  taken    . 

(Longhand).     At  Persian  coud 

«8o 

47« 
4S4 
4S« 

4S8 

Egypt  subdued . 

Ezra  arrives  at  Jerusalem. 

396 ': 
38J 
361 

Egypjinviles  Greeks 

Egypt  revoits. 
HepherlteB. 

Hakar. 

Nehetniah  arrives  at  Jerusalem 
Rebuilding  of  walls. 
Nehemiah's  return   10  Jcni- 
Pentaleucb  virtually  complete. 

'.'.'. 

Siege  of  Cuium  .        .        . 
Revolt  in  Syria  of  Megabyius : 

Phoenician  fleet  .        , 
army,  assembled  at  Acco    . 
Tachoi  in  p'hcenicia    . 

Cyprus. 

Arlaxerxes  dies.     Xerzes  U. 
Darius  H  (Notbu^). 

Darius    dies.       AltaienteB    U. 

Cyrus  loses  battle  of  Cunaaa  . 
Tissaphernes  defeated  near  Sardis 
Peace  of         .        ■ 
revolts  against  Persia  by  aid  of 

m.  (Ochus)! 
Sauaps  of Cdicia  and  Syria  driveo 

by  Artaxcrxesm.,  aided       . 

A^tt[l?^«''ni.  dies.    Areea.  the 
creature  of  Bagoas. 

his  son  flies  to  Athens, 
it  is  taken  by  Athens. 
Peloponncsian  War  begins, 

Athens  forced  to  treaty. 
Close  of  Peloponncsian  War. 

by  Clesias. 

with  13,000  Greek  mercenaries. 
Xenophon  and  the  Ten  Thousand 
by  .^gcsilaus  of  Sparta. 

Greeks  under  Chabrias. 

Isocratei  urges  Philip  lo   attack 

by  10,000  Greek  mercenarltt. 

Battle  of  Chseronea. 
Phdip   master  of  Greece  ;   desig- 
nated leader  against  Persia. 

430  c 
JoSt 

39«« 

^. 
3S> 

f3S° 

33« 

Taehos      .        .        . 

3S» 

War  ia  Eg^pL 

Insurrection  In  Judah.    Much 

4)!"'jris'siiMu^"b/01^ 
phemes  (Diod.,  x«i.    aS 
cf.  Book  of  Judith).    Many 
Jews  taken  to  Hyrcania. 

::: 

33B 

- 

(Pbiladclpbus). 


Ptolemy  V. 

Egypl 
Egypt.      . 
Ptolamr  vt  lEupatof ), 


Ptolemy  Vu. 


SimoD.ininguing  against  tt 
High  PnesiOniasIlI., 

ngorous     aiiempis 

Hellenise  Judab 

The  Temple  plundered 
Pcreecmion     of     Jews     i 

Syrian  garrison  and  altar 


Ptolemy  VII.  reigns 


Plolemy    IX.    reigns 


a  Uaccabaaus. 


■egingTyreajidGatfl, 


)nquers  Syria  and  Cyprus. 


by  Aniigonus,  who  expels  Sdeucus  from  Babylc 
iriven  from  Syria  by  Amigonus,  who  by  treaty 

^°^by  Demetrius,  s 


ained  by  E 


Babylon.     Beginning  o(S 


sbyS 


AutlOChufl  III  (the  I 


by  Antiochus  {Dan 


I  iociiesSeleucuslV.  to  make  an  attempt  o 
AnUochus  IV.  (Epiphanes)  IDan,  si.  21-41 


Demetrius  n.  (Nic 


acknowledged  by  Roi 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE    No.    I 

FHOM    THE   FALL   OF  SAMARIA    TO    THE   FALL    OF  JERUSALEM 

chiefly  to   the  accession  of  the   kings   of  Judah;  the  years  are  exact  50  far  as  they  c 
ssyrian  data.     A  date  opposite  the  mere  name  of  a  king  signifies  the  year  of  his  accession. 


t  Baltic  of  Eliekeh  , 


by  subjugated  tribes  deponed  from 

Snrgon  takes  Babvlon  (rotn 

Uarodacli-Balad'aii. 
Death  of  Sargoti. 
Accession  of  Sennacherib. 
War  with  Merodach-Baladan. 
by  Sennacherib. 


Sennacherib  destroys  Babyloi 


Manassch  .ind  . 


i  and  Sidonians 


I  Palestine  princes  pay  tril 

also  Greek  princes  ot  Cyprus. 
Arabia  invad^  .... 


by  Asarhaddon. 


oy  Asarhaddon. 


Manasseb  and  . 


I  Palestine  princes  pay  tribute  ti 


taken.       Dodek- 


Thebes  taken 


Assurbanipal. 


by/ 


nipal. 


Hauran,  N.  Arabia  and  Edoni ) 
ion,  Moab  and  Nabatca    j 


byton  revolt  from 

ipat  reduces  Elam  am 

j"  reduced  in  two  campaigns  by 
(     Assurbanipal. 
punished  by  Assurbanipal 

Assurbanipal, 

Scythians  invade  Media  and 


Book  of  the  Law  (Dei 


Necho  defeats  and  i 


ays  Josiah  at  Megiddo 


Sln-Ear-UBkln. 

and  Ncbuchadrf 


Nccho  defeated 


7Haliuni. 
'jsremiaJi. 


by  Nebuchadrezzar  at  Carcher 

Nebuchadreizar. 

of  Babylon  (a  Kings  xxiv.  i); 


Judah  withholds 
Judah  invaded  . 
Jeholachln  yields 
Temple  plundered. 

Zedeklati  vassal 


s  help  to  Zedekiah,  who 

Jerusalem  taken        , 
"econd  Great  Exile  . 


tribute  from  Babylon. 
in  aUiance  with  Babyloi 
to  Nebucbadrezz.iT, 

to  Babylonia, 
of  Babylon, 

against  Babylon, 

revolts  from  Babyloa 

by  NebucbadrezEor. 
to  Babylonia. 


NTRODUCTION  TO  THE  PROPHETS  OF  THE 
SEVENTH  CENTURY 


VOL.  IL 


CHAPTER   I 

THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY  BEFORE  CHRIST 

THE  three  prophets  who  were  treated  in  the  first 
volume  of  this  work  belonged  to  the  eighth  century 
before  Christ:  if  Micah  lived  into  the  seventh  his, 
labours  were  over  by  675.  The  next  group  of  our 
twelve,  also  three  in  number,  Zephaniah,  Nahum  and 
Habakkuk,  did  not  appear  till  after  630.  To  make  our 
study  continuous  *  we  must  now  sketch  the  course 
of  Israel's  history  between. 

In  another  volume  of  this  series,^  some  account  was 
given  of  the  religious  progress  of  Israel  from  Isaiah 
and  the  Deliverance  of  Jerusalem  in  701  to  Jeremiah 
and  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem  in  587.  Isaiah's  strength 
was  bent  upon  establishing  the  inviolableness  of  Zion. 
Zion,  he  said,  should  not  be  taken,  and  the  people, 
though  cut  to  their  roots,  should  remain  planted  in  their 
own  land,  the  stock  of  a  noble  nation  in  the  latter 
days.  But  Jeremiah  predicted  the  ruin  both  of  City 
and  Temple,  summoned  Jerusalem's  enemies  against 
her  in  the  name  of  Jehovah,  and  counselled  his  people 
to  submit  to  them.  This  reversal  of  the  prophetic 
ideal  had  a  twofold  reason.  In  the  first  place  the 
moral  condition  of  Israel  was  worse  in  600  B.C.  than  it 
had  been  in  700 ;  another  century  had  shown  how 
much  the  nation  needed  the  penalty  and  purgation  of 

'  See  Vol.  I.,  p.  viii.     ^  Expositor's  Bible,  Isaiah  xl. — Ixvi,,  Chap.  II, 

3 


THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 


exile.  But  secondly,  however  the  inviolableness  of 
Jerusalem  had  been  required  in  the  interests  of  pure 
religion  in  701,  religion  had  now  to  show  that  it  was 
independent  even  of  Zion  and  of  Israel's  political 
survival.  Our  three  prophets  of  the  eighth  century 
(as  well  as  Isaiah  himself)  had  indeed  preached  a  gospel 
which  implied  this,  but  it  was  reserved  to  Jeremiah  to 
prove  that  the  existence  of  state  and  temple  was  not 
indispensable  to  faith  in  God,  and  to  explain  the  ruin 
of  Jerusalem,  not  merely  as  a  well-merited  penance, 
but  as  the  condition  of  a  more  spiritual  intercourse 
between  Jehovah  and  His  people. 

It  is  our  duty  to  trace  the  course  of  events  through 
the  seventh  century,  which  led  to  this  change  of  the 
standpoint  of  prophecy,  and  which  moulded  the  messages 
especially  of  Jeremiah's  contemporaries,  Zephaniah, 
Nahum  and  Habakkuk,  We  may  divide  the  century 
into  three  periods :  First,  that  of  the  Reaction  and 
Persecution  under  Manasseh  and  Amon,  from  695 
or  690  to  639,  during  which  prophecy  was  silent  or 
anonymous ;  Second,  that  of  the  Early  Years  of  Josiah, 
639  to  625,  near  the  end  of  which  we  meet  with  the 
young  Jeremiah  and  Zephaniah ;  Third,  the  Rest  of 
the  Century,  625  to  600,  covering  the  Decline  and  Fall 
of  Niniveh,  and  the  prophets  Nahum  and  Habakkuk, 
with  an  addition  carrying  on  the  history  to  the  Fall  of 
Jerusalem  in  587-6. 

I.  Reaction  under  Manasseh  and  Amon  (695  ? — 639). 

Jerusalem  was  delivered  in  701,  and  the  Assyrians 
kept   away    from   Palestine    for  twenty-three    years.^ 

'  It  is  uncertain  whether  Hezekiah  was  an  Assyrian  vassal  during 
these  years,  as  his  successor  Manasseh  is  recorded  to  have  been 
in  676. 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY  BEFORE   CHRIST  S 

Judah  had  peace,  and  Hezekiah  was  free  to  devote  his 
latter  days  to  the  work  of  purifying  the  worship  of  his 
people.  What  he  exactly  achieved  is  uncertain.  The 
historian  imputes  to  him  the  removal  of  the  high  places, 
the  destruction  of  all  Ma^geboth  and  Asheras,  and  of 
the  brazen  serpent.^  That  his  measures  were  drastic 
is  probable  from  the  opinions  of  Isaiah,  who  was  their 
inspiration,  and  proved  by  the  reaction  which  they  pro- 
voked when  Hezekiah  died.  The  removal  of  the  high 
places  and  the  concentration  of  the  national  worship 
within  the  Temple  would  be  the  more  easy  that  the 
provincial  sanctuaries  had  been  devastated  by  the 
Assyrian  invasion,  and  that  the  shrine  of  Jehovah  was 
glorified  by  the  raising  of  the  siege  of  701. 

While  the  first  of  Isaiah's  great  postulates  for  the 
future,  the  inviolableness  of  Zion,  had  been  fulfilled,  the 
second,  the  reign  of  a  righteous  prince  in  Israel,  seemed 
doomed  to  disappointment.  Hezekiah  died  early  in 
the  seventh  century,^  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Manasseh,  a  boy  of  twelve,  who  appears  to  have  been 
captured  by  the  party  whom  his  father  had  opposed. 
The  few  years'  peace — peace  in  Israel  was  always 
dangerous  to  the  health  of  the  higher  religion — the  in- 
terests of  those  who  had  suffered  from  the  reforms,  the 
inevitable  reaction  which  a  rigorous  puritanism  provokes 
— these  swiftly  reversed  the  religious  fortunes  of  Israel. 
Isaiah's  and  Micah's  predictions  of  the  final  overthrow 
of  Assyria  seemed  falsified,  when  in  681  the  more 
vigorous  Asarhaddon  succeeded  Sennacherib,  and  in 
678  swept  the  long  absent  armies  back  upon  Syria. 

•  2  Kings  xviii.  4. 

*  The  exact  date  is  quite  uncertain ;  695  is  suggested  on  the 
chronological  table  prefixed  to  this  volume,  but  it  may  have  been 
690  or  685. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


Sidon  was  destroyed,  and  twenty-two  princes  of 
Palestine  immediately  yielded  their  tribute  to  the  con- 
queror. Manasseh  was  one  of  them,  and  his  political 
homage  may  have  brought  him,  as  it  brought  Ahaz, 
within  the  infection  of  foreign  idolatries.^  Everything, 
in  short,  worked  for  the  revival  of  that  eclectic  paganism 
which  Hezekiah  had  striven  to  stamp  out.  The  high 
places  were  rebuilt ;  altars  were  erected  to  Baal,  with 
the  sacred  pole  of  Asherali,  as  in  the  time  of  Ahab ;  ^ 
shrines  to  the  host  of  heaven  defiled  the  courts  of 
Jehovah's  house ;  there  was  a  recrudescence  of  sooth- 
saying, divination  and  traffic  with  the  dead. 

But  it  was  all  very  different  from  the  secure  and 
sunny  temper  which  Amos  had  encountered  in  Northern 
Israel.'  The  terrible  Assyrian  invasions  had  come 
between.  Life  could  never  again  feel  so  stable.  Still 
more  destructive  had  been  the  social  poisons  which 
our  prophets  described  as  sapping  the  constitution  of 
Israel  for  nearly  three  generations.  The  rural  sim- 
plicity was  corrupted  by  those  economic  changes  which 


•  Cf.  McCurdy,  History,  Prophecy  and  the  Monuments,  §  799. 

•  Stade  (Gesch.  des  Volkes  Israel,  I.,  pp.  627  f.)  denies  to  Manasseh 
the  reconstruction  of  the  high  places,  the  Baal  altars  and  the  Asheras, 
for  he  does  not  believe  that  Hezekiah  had  succeeded  in  destroying 
these.  He  takes  2  Kings  xxi.  3,  which  describes  these  reconstructions, 
as  a  late  interpolation  rendered  necessary  to  reconcile  the  tradition 
that  Hezekiah's  reforms  had  been  quite  in  the  spirit  of  Deuteronomy, 
with  the  fact  that  there  were  still  high  places  in  the  land  when 
Josiah  began  his  reforms.  Further,  Stade  takes  the  rest  of  2  Kings 
xxi.  26-7  as  also  an  interpolation,  but  unlike  verse  3  an  accurate 
account  of  Manasseh's  idolatrous  institutions,  because  it  is  corrobo- 
rated by  the  account  of  Josiah's  reforms,  2  Kings  xxiii.  Stade  also 
discusses  this  passage  in  Z.A.T.W.,  1886,  pp.  186  ff. 

•  See  Vol.  I.,  p.  41.  In  addition  to  the  reasons  01  the  change 
given  above,  we  must  remember  that  we  are  now  treating,  not  of 
Northern  Israel,   but  of  the  more  stern  and  sullen  Judaeans. 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY  BEFORE   CHRIST  7 

Micah  bewails.  With  the  ousting  of  the  old  families 
from  the  soil,  a  thousand  traditions,  memories  and 
habits  must  have  been  broken,  which  had  preserved 
the  people's  presence  of  mind  in  days  of  sudden 
disaster,  and  had  carried  them,  for  instance,  through  so 
long  a  trial  as  the  Syrian  wars.  Nor  could  the  blood 
of  Israel  have  run  so  pure  after  the  luxury  and 
licentiousness  described  by  Hosea  and  Isaiah.  The 
novel  obligations  of  commerce,  the  greed  to  be  rich, 
the  increasing  distress  among  the  poor,  had  strained 
the  joyous  temper  of  that  nation  of  peasants'  sons, 
whom  we  met  with  Amos,  and  shattered  the  nerves 
of  their  rulers.  There  is  no  word  of  fighting  in 
Manasseh's  days,  no  word  of  revolt  against  the  tyrant. 
Perhaps  also  the  intervening  puritanism,  which  had 
failed  to  give  the  people  a  permanent  faith,  had 
at  least  awakened  within  them  a  new  conscience. 

At  all  events  there  is  now  no  more  ease  in  Zton,  but 
a  restless  fear,  driving  the  people  to  excesses  of 
religious  zeal.  We  do  not  read  of  the  happy  country 
festivals  of  the  previous  century,  nor  of  the  careless 
pride  of  that  sudden  wealth  which  built  vast  palaces 
and  loaded  the  altar  of  Jehovah  with  hecatombs.  The 
full-blooded  patriotism,  which  at  least  kept  ritual  in 
touch  with  clean  national  issues,  has  vanished.  The 
popular  religion  is  sullen  and  exasperated.  It  takes 
the  form  of  sacrifices  of  frenzied  cruelty  and  lust. 
Children  are  passed  through  the  fire  to  Moloch,  and 
the  Temple  is  defiled  by  the  orgies  of  those  who  abuse 
their  bodies  to  propitiate  a  foreign  and  a  brutal  god.* 

But  the  most  certain  consequence  of  a  religion  whose 
nerves  are  on  edge  is  persecution,  and  this  raged  all 

>  2  Kings  zxi.,  ttHj. 


THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 


the  earlier  years  of  Manasseh.  The  adherents  of  the 
purer  faith  were  slaughtered,  and  Jerusalem  drenched  ^ 
with  innocent  blood.  Mer  own  sword,  says  Jeremiah, 
devoured  the  prophets  like  a  atsiroying  lion} 

It  is  significant  that  all  that  has  come  down  to  us 
from  this  "  killing  time "  is  anonymous ;  ^  we  do  not 
meet  with  our  next  group  of  public  prophets  till 
Manasseh  and  his  like-minded  son  have  passed  away. 
Yet  prophecy  was  not  wholly  stifled.  Voices  were 
raised  to  predict  the  exile  and  destruction  of  the 
nation.  Jehovah  spake  by  His  servants  ;  *  while  others 
wove  into  the  prophecies  of  an  Amos,  a  Hosea  or  an 
Isaiah  some  application  of  the  old  principles  to  the 
new  circumstances.  It  is  probable,  for  instance,  that 
the  extremely  doubtful  passage  in  the  Book  of  Amos, 
V.  26  f.,  which  imputes  to  Israel  as  a  whole  the  worship 
of  astral  deities  from  Assyria,  is  to  be  assigned  to  the 
reign  of  Manasseh.  In  its  present  position  it  looks 
very  like  an  intrusion  :  nowhere  else  does  Amos  charge 
his  generation  with  serving  foreign  gods  ;  and  certainly 
in  all  the  history  of  Israel  we  could  not  find  a  more 
suitable  period  for  so  specific  a  charge  than  the 
days  when  into  the  central  sanctuary  of  the  national 
worship  images  were  introduced  of  the  host  of  heaven, 
and  the  nation  was,  in  consequence,  threatened  with 
exile.' 

'  Filled  from  mouth  to  ntouth  (2  Kings  xxi,  16). 
'  Jer.  ii.  30. 

'  We  have  already  seen  that  there  is  no  reason  for  that  theory  of  so 
many  critics  which  assigns  to  this  period  Micah.     See  Vol.  I.,  p.  370. 

*  2  Kings  xxi.  10  ff. 

*  Whether  the  parenthetical  apostrophes  to  Jehovah  as  Maker  of 
the  heavens,  their  hosts  and  all  the  powers  of  nature  (Amos  iv.  13, 
V.  8,  9,  ix.  5,  6),  are  also  to  be  attributed  to  Manasseh's  reign  is 
more  doubtful.     Yet   the   following  facts  are  to  be  observed  :  that 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY  BEFORE  CHRIST  9 

In  times  of  persecution  the  documents  of  the  suffering 
faith  have  ever  been  reverenced  and  guarded  with 
especial  zeal.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  prophets, 
driven  from  public  life,  gave  themselves  to  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  national  scriptures  ;  and  some  critics  date 
from  Manasseh's  reign  the  weaving  of  the  two  earliest 
documents  of  the  Pentateuch  into  one  continuous  book 
of  history.*  The  Book  of  Deuteronomy  forms  a  problem 
by  itself  The  legislation  which  composes  the  bulk 
of  it '  appears  to  have  been  found  among  the  Temple 

these  passages  are  also  (though  to  a  less  degree  than  v.  26  f.) 
parenthetic;  that  their  language  seems  of  a  later  cast  than  that  of  the 
time  of  Amos  (see  Vol.  I.,  pp.  204,  205  :  though  here  evidence  is 
adduced  to  show  that  the  late  features  are  probably  post-exilic);  and 
that  Jehovah  is  expressly  named  as  the  Maker  of  certain  of  the 
stars.  Similarly  when  Mohammed  seeks  to  condemn  the  worship  of 
the  heavenly  bodies,  he  insists  that  God  is  their  Maker.  Koran,  Sur. 
41,  37:  "To  the  signs  of  His  Omnipotence  belong  night  and  day, 
sun  and  moon ;  but  do  not  pray  to  sun  or  moon,  for  God  hath 
created  them."  Sur.  53,  50 :  "  Because  He  is  the  Lord  of  Sirius." 
On  the  other  side  see  Driver's  Joel  and  Amos  (Cambridge  Bible  for 
Schools  Series),  1897,  pp.  118  f.,  189. 

How  deeply  Manasseh  had  planted  in  Israel  the  worship  of  the 
heavenly  host  may  be  seen  from  the  survival  of  the  latter  through 
all  the  reforms  of  Josiah  and  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  (Jer.  vii.  18, 
viii.,  xliv. ;  Ezek.  viii.     Cf.  Stade,  Gesch.  des  V.  Israel,  I.,  pp.  629  fiF.). 

'  The  Jehovist  and  Elohist  into  the  closely  mortised  JE.  Stade 
indeed  assigns  to  the  period  of  Manasseh  Israel's  first  acquaintance 
with  the  Babylonian  cosmogonies  and  myths  which  led  to  that 
leconstruction  of  them  in  the  spirit  of  her  own  religion  which  we 
find  in  the  Jehovistic  portions  of  the  beginning  of  Genesis  (Gesch. 
des  V.  Isr.,  I.,  pp.  630  ff.).  But  it  may  well  be  doubted  (i)  whether  the 
reign  of  Manasseh  aftbrds  time  for  this  assimilation,  and  (2)  whether 
it  was  likely  that  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  theology  could  make 
so  deep  and  lasting  impression  upon  the  purer  faith  of  Israel  at  a 
time  when  the  latter  stood  in  such  sharp  hostility  to  all  foreign 
influences  and  was  so  bitterly  persecuted  by  the  parties  in  Israel 
who  had  succumbed  to  these  influences. 

*  Chaps,  v.-xxvi.,  xxviii. 


THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 


archives  at  the  end  of  our  period,  and  presented  to 
Josiah  as  an  old  and  forgotten  work.^  There  is  no 
reason  to  charge  with  fraud  those  who  made  the  pre- 
sentation by  affirming  that  they  really  invented  the 
book.  They  were  priests  of  Jerusalem,  but  the  book  is 
written  by  members  of  the  prophetic  party,  and  osten- 
sibly in  the  interests  of  the  priests  of  the  country.  It 
betrays  no  tremor  of  the  awful  persecutions  oi 
Manasseh's  reign  ;  it  does  not  hint  at  the  distinction, 
then  for  the  first  time  apparent,  between  a  false  and 
a  true  Israel.  But  it  does  draw  another  distinction, 
familiar  to  the  eighth  century,  between  the  true'  and 
the  false  prophets.  The  political  and  spiritual  premisses 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  book  were  all  present  by  the 
end  of  the  reign  of  Hezekiah,  and  it  is  extremely 
improbable  that  his  reforms,  which  were  in  the  main 
those  of  Deuteronomy,  were  not  accompanied  by  some 
code,  or  by  some  appeal  to  the  fountain  of  all  law 
in  Israel. 

But  whether  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy  now  existed 
or  not,  there  were  those  in  the  nation  who  through  all 
the  dark  days  between  Hezekiah  and  Josiah  laid  up 
its  truth  in  their  hearts  and  were  ready  to  assist  the 
latter  monarch  in  his  public  enforcement  of  it. 

While  these  things  happened  within  Judah,  very 
great  events  were  taking  place  beyond  her  borders. 
Asarhaddon  of  Assyria  (68 1 — 668)  was  a  monarch 
of  long  purposes  and  thorough  plans.  Before  he 
invaded  Egypt,  he  spent  a  year  (675)  in  subduing  the 
restless  tribes  of  Northern  Arabia,  and  another  (674)  in 
conquering  the  peninsula  of  Sinai,  an  ancient  appanage 
of  Egypt.     Tyre  upon  her  island  baffled  his  assaults, 

'  621  B.e. 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY  BEFORE  CHRIST        ii 

but  the  rest  of  Palestine  remained  subject  to  him. 
He  received  his  reward  in  carrying  the  Assyrian  arms 
farther  into  Egypt  than  any  of  his  predecessors,  and 
about  670  took  Memphis  from  the  Ethiopian  Pharaoh 
Taharka.  Then  he  died.  Assurbanipal,  who  suc- 
ceeded, lost  Egypt  for  a  few  years,  but  about  665, 
with  the  help  of  his  tributaries  in  Palestine,  he  over- 
threw Taharka,  took  Thebes,  and  established  along 
the  Nile  a  series  of  vassal  states.  He  quelled  a  revolt 
there  in  663  and  overthrew  Memphis  for  a  second 
time.  The  fall  of  the  Egyptian  capital  resounds 
through  the  rest  of  the  century  ;  we  shall  hear  its 
echoes  in  Nahum.  Tyre  fell  at  last  with  Arvad  in 
662.  But  the  Assyrian  empire  had  grown  too  vast 
for  human  hands  to  grasp,  and  in  652  a  general  revolt 
took  place  in  Egypt,  Arabia,  Palestine,  Elam,  Babylon 
and  Asia  Minor.  In  649  Assurbanipal  reduced  Elam 
and  Babylon ;  and  by  two  further  campaigns  (647  and 
645)  Hauran,  Edom,  Ammon,  Moab,  Nabatea  and  all 
the  northern  Arabs.  On  his  return  from  these  he 
crossed  Western  Palestine  to  the  sea  and  punished 
Usu  and  Akko.  It  is  very  remarkable  that,  while 
Assurbanipal,  who  thus  fought  the  neighbours  of  Judah, 
makes  no  mention  of  her,  nor  numbers  Manasseh  among 
the  rebels  whom  he  chastised,  the  Book  of  Chronicles 
should  contain  the  statement  that  Jehovah  sent  upon 
Manasseh  the  captains  of  the  host  of  the  king  of  Assyria, 
who  bound  him  with  fetters  and  carried  him  to  Babylon} 
What  grounds  the  Chronicler  had  for  such  a  statement 
are  quite  unknown  to  us.  He  introduces  Manasseh's 
captivity  as  the  consequence  of  idolatry,  and  asserts 
that  on  his  restoration  Manasseh  abolished  in  Judah 

'  2  Chron.  xxxiii   1 1  if. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


all  worship  save  that  of  Jehovah,  but  if  this  happened 
(and  the  Book  of  Kings  has  no  trace  of  it)  it  was 
without  result.  Amon,  son  of  Manasseh,  continued 
to  sacrifice  to  all  the  images  which  his  father  had 
introduced. 

2.  The  Early  Years  of  Josiah  (639 — 625): 
Jeremiah  and  Zephaniah. 

Amon  had  not  reigned  for  two  years  when  his 
servants  conspired  against  him,  and  he  was  slain  in  his 
own  house}  But  the  people  of  the  land  rose  against 
the  court,  slew  the  conspirators,  and  secured  the  throne 
for  Amon's  son,  Josiah,  a  child  of  eight.  It  is  difficult 
to  know  what  we  ought  to  understand  by  these  move- 
ments. Amon,  who  was  slain,  was  an  idolater;  the 
popular  party,  who  slew  his  slayers,  put  his  son  on 
the  throne,  and  that  son,  unlike  both  his  father  and 
grandfather,  bore  a  name  compounded  with  the  name 
of  Jehovah,  Was  Amon  then  slain  for  personal 
reasons  ?  Did  the  people,  in  their  rising,  have  a  zeal 
for  Jehovah?  Was  the  crisis  purely  political,  but 
usurped  by  some  school  or  party  of  Jehovah  who  had 
been  gathering  strength  through  the  later  years  of 
Manasseh,  and  waiting  for  some  such  unsettlement  of 
affairs  as  now  occurred  ?  The  meagre  records  of  the 
Bible  give  us  no  help,  and  for  suggestions  towards  an 
answer  we  must  turn  to  the  wider  politics  of  the  time. 

Assurbanipal's  campaigns  of  647  and  645  were  the 
last  appearances  of  Assyria  in  Palestine.  He  had  not 
attempted  to  reconquer  Egypt,^  and  her  king,  Psamtik  I., 

'  2  Kings  xxi.  23. 

*  But  in  his  conquests  of  Hauran,  Northern  Arabia  and  the  eastern 
neighbours  of  Judah,  he  had  evidently  sought  to  imitate  the  policy  cf 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY  BEFORE  CHRIST         13 

began  to  push  his  arms  northward.  Progress  must 
have  been  slow,  for  the  siege  of  Ashdod,  which  Psamtik 
probably  began  after  645,  is  said  to  have  occupied  him 
twenty-nine  years.  Still,  he  must  have  made  his  in- 
fluence to  be  felt  in  Palestine,  and  in  all  probability 
there  was  once  more,  as  in  the  days  of  Isaiah,  an 
Egyptian  party  in  Jerusalem.  As  the  power  of  Assyria 
receded  over  the  northern  horizon,  the  fascination  of  her 
idolatries,  which  Manasseh  had  established  in  Judah, 
must  have  waned.  The  priests  of  Jehovah's  house, 
jostled  by  their  pagan  rivals,  would  be  inclined  to  make 
common  cause  with  the  prophets  under  a  persecution 
which  both  had  suffered.  With  the  loosening  of  the 
Assyrian  yoke  the  national  spirit  would  revive,  and  it  is 
easy  to  imagine  prophets,  priests  and  people  working 
together  in  the  movement  which  placed  the  child  Josiah 
on  the  throne.  At  his  tender  age,  he  must  have  been 
wholly  in  the  care  of  the  women  of  the  royal  house  ; 
and  among  these  the  influence  of  the  prophets  may 
have  found  adherents  more  readily  than  among  the 
counsellors  of  an  adult  prince.  Not  only  did  the  new 
monarch  carry  the  name  of  Jehovah  in  his  own ;  this 
was  the  case  also  with  his  mother's  father.*  In  the 
revolt,  therefore,  which  raised  this  unconscious  child 
to  the  throne  and  in  the  circumstances  which  moulded 
his  character,  we  may  infer  that  there  already  existed 
the  germs  of  the  great  work  of  reform  which  his 
manhood  achieved. 

Asarhaddon  in  675  f.,  and  secure  firm  ground  in  Palestine  and  Arabia 
for  a  subsequent  attack  upon  Egypt.  That  this  never  came  shows 
more  than  anything  else  could  Assyria's  consciousness  of  growing 
weakness. 

'  The  name  01  Josiah's   (•liT'J'N*)   mother   was  Jedidah   (iTin)) 
daughter  of  Adaiah  (HJ"!]^)  of  Boskath  in  the  Shephelah  of  Judali. 


14  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

For  some  time  little  change  would  be  possible,  but 
from  the  first  facts  were  working  for  great  issues. 
The  Book  of  Kings,  which  places  the  destruction  of  the 
idols  after  the  discovery  of  the  law-book  in  the  eigh- 
teenth year  of  Josiah's  reign,  records  a  previous 
cleansing  and  restoration  of  the  house  of  Jehovah.^ 
This  points  to  the  growing  ascendency  of  the  prophetic 
party  during  the  first  fifteen  years  of  Josiah's  reign. 
Of  the  first  ten  years  we  know  nothing,  except  that  the 
prestige  of  Assyria  was  waning;  but  this  fact,  along 
with  the  preaching  of  the  prophets,  who  had  neither 
a  native  tyrant  nor  the  exigencies  of  a  foreign  alliance 
to  silence  them,  must  have  weaned  the  people  from  the 
worship  of  the  Ass3Tian  idols.  Unless  these  had  been 
discredited,  the  repair  of  Jehovah's  house  could  hardly 
have  been  attempted ;  and  that  this  progressed  means 
that  part  of  Josiah's  destruction  of  the  heathen  images 
took  place  before  the  discovery  of  the  Book  of  the  Law, 
which  happened  in  consequence  of  the  cleansing  of  the 
Temple. 

But  just  as  under  the  good  Hezekiah  the  social 
condition  of  the  people,  and  especially  the  behaviour 
of  the  upper  classes,  continued  to  be  bad,  so  it  was 
again  in  the  early  years  of  Josiah.  There  was  a 
remnant  of  Baal^  in  the  land.  The  shrines  of  the  host 
of  heaven  might  have  been  swept  from  the  Temple,  but 
they  were  still  worshipped  from  the  housetops.'  Men 
swore  by  the  Queen  of  Heaven,  and  by  Moloch,  the 
King.  Some  turned  back  from  Jehovah ;  some,  grown 
up  in  idolatry,  had  not  yet  sought  Him.  Idolatry  may 
have  been  disestablished  from  the  national  sanctuary : 

'  2  Kings  xxii.,  xxiii. 

*  Zeph.  i.  4 :  the  LXX.  reads  names  o   Baal.    See  below,  p.  40,  n.  3. 

•  Ibid.,  5. 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY  BEFORE   CHRIST         15 

its  practices  still  lingered  (how  intelligibly  to  us  I)  in 
social  and  commercial  life.  Foreign  fashions  were 
affected  by  the  court  and  nobility ;  trade,  as  always, 
was  combined  with  the  acknowledgment  of  foreign 
gods.^  Moreover,  the  rich  were  fraudulent  and  cruel. 
The  ministers  of  justice,  and  the  great  in  the  land, 
ravened  among  the  poor.  Jerusalem  was  full  of  oppres- 
sion. These  were  the  same  disorders  as  Amos  and 
Hosea  exposed  in  Northern  Israel,  and  as  Micah 
exposed  in  Jerusalem.  But  one  new  trait  of  evil  was 
added.  In  the  eighth  century,  with  all  their  ignorance 
of  Jehovah's  true  character,  men  had  yet  believed  in 
Him,  gloried  in  His  energy,  and  expected  Him  to  act — 
were  it  only  in  accordance  with  their  low  ideals.  They 
had  been  alive  and  bubbling  with  religion.  But  now 
they  had  thickened  on  their  lees.  They  had  grown 
sceptical,  dull,  indifferent ;  they  said  in  their  hearts, 
Jehovah  will  not  do  good,  neither  will  He  do  evil  I 

Now,  just  as  in  the  eighth  century  there  had  risen, 
contemporaneous  with  Israel's  social  corruption,  a  cloud 
in  the  north,  black  and  pregnant  with  destruction, 
so  was  it  once  more.  But  the  cloud  was  not  Assyria. 
From  the  hidden  world  beyond  her,  from  the  regions 
over  Caucasus,  vast,  nameless  hordes  of  men  arose,  and, 
sweeping  past  her  unchecked,  poured  upon  Palestine. 
This  was  the  great  Scythian  invasion  recorded  by 
Herodotus.^  We  have  almost  no  other  report  than  his 
few  paragraphs,  but  we  can  realise  the  event  from  our 
knowledge  of  the  Mongol  and  Tartar  invasions  which 
in  later  centuries  pursued  the  same  path  southwards. 
Living  in  the  saddle,  and  (it  would  seem)  with  no 
infantry  nor  chariots  to  delay  them,  these   Centaurs 

>  Ibid.,  8-12.  ^  I.  102  £F. 


i6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

swept  on  with  a  speed  of  invasion  hitherto  unknown. 
In  630  they  had  crossed  the  Caucasus,  by  626  they 
were  on  the  borders  of  Egypt.  Psamtik  I.  succeeded 
in  purchasing  their  retreat/  and  they  swept  back  again 
as  swiftly  as  they  came.  They  must  have  followed  the 
old  Assyrian  war-paths  of  the  eighth  century,  and,  with- 
out foot-soldiers,  had  probably  kept  even  more  closely 
to  the  plains.  In  Palestine  their  way  would  lie,  like 
Assyria's,  across  Hauran,  through  the  plain  of  Esdraelon, 
and  down  the  Philistine  coast,  and  in  fact  it  is  only  on 
this  line  that  there  exists  any  possible  trace  of  them.^ 
But  they  shook  the  whole  of  Palestine  into  consternation. 
Though  Judah  among  her  hills  escaped  them,  as  she 
escaped  the  earlier  campaigns  of  Assyria,  they  showed 
her  the  penal  resources  of  her  offended  God.  Once 
again  the  dark,  sacred  North  was  seen  to  be  full  of 
the  possibilities  of  doom. 

Behold,  therefore,  exactly  the  two  conditions,  ethical 
and  political,  which,  as  we  saw,  called  forth  the  sudden 
prophets  of  the  eighth  century,  and  made  them  so  sure 
of  their  message  of  judgment :  on  the  one  side  Judah, 
her  sins  calling  aloud  for  punishment ;  on  the  other 
side  the  forces  of  punishment  swiftly  drawing  on.  It 
was  precisely  at  this  juncture  that  prophecy  again  arose, 
and  as  Amos,  Hosea,  Micah  and  Isaiah  appeared  in 
the  end  of  the  eighth  century,  Zephaniah,  Habakkuk, 
Nahum  and  Jeremiah  appeared  in  the  end  of  the 
seventh.  The  coincidence  is  exact,  and  a  remarkable 
confirmation  of  the  truth  which  we  deduced  from  the 
experience  of  Amos,  that  the  assurance  of  the  prophet 

'  Herod.,  I.  105. 

*  The  new  name  of  Bethshan  in  the  mouth  of  Esdraelon,  viz, 
Scythopolis,  is  said  to  be  derived  from  them  (but  see  Hist.  Geog. 
of  the  Holy  Land,  pp.  363  f )  ;  they  co..qiiei  cd  Askalon  (Herod.,  1. 105). 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY   BEFORE  CHRIST         17 


in  Israel  arose  from  the  coincidence  of  his  conscience 
with  his  political  observation.  The  justice  of  Jehovah 
demands  His  people's  chastisement,  but  see — the  forces 
of  chastisement  are  already  upon  the  horizon.  Zeph- 
aniah  uses  the  same  phrase  as  Amos  :  the  Day  of 
Jehovah^  he  says,  is  drawing  near. 

We  are  now  in  touch  with  Zephaniah,  the  first  of 
our  prophets,  but,  before  listening  to  him,  it  will  be 
well  to  complete  our  survey  of  those  remaining  years 
of  the  century  in  which  he  and  his  immediate  successors 
laboured. 

3.  The  Rest  of  the  Century  (625 — 586)  :  the 
Fall  of  Niniveh;  Nahum  and  Habakkuk. 

Although  the  Scythians  had  vanished  from  the 
horizon  of  Palestine  and  the  Assyrians  came  over  it 
no  more,  the  fateful  North  still  lowered  dark  and 
turbulent.  Yet  the  keen  eyes  of  the  watchmen  in 
Palestine  perceived  that,  for  a  time  at  least,  the  storm 
must  break  where  it  had  gathered.  It  is  upon  Niniveh, 
not  upon  Jerusalem,  that  the  prophetic  passion  of 
Nahum  and  Habakkuk  is  concentrated;  the  new  day 
of  the  Lord  is  filled  with  the  fate,  not  of  Israel,  but  of 
Assyria. 

For  nearly  two  centuries  Niniveh  had  been  the 
capital  and  cynosure  of  Western  Asia ;  for  more  than 
one  she  had  set  the  fashions,  the  art,  and  even,  to  some 
extent,  the  religion  of  all  the  Semitic  nations.  Of  late 
years,  too,  she  had  drawn  to  herself  the  world's  trade. 
Great  roads  from  Egypt,  from  Persia  and  from  the 
iEgean  converged  upon  her,  till  like  Imperial  Rome 
she  was  filled  with  a  vast  motley  of  peoples,  and 
men  went  forth  from   her   to   the  ends  of  the  earth. 

VOL.  n.  — .  2 


l8  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Under  Assurbanipal  travel  and  research  had  increased, 
and  the  city  acquired  renown  as  the  centre  of  the 
world's  wisdom.  Thus  her  size  and  glory,  with  all 
her  details  of  rampart  and  tower,  street,  palace  and 
temple,  grew  everywhere  lamiliar.  But  the  peoples 
gazed  at  her  as  those  who  had  been  bled  to  build  her. 
The  most  remote  of  them  had  seen  face  to  face  on 
their  own  fields,  trampling,  stripping,  burning,  the 
warriors  who  manned  her  walls.  She  had  dashed 
their  little  ones  against  the  rocks.  Their  kings  had 
been  dragged  from  them  and  hung  in  cages  about  her 
gates.  Their  gods  had  lined  the  temples  of  her  gods. 
Year  by  year  they  sent  her  their  heavy  tribute,  and  the 
bearers  came  back  with  fresh  tales  of  her  rapacious 
insolence.  So  she  stood,  bitterly  clear  to  all  men, 
in  her  glory  and  her  cruelty  !  Their  hate  haunted  her 
every  pinnacle ;  and  at  last,  when  about  625  the  news 
came  that  her  frontier  fortresses  had  fallen  and  the  great 
city  herself  was  being  besieged,  we  can  understand 
how  her  victims  gloated  on  each  possible  stage  of  her 
fall,  and  saw  her  yield  to  one  after  another  of  the 
cruelties  of  battle,  siege  and  storm,  which  for  two 
hundred  years  she  had  inflicted  on  themselves.  To 
such  a  vision  the  prophet  Nahum  gives  voice,  not  on 
behalf  of  Israel  alone,  but  of  all  the  nations  whom 
Niniveh  had  crushed. 

It  was  obvious  that  the  vengeance  which  Western 
Asia  thus  hailed  upon  Assyria  must  come  from  one 
or  other  of  two  groups  of  peoples,  standing  respect- 
ively to  the  north  and  to  the  south  of  her. 

To  the  north,  or  north-east,  between  Mesopotamia 
and  the  Caspian,  there  were  gathered  a  congeries 
of  restless  tribes  known  to  the  Assyrians  as  the 
Madai  or  r\;atai,  the  Medes.     They  are  mentioned  first 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY  BEFORE  CHRIST        19 

by  Shalmaneser  II.  in  840,  and  few  of  his  successors 
do  not  record  campaigns  against  them.  The  earliest 
notice  of  them  in  the  Old  Testament  is  in  con- 
nection with  the  captives  of  Samaria,  some  of  whom 
in  720  were  settled  among  them,^  These  Medes  were 
probably  of  Turanian  stock,  but  by  the  end  of  the 
eighth  century,  if  we  are  to  judge  from  the  names  of 
some  of  their  chiefs,'  their  most  easterly  tribes  had 
already  fallen  under  Aryan  influence,  spreading  west- 
ward from  Persia.^  So  led,  they  became  united  and 
formidable  to  Assyria.  Herodotus  relates  that  their 
King  Phraortes,  or  Fravartis,  actually  attempted  the 
siege  of  Niniveh,  probably  on  the  death  of  Assur- 
banipal  in  625,  but  was  slain.*  His  son  Kyaxares, 
Kastarit  or  Uvakshathra,  was  forced  by  a  Scythian 
invasion  of  his  own  country  to  withdraw  his  troops 
from  Assyria ;  but  having  either  bought  off  or  assimi- 
lated the  Scythian  invaders,  he  returned  in  608,  with 
forces  sufficient  to  overthrow  the  northern  Assyrian 
fortresses  and  to  invest  Niniveh  herself. 

The  other  and  southern  group  of  peoples  which 
threatened  Assyria  were  Semitic.  At  their  head  were 
the  Kasdim  or   Chaldeans.*     This   name   appears  for 

'  2  Kings  xvii.  6  :  and  in  the  cities  (LXX.  mountains)  of  the  Medes. 
The  Heb.  is  nO    Madai. 

T   T> 

^  Mentioned  by  Sargon. 

"  Sayce,  Empires  of  the  East,  239  :  cf.  McCurdy,  §  823  f. 

*  Herod.,  I.  103. 

*  Heb.  Kasdim,  D^bSj  LXX.  Xa\5a?oi;  Assyr.  Kaldaa,  Kaldu 
The  Hebrew  form  with  s  is  regarded  by  many  authorities  as  the 
original,  from  the  Assyrian  root  kashadu,  to  conquer,  and  the  Assyrian 
form  with  /  to  have  arisen  by  the  common  change  of  sh  through  r 
into  /.  The  form  with  s  does  not  occur,  however,  in  Assyrian,  which 
also  possesses  the  root  kaladu,  with  the  same  meaning  as  kashadu. 
See  Mr.  Pinches'  articles  on  Chaldea  and  the  Chaldeans  in  the  new 
edition  of  Vol.  I.  of  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary. 


THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 


the  first  time  in  the  Assyrian  annals  a  little  earlier  than 
that  of  the  Medes,^  and  from  the  middle  of  the  ninth 
century  onwards  the  people  designated  by  it  frequently 
engage  the  Assyrian  arms.  They  were,  to  begin  with, 
a  few  half-savage  tribes  to  the  south  of  Babylon,  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  Persian  Gulf;  but  they  proved 
their  vigour  by  the  repeated  lordship  of  all  Babylonia 
and  by  inveterate  rebellion  against  the  monarchs  of 
Niniveh.  Before  the  end  of  the  seventh  century  we  find 
their  names  used  by  the  prophets  for  the  Babylonians 
as  a  whole.  Assurbanipal,  who  was  a  patron  of 
Babylonian  culture,  kept  the  country  quiet  during  the 
last  years  of  his  reign,  but  his  son  Asshur-itil-ilani, 
upon  his  accession  in  625,  had  to  grant  the  viceroyalty 
to  Nabopolassar  the  Chaldean  with  a  considerable 
degree  of  independence.  Asshur-itil-ilani  was  suc- 
ceeded in  a  few  years  ^  by  Sinsuriskin,  the  Sarakos  of 
the  Greeks,  who  preserved  at  least  a  nominal  sove- 
reignty over  Babylon,'  but  Nabopolassar  must  already 
have  cherished  ambitions  of  succeeding  the  Assyrian 
in  the  empire  of  the  world.  He  enjoyed  sufficient 
freedom  to  organise  his  forces  to  that  end. 

These  were  the  two  powers  which  from  north  and 
south  watched  with  impatience  the  decay  of  Assyria; 
That  they  made  no  attempt  upon  her  between  625  and 
608  was  probably  due  to  several  causes  :  their  jealousy 
of  each  other,  the  Medes'  trouble  with  the  Scythians, 
Nabopolassar's  genius  for  waiting  till  his  forces  were 

'  About  880  B.C.  in  the  annals  of  Assurnatsirpal.  See  Chrono- 
logical Table  to  Vol.  I. 

*  No  inscriptions  of  Asshur-itil-ilani  have  been  found  later  than 
the  first  two  years  of  his  reign. 

•  Billerbeck-Jeremias,  "Der  Untergang  Niniveh 's,"  in  Dclitzsch 
•nd  Haupt's  Beitrdge  zur  Assyriologie,  III.,  p.    1 13. 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY  BEFORE  CHRIST        3i 

ready,  and  above  all  the  still  considerable  vigour  of  the 
Assyrian  himself.  The  Lion,  though  old,^  was  not 
broken.  His  power  may  have  relaxed  in  the  distant 
provinces  of  his  empire,  though,  if  Budde  be  right 
about  the  date  of  Habakkul-,'-  the  peoples  of  Syria  still 
groaned  under  the  thought  of  it ;  but  his  own  land — 
his  lair,  as  the  prophets  call  it — was  still  terrible.  It 
is  true  that,  as  Nahum  perceives,  the  capital  was  no 
longer  native  and  patriotic  as  it  had  been ;  the  trade 
fostered  by  Assurbanipal  had  filled  Niniveh  with  a 
vast  and  mercenary  population,  ready  to  break  and 
disperse  at  the  first  breach  in  her  walls.  Yet  Assyria 
proper  was  covered  with  fortresses,  and  the  tradition 
had  long  fastened  upon  the  peoples  that  Niniveh  was 
impregnable.  Hence  the  tension  of  those  years.  The 
peoples  of  Western  Asia  locked  eagerly  for  their  revenge; 
but  the  two  powers  which  alone  could  accomplish  this 
stood  waiting — afraid  of  each  other  perhaps,  but  more 
afraid  of  the  object  of  their  common  ambition. 

It  is  said  that  Kyaxares  and  Nabopolassar  at  last 
came  to  an  agreement ; '  but  more  probably  the  crisis 
was  hastened  by  the  appearance  of  another  claimant 
for  the  coveted  spoil.  In  608  Pharaoh  Necho  went  up 
against  the  king  of  Assyria  towards  the  river  Euphrates} 
This  Egyptian  advance  may  have  forced  the  hand  of 

'  Nahum  ii. 

*  See  below,  p.  120. 

*  Abydenus  (apud  Euseb.,  Chron.,  I.  9)  reports  a  marriage 
between  Nebuchadrezzar,  Nabopolassar's  son,  and  the  daughter  of 
the  Median  king, 

*  2  Kings  xxiii.  29.  The  history  is  here  very  obscure.  Necho, 
met  at  Megiddo  by  Josiah,  and  having  slain  him,  appears  to  have 
spent  a  year  or  two  in  subjugating,  and  arranging  for  the  government 
of,  Syria  {ibid.,  verses  33-35),  and  only  reached  the  Euphrates  in  605, 
ivhen  Nebuchadrezzar  defeated  him. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


Kyaxares,  who  appears  to  have  begun  his  investment 
of  Niniveh  a  little  after  Necho  defeated  Josiah  at 
Megiddo.^  The  siege  is  said  to  have  lasted  two  years. 
Whether  this  included  the  delays  necessary  for  the 
reduction  of  fortresses  upon  the  great  roads  of  approach 
to  the  Assyrian  capital  we  do  not  know ;  but  Niniveh's 
own  position,  fortifications  and  resources  may  well 
account  for  the  whole  of  the  time.  Colonel  Billerbeck, 
a  military  expert,  has  suggested'  that  the  Medes  found 
it  possible  to  invest  the  city  only  upon  the  northern 
and  eastern  sides.  Down  the  west  flows  the  Tigris, 
and  across  this  the  besieged  may  have  been  able  to 
bring  in  supplies  and  reinforcements  from  the  fertile 
country  beyond.  Herodotus  affirms  that  the  Medes 
effected  the  capture  of  Niniveh  by  themselves,'  and 
for  this  some  recent  evidence  has  been  found,*  so  that 
another  tradition  that  the  Chaldeans  were  also  actively 

•  The  reverse  view  is  taken  by  Wellhausen,  who  says  {Israel  w. 
Jud.  Gesch.,  pp.  97  f.) :  "  Der  Pharaoh  scheint  ausgezogen  zu  sein  um 
sich  seinen  Teil  an  der  Erbschaft  Ninives  vorwegzunehmen,  wahrend 
die  Meder  und  Chaldaer  die  Stadt  belagerten." 

^  See  above,  p.  20,  n.  3. 
»  I.  106. 

*  A  stele  of  Nabonidus  discovered  at  Hilleh  and  now  in  the  museum 
at  Constantinople  relates  that  in  his  third  year,  553,  the  king  restored 
at  Harran  the  temple  of  Sin,  the  moon-god,  which  the  Medes  had 
destroyed  fifty-four  years  before,  i.e.  607.  Whether  the  Medes  did 
this  before,  during  or  after  the  siege  of  Niniveh  is  uncertain,  but  the 
approximate  date  of  the  siege,  608—606,  is  thus  marvellously  confirmed. 
The  stele  affirms  that  the  Medes  alone  took  Niniveh,  but  that  they 
were  called  in  by  Marduk,  the  Babylonian  god,  to  assist  Nabopolassar 
and  avenge  the  deportation  of  his  image  bj'  Sennacherib  to  Niniveh. 
Messerschmidt  {Mittheiltingen  der  Vorderasiattschen  Gesellschaft,  I. 
1896)  argues  that  the  Medes  were  summoned  by  the  Babylonians 
while  the  latter  were  being  sore  pressed  by  the  Assyrians.  Winckler 
had  already  {Untersuch.,  pp.  124  ff.,  1889)  urged  that  the  Babylonians 
would  refrain  from  taking  an  active  part  in  the  overthrow  of  Niniveh,  in 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY  BEFORE   CHRIST        23 

engaged/  which  has  nothing  to  support  it,  may  be 
regarded  as  false.  Nabopolassar  may  still  have  been 
in  name  an  Assyrian  viceroy;  yet,  as  Colonel  Billerbeck 
points  out,  he  had  it  in  his  power  to  make  Kyaxares' 
victory  possible  by  holding  the  southern  roads  to 
Niniveh,  detaching  other  viceroys  of  her  provinces  and 
so  shutting  her  up  to  her  own  resources.  But  among 
other  reasons  which  kept  him  away  from  the  siege 
may  have  been  the  necessity  of  guarding  against 
Egyptian  designs  on  the  moribund  empire.  Pharaoh 
Necho,  as  we  know,  was  making  for  the  Euphrates  as 
early  as  608.  Now  if  Nabopolassar  and  Kyaxares  had 
arranged  to  divide  x^ssyria  between  them,  then  it  is 
likely  that  they  agreed  also  to  share  the  work  of 
making  their  inheritance  sure,  so  that  while  Kyaxares 
overthrew  Niniveh,  Nabopolassar,  or  rather  his  son 
Nebuchadrezzar,^  waited  for  and  overthrew  Pharaoh  by 
Carchemish  on  the  Euphrates.  Ccns'^qutntly  Assyria 
was  divided  between  the  Medes  and  ihe  Chaldeans  ; 
the  latter  as  her  heirs  in  the  south  i^nk  over  her 
title  to  Syria  and  Palestine. 

The  two  prophets  with  whom  we  have  to  dcy'  at  this 
time   are  almost   entirely  engrossed   with    tb*''  fill   of 


fear  of  incurring  the  guilt  of  sacrilege.  Neither  Messerschmidt's  {v'V'J^r, 
nor  Scheil's  (who  describes  the  stele  in  the  Reaieil  des  Tr.m\\u<r, 
XVIII.  1896),  being  accessible  to  me,  I  have  written  this  note  on  vb^^ 
information  supplied  by  Rev.  C.  H.  W.  Johns,  of  Cambridge,  in  Htfi 
Expository  Times,  1896,  and  by  Prof.  A.  B.  Davidson  in  App.  1.  t» 
Nak.,  Hab.  and  Zeph. 

'  Berosus  and  Abydenus  in  Eusebius. 

'  This  spelling  (Jer.  xlix.  28)  is  nearer  the  original  than  the  alterna- 
tive Hebrew  Nebuchad«ezzar.  But  the  LXX.  l^al3ovxo8ov6<Top,  and 
the  Na^ovKodp6(Topos  of  Abydenus  and  Megasthenes  and  N a!ioKo5p6(Topot 
of  Strabo,  have  preserved  the  more  correct  vocalisation ;  for  tht 
original  is  Nabu-kudiuri-usvir  =  Ncbo,  defend  the  crown! 


24  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Assyria.  Nahum  exults  in  the  destruction  of  Niniveh , 
Habakkuk  sees  in  the  Chaldeans  nothing  but  the 
avengers  of  the  peoples  whom  Assyria  ^  had  oppressed. 
For  both  these  events  are  the  close  of  an  epoch  :  neither 
prophet  looks  beyond  this.  Nahum  (not  on  behalf  of 
Israel  alone)  gives  expression  to  the  epoch's  long 
thirst  for  vengeance  on  the  tyrant;  Habakkuk  (if 
Budde's  reading  of  him  be  right  ^ )  states  the  problems 
with  which  its  victorious  cruelties  had  filled  the  pious 
mind — states  the  problem  and  beholds  the  solution  in 
the  Chaldeans.  And,  surely,  the  vengeance  was  so  just 
and  so  ample,  the  solution  so  drastic  and  for  the  time 
complete,  that  we  can  well  understand  how  two  prophets 
should  exhaust  their  office  in  describing  such  things, 
and  feel  no  motive  to  look  either  deep  into  the  moral 
condition  of  Israel,  or  far  out  into  the  future  which  God 
was  preparing  for  His  people.  It  might,  of  course,  be 
said  that  the  prophets'  silence  on  the  latter  subjects 
was  due  to  their  positions  immediately  after  the  great 
Reform  of  621,  when  the  nation,  having  been  roused 
to  an  honest  striving  after  righteousness,  did  not  require 
prophetic  rebuke,  and  when  the  success  of  so  godly  a 
prince  as  Josiah  left  no  spiritual  ambitions  unsatisfied. 
But  this  (even  if  the  dates  of  the  two  prophets  were 
certain)  is  hardly  probable ;  and  the  other  explanation 
is  sufficient.  Who  can  doubt  this  who  has  realised 
the  long  epoch  which  then  reached  a  crisis,  or 
has  been  thrilled  by  the  crash  of  the  crisis  itself? 
The  fall  of  Niniveh  was  deafening  enough  to  drown 
for  the  moment,  as  it  does  in  Nahum,  even  a  Hebrew's 
clamant  conscience  of  his  country's  sin.  The  problems, 
which  the  long  success  of  Assyrian  cruelty  had  started, 

>  But  see  below,  pp.  123  f.  '  Below,  pp.  121  S, 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURA    BEFORE   CHRIST         35 

were  old  and  formidable  enough  to  demand  statement 
and  answer  before  either  the  hopes  or  the  responsibili- 
ties of  the  future  could  find  voice.  The  past  also 
requires  its  prophets.  Feeling  has  to  be  satisfied,  and 
experience  balanced,  before  the  heart  is  willing  to  turn 
the  leaf  and  read  the  page  of  the  future. 

Yet,  through  all  this  time  of  Assyria's  decline,  Israel 
had  her  own  sins,  fears  and  convictions  of  judgment 
to  come.  The  disappearance  of  the  Scythians  did  not 
leave  Zephaniah's  predictions  of  doom  without  means 
of  fulfilment;  nor  did  the  great  Reform  of  621  re- 
move the  necessity  of  that  doom.  In  the  deepest 
hearts  the  assurance  that  Israel  must  be  punished  was 
by  these  things  only  confirmed.  The  prophetess 
Huldah,  the  first  to  speak  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
after  the  Book  of  the  Law  was  discovered,  emphasised 
not  the  reforms  which  it  enjoined  but  the  judgments 
which  it  predicted.  Josiah's  righteousness  could  at 
most  ensure  for  himself  a  peaceful  death  :  his  people 
were  incorrigible  and  doomed.^  The  reforms  indeed 
proceeded,  there  was  public  and  widespread  penitence, 
idolatry  was  abolished.  But  those  were  only  shallow 
pedants  who  put  their  trust  in  the  possession  of  a 
revealed  Law  and  purged  Temple,'  and  who  boasted 
that  therefore  Israel  was  secure.  Jeremiah  repeated  the 
gloomy  forecasts  of  Zephaniah  and  Huldah,  and  even 
before  the  wickedness  of  Jehoiakim's  reign  proved  the 
obduracy  of  Israel's  heart,  he  affirmed  the  imminence  of 


'  2  Kings  xxii.  11-20.  The  genuineness  of  this  passage  is  proved 
(as  against  Stade,  Gesch.  des  Volkes  Israel,  I.)  by  the  promise  which 
it  gives  to  Josiah  of  a  peaceful  death.  Had  it  been  written  after 
the  battle  of  Megiddo,  in  which  Josiah  was  slain,  it  could  not  have 
contained  such  a  promise, 

*  Jer.  vii.  4,  viii.  8. 


26  THE   TWEl  /£   PROPHETS 


the  evil  out  of  the  north  nd  the  great  destruction}  Of 
our  three  prophets  in  t^is  period  Zephaniah,  though  the 
earhest,  had  therefore  the  last  word.  While  Nahum 
and  Habakkuk  were  almost  wholly  absorbed  with  the 
epoch  that  is  closing,  he  had  a  vision  of  the  future.  Is 
this  why  his  book  has  been  ranged  among  our  Twelve 
after  those  of  his  slightly  later  contemporaries  ? 

The  precise  course  of  events  in  Israel  was  this — 
and  we  must  follow  them,  for  among  them  we  have 
to  seek  exact  dates  for  Nahum  and  Habakkuk.  In 
621  the  Book  of  the  Law  was  discovered,  and  Josiah 
Applied  himself  with  thoroughness  to  the  reforms  which 
ne  had  already  begun.  For  thirteen  years  he  seems 
to  have  had  peace  to  carry  them  through.  The 
heathen  altars  were  thrown  down,  with  all  the  high 
places  in  Judah  and  even  some  in  Samaria.  Images 
were  abolished.  The  heathen  priests  were  exter- 
minated, with  the  wizards  and  soothsayers.  The 
Levites,  except  the  sons  of  Zadok,  who  alone  were 
allowed  to  minister  in  the  Temple,  henceforth  the  only 
place  of  sacrifice,  were  debarred  from  priestly  duties. 
A  great  passover  was  celebrated.*  The  king  did 
justice  and  was  the  friend  of  the  poor;'  it  went  well 
with  him  and  the  people.*  He  extended  his  influence 
into  Samaria ;  it  is  probable  that  he  ventured  to  carry 
out  the  injunctions  of  Deuteronomy  with  regard  to  the 
neighbouring  heathen.*     Literature  flourished  :  though 


'    VI.  I. 

•  All  these  reforms  in  2  Kings  xxiiu 

•  Jer.  xxii.  I5f. 

•  Ibid.,  ver.  16. 

•  We  have  no  record  of  this,  but  a  prince  who  so  rashly  flung 
himself  in  the  way  of  Eg3rpt  would  not  hesitate  to  claim  authority 
over  Moab  and  Ammon, 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY  BEFORE  CHRIST        27 

critics  have  not  combined  upon  the  works  to  be 
assigned  to  this  reign,  they  agree  that  a  great  many 
were  produced  in  it.  Wealth  must  have  accumulated  : 
certainly  the  nation  entered  the  troubles  of  the  next 
reign  with  an  arrogant  confidence  that  argues  under 
Josiah  the  rapid  growth  of  prosperity  in  every  direction. 
Then  of  a  sudden  came  the  fatal  year  of  608.  Pharaoh 
Necho  appeared  in  Palestine^  with  an  army  destined 
for  the  Euphrates,  and  Josiah  went  up  to  meet  him 
at  Megiddo.  His  tactics  are  plain — it  is  the  first 
strait  on  the  land-road  from  Egypt  to  the  Euphrates — 
but  his  motives  are  obscure.  Assyria  can  hardly 
have  been  strong  enough  at  this  time  to  fling  him  as 
her  vassal  across  the  path  of  her  ancient  foe.  He 
must  have  gone  of  himself  "  His  dream  was  pro- 
bably to  bring  back  the  scattered  remains  of  the 
northern  kingdom  to  a  pure  worship,  and  to  unite  the 
whole  people  of  Israel  under  the  sceptre  of  the  house 
of  David ;  and  he  was  not  inclined  to  allow  Egypt  to 
cross  his  aspirations,  and  rob  him  of  the  inheritance 
which  was  falling  to  him  from  the  dead  hand  of 
Assyria."  * 

Josiah  fell,  and  with  him  not  only  the  liberty  of  his 

'  2  Kings  xxiii.  24.  The  question  whether  Necho  came  by  land 
from  Egypt  or  brought  his  troops  in  his  fleet  to  Acre  is  hardly 
answered  by  the  fact  that  Josiah  went  to  Megiddo  to  meet  him. 
But  Megiddo  on  the  whole  tells  more  for  the  land  than  the  sea.  It 
is  not  on  the  path  from  Acre  to  the  Euphrates ;  it  is  the  key  of  the 
land-road  from  Egypt  to  the  Euphrates.  Josiah  could  have  no  hope 
of  stopping  Pharaoh  on  the  broad  levels  of  Philistia ;  but  at  Megiddo 
there  was  a  narrow  pass,  and  the  only  chance  of  arresting  so  large  an 
army  as  it  moved  in  detachments.  Josiah's  tactics  were  therefore 
analogous  to  those  of  Saul,  who  also  left  his  own  territory  and 
marched  north  to  Esdiaelon,  to  meet  his  foe^and  death. 

*  A.  B.  Davidson,  The  Exile  and  the  Restoraiion,  p.  8  (Bible 
Class  Primers,  ed.  by  Salmond  ;  Edin.,  T.  &  T.  Clark,  1897). 


28  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

people,  but  the  chief  support  of  their  faith.  That 
the  righteous  king  was  cut  down  in  the  midst  of  his 
days  and  in  defence  of  the  Holy  Land — what  could 
this  mean  ?  Was  it,  then,  vain  to  serve  the  Lord  ? 
Could  He  not  defend  His  own?  With  some  the 
disaster  was  a  cause  of  sore  complaint,  and  with 
others,  perhaps,  of  open  desertion  from  Jehovah. 

But  the  extraordinary  thing  is,  how  little  effect 
Josiah's  death  seems  to  have  had  upon  the  people's 
self-confidence  at  large,  or  upon  their  adherence  to 
Jehovah.  They  immediately  placed  Josiah's  second 
son  on  the  throne;  but  Necho,  having  get  Mm  by  some 
means  to  his  camp  at  Riblah  between  the  Lebanons, 
sent  him  in  fetters  to  Egypt,  where  he  died,  and 
established  in  his  place  Eliakim,  his  elder  brother.  On 
his  accession  EHakim  changed  his  name  to  Jehoiakim, 
a  proof  that  Jehovah  was  still  regarded  as  the  sufficient 
patron  of  Israel  ;  and  the  same  blind  belief  that,  for 
the  sake  of  His  Temple  and  of  His  Law,  Jehovah 
would  keep  His  people  in  security,  continued  to  per- 
severe in  spite  of  Megiddo.  It  was  a  most  immoral 
ease,  and  filled  with  injustice.  Necho  subjected  the 
land  to  a  fine.  This  was  not  heavy,  but  Jehoiakim, 
instead  of  paying  it  out  of  the  royal  treasures,  exacted 
it  from  the  people  of  the  land^  and  then  employed  the 
peace  which  it  purchased  in  erecting  a  costly  palace 
for  himself  by  the  forced  labour  of  his  subjects.^ 
He  was  covetous,  unjust  and  violently  cruel.  Like 
prince  like  people  :  social  oppression  prevailed,  and 
there  was  a  recrudescence  of  the  idolatries  of  Manasseh's 
time,'  especially  (it  may  be  infeiTed)  after  Necho's 
defeat  at  Carchemish  in  605.      That   all   this   should 

•  2  Kings  xxiii.  33-35.  '  Jer.  xxii.   13-15.  '  Jer,  xi. 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY  BEFORE   CHRIST         29 

exist  along  with  a  fanatic  trust  in  Jehovah  need  not 
surprise  us  who  remember  the  very  similar  state  of  the 
public  mind  in  North  Israel  under  Amos  and  Hosea. 
Jeremiah  attacked  it  as  they  had  done.  Though 
Assyria  was  fallen,  and  Egypt  was  promising  protection, 
Jeremiah  predicted  destruction  from  the  north  on  Egypt 
and  Israel  alike.  When  at  last  the  Egyptian  defeat  at 
Carchemish  stirred  some  vague  fears  in  the  people's 
hearts,  Jeremiah's  conviction  broke  out  into  clear  flame. 
For  three-and-twenty  years  he  had  brought  God's  word 
in  vain  to  his  countrymen.  Now  God  Himself  would 
act :  Nebuchadrezzar  was  but  His  servant  to  lead 
Israel  into  captivity.^ 

The  same  year,  605  or  604,  Jeremiah  wrote  all  these 
things  in  a  volume ;  *  and  a  few  months  later,  at  a 
national  fast,  occasioned  perhaps  by  the  fear  of  the 
Chaldeans,  Baruch,  his  secretary,  read  them  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  in  the  ears  of  all  the  people. 
The  king  was  informed,  the  roll  was  brought  to  him, 
and  as  it  was  read,  with  his  own  hands  he  cut  it  up  and 
burned  it,  three  or  four  columns  at  a  time.  Jeremiah 
answered  by  calling  down  on  Jehoiakim  an  ignominious 
death,  and  repeated  the  doom  already  uttered  on  the 
land.  Another  prophet,  Urijah,  had  recently  been 
executed  for  the  same  truth ;  but  Jeremiah  and  Baruch 
escaped  into  hiding. 

This  was  probably  in  603,  and  for  a  little  time 
Jehoiakim  and  the  populace  were  restored  to  their  false 
security  by  the  delay  of  the  Chaldeans  to  come  south. 
Nebuchadrezzar  was  occupied  in  Babylon,  securing 
liis  succession  to  his  father.  At  last,  either  in  602  or 
more  probably  in  600,  he   marched   into   Syria,    and 

'  XXV.  iff.  *  xxxvi. 


30  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Jehoiakim  became  his  servant  for  three  years}  In  such 
a  condition  the  Jewish  state  might  have  survived  for  at 
least  another  generation,^  but  in  599  or  597  Jehoiakim, 
with  the  madness  of  the  doomed,  held  back  his  tribute. 
The  revolt  was  probably  instigated  by  Egypt,  which, 
however,  did  not  dare  to  support  it.  As  in  Isaiah's 
time  against  Assyria,  so  now  against  Babylon,  Egypt 
was  a  blusterer  who  blustered  and  sat  still.  She  still 
helped  in  vain  and  to  no  purpose}  Nor  could  Judah 
count  on  the  help  of  the  other  states  of  Palestine. 
They  had  joined  Hezekiah  against  Sennacherib,  but 
remembering  perhaps  how  Manasseh  had  failed  to  help 
them  against  Assurbanipal,  and  that  Josiah  had  carried 
things  with  a  high  hand  towards  them,*  they  obeyed 
Nebuchadrezzar's  command  and  raided  Judah  till  he 
himself  should  have  time  to  arrive.*  Amid  these  raids 
the  senseless  Jehoiakim  seems  to  have  perished,'  for 
when  Nebuchadrezzar  appeared  before  Jerusalem  in 
597,  his  son  Jehoiachin,  a  youth  of  eighteen,  had 
succeeded  to  the  throne.  The  innocent  reaped  the 
harvest  sown  by  the  guilty.  In  the  attempt  (it  would 
appear)  to  save  his  people  from  destruction/  Jehoiachin 
capitulated.     But  Nebuchadrezzar  was  not  content  with 


'  3  Kings  xxiv.  i.  In  the  chronological  table  appended  to 
Kautzsch's  Bibel  this  verse  and  Jehoiakim's  submission  are  assigned 
to  602.  But  this  allows  too  little  time  for  Nebuchadrezzar  to  con- 
firm his  throne  in  Babylon  and  march  to  Palestine,  and  it  is  not 
corroborated  by  the  record  in  the  Book  of  Jeremiah  of  events  in 
Judah  in  604 — 602. 

*  Nebuchadrezzar  did  not  die  till  562. 

*  See  Isaiah  i.  — xxxix.  (Expositor's  Bible),  pp.  223  f. 

*  See  above,  p.  26,  n.  5. 

*  2  KiDgs  xxiv.  2. 

*  Jer.  xxxvii.  30,  but  see  2  Kings  xxiv.  6. 

"  Sojosephus  puts  it  (X.  Antiq.,  vii.  i).     Jehoiachin  was  unusuaUf 


THE  SF.VENTH  CENTURY  BEFORE  CHRIST        31 


the  person  of  the  king  :  he  deported  to  Babylon  the 
court,  a  large  number  of  influential  persons,  the  mighty 
men  of  the  land  or  what  must  have  been  nearly  all  the 
fighting  men,  with  the  necessary  military  artificers  and 
swordsmiths.  Priests  also  went,  Ezekiel  among  them, 
and  probably  representatives  of  other  classes  not 
mentioned  by  the  annalist.  All  these  were  the  flower 
of  the  nation.  Over  what  was  left  Nebuchadrezzar 
placed  a  son  of  Josiah  on  the  throne  who  took  the 
name  of  Zedekiah.  Again  with  a  little  common-sense, 
the  state  might  have  survived ;  but  it  was  a  short 
respite.  The  new  court  began  intrigues  with  Egypt, 
and  Zedekiah,  with  the  Ammonites  and  Tyre,  ventured 
a  revolt  in  589.  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel  knew  it  was 
in  vain.  Nebuchadrezzar  marched  on  Jerusalem,  and 
though  for  a  time  he  had  to  raise  the  siege  in  order  to 
defeat  a  force  sent  by  Pharaoh  Hophra,  the  Chaldean 
armies  closed  in  again  upon  the  doomed  city.  Her 
defence  was  stubborn ;  but  famine  and  pestilence 
sapped  it,  and  numbers  fell  away  to  the  enemy.  About 
the  eighteenth  month,  the  besiegers  took  the  northern 
suburb  and  stormed  the  middle  gate.  Zedekiah  and  the 
army  broke  their  lines  only  to  be  captured  at  Jericho. 
In  a  few  weeks  more  the  city  was  taken  and  given 
over  to  fire.  Zedekiah  was  blinded,  and  with  a  large 
number  of  his  people  carried  to  Babylon.  It  was  the 
end,  for  although  a  small  community  of  Jews  was  left 
at  Mizpeh  under  a  Jewish  viceroy  and  with  Jeremiah 
to  guide  them,  they  were  soon  broken  up  and  fled  to 
Egypt.     Judah  had  perished.     Her  savage  neighbours, 

bewailed  (Lam.  iv.  20 ;  Ezek.  xvii.  22  ff.).  He  survived  in  captivity 
till  the  death  of  Nebuchadrezzar,  whose  successor  Evil-Merodach 
in  561  took  him  from  prison  and  gave  him  a  place  in  his  palace 
(2  Kings  XXV.  27  ff.). 


32  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

who  had  gathered  with  glee  to  the  day  of  Jerusalem's 
calamity,  assisted  the  Chaldeans  in  capturing  the 
fugitives,  and  Edomites  came  up  from  the  south  on 
the  desolate  land. 


It  has  been  necessary  to  follow  so  far  the  course  of 
events,  because  of  our  prophets  Zephaniah  is  placed 
in  each  of  the  three  sections  of  Josiah's  reign,  and  by 
some  even  in  Jehoiakim's ;  Nahum  has  been  assigned  to 
different  points  between  the  eve  of  the  first  and  the  eve 
of  the  second  siege  of  Niniveh ;  and  Habakkuk  has 
been  placed  by  different  critics  in  almost  every  year 
from  621  to  the  reign  of  Jehoiachin  ;  while  Obadiah, 
whom  we  shall  find  reasons  for  dating  during  the  Exile, 
describes  the  behaviour  of  Edom  at  the  final  siege  of 
Jerusalem.  The  next  of  the  Twelve,  Haggai,  may  have 
been  born  before  the  Exile,  but  did  not  prophesy  till 
520.  Zechariah  appeared  the  same  year,  Malachi  not 
for  half  a  century  after.  These  three  are  prophets  ot 
the  Persian  period.  With  the  approach  of  the  Greeks 
Joel  appears,  then  comes  the  prophecy  which  we  find 
in  the  end  of  Zechariah's  book,  and  last  of  all  the  Book 
of  Jonah.  To  all  these  post-exilic  prophets  we  shall 
provide  later  on  the  necessary  historical  introductions. 


ZEPHANIAB 


VOL.  IT.  33 


Dies  Ira,  Dies  lUa  ! — Zeph.  L  15. 

"  His  book  is  the  first  tinging  of  prophecy  with  apocalypse  :  that  is 
the  moment  which  it  supplies  in  the  history  of  Israel's  religion." 


34 


CHAPTER    II 

THE   BOOK    OF  ZEPHANIAH 

THE  Book  of  Zephaniah  is  one  of  the  most  difficult 
in  the  prophetic  canon.  The  title  is  very  gener- 
ally accepted ;  the  period  from  which  chap.  i.  dates  is 
recognised  by  practically  all  critics  to  be  the  reign  of 
Josiah,  or  at  least  the  last  third  of  the  seventh  century. 
But  after  that  doubts  start,  and  we  find  present  nearly 
every  other  problem  of  introduction. 

To  begin  with,  the  text  is  very  damaged.  In  some 
passages  we  may  be  quite  sure  that  we  have  not  the 
true  text ;  ^  in  others  we  cannot  be  sure  that  we  have 
it,^  and  there  are  several  glosses.^  The  bulk  of  the 
second  chapter  was  written  in  the  Qinah,  or  elegiac 
measure,  but  as  it  now  stands  the  rhythm  is  very 
much  broken.  It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  this  is  due 
to  the  dilapidation  of  the  original  text  or  to  wilful 
insertion  of  glosses  and  other  later  passages.  The 
Greek  version  of  Zephaniah  possesses  the  same  general 
features  as  that  of  other  difficult  prophets.  Occasion- 
ally it  enables  us  to  correct  the  text ;  but  by  the  time 
it  was  made  the  text  must  already  have  contained 
the   same   corruptions  which   we   encounter,    and   the 


'  i.  3*.  5*;  »•  2,  5,  6,  7,  8  last  word,  14^;  iii.  18,  19a,  90. 

*  i.  146;  ii.  I,  3;  iii.  i,  5,  6,  7,  8,  10,  15,  17. 

•  i.  36,  56 ;  ii.  2,  6 ;  iii.  5  (?). 

35 


36  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

translators   were  ignorant  besides  of  the  mearuiig  of 
some  phrases  which  to  us  are  plain.* 

The  difficulties  of  textual  criticism  as  well  as  of 
translation  are  aggravated  by  the  large  number  of  words, 
grammatical  forms  and  phrases  which  either  happen 
very  seldom  in  the  Old  Testament,*  or  nowhere  else 
in  it  at  all.'  Of  the  rare  words  and  phrases,  a  very 
few  (as  will  be  seen  from  the  appended  notes)  are 
found  in  earlier  writings.  Indeed  all  that  are  found 
are  from  the  authentic  prophecies  of  Isaiah,  with  whose 
style  and  doctrine  Zephaniah's  own  exhibit  most 
affinity.  All  the  other  rarities  of  vocabulary  and 
grammar  are  shared  only  by  later  writers ;  and  as  a 
whole  the  language  of  Zephaniah  exhibits  symptoms 
which  separate  it  by  many  years  from  the  language 
of  the  prophets  of  the  eighth  century,  and  range  it 
with  that  of  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  the  Second  Isaiah 
and  still  later  literature.  It  may  be  useful  to  the 
student  to  collect  in  a  note  the  most  striking  of  these 

'  For  details  see  translation  below. 

*  i.  3,  ni7C'Dl?j  only  in  Isa.  iii.  6;  15,  nXliJ'D,  only  in  Job  xxx.  3, 
xxxviii.  27 — cf.  Psalms  Ixxiii.  18,  Ixxiv.  3 ;  ii.  8,  D''Bn3,  Isa.  xliii.  28 — 
cf.  li.  7;  9,  ?1"in,  Prov.  xxiv.  31,  Job  xxx.  7;  15,  HTvy,  Isa.  xxii.  2, 
xxiii.  7,  xxxii.  13— cf.  xiii.  3,  xxiv.  8 ;  iii.  i,  H?  3J,  see  next  note  but 
one;  3,  my '•aXT,  Hab.  i.  8;  11,  iniN3  '•thv,  Isa.  xiii.  3;  18,  >V\l, 
Lam.  i.  4,  01313- 

•  i.  II,  JJTl^Dn  as  the  name  of  a  part  of  Jerusalem,  otherwise  only 
Jer.  XV.  19 ;  f)D3  v''t23  ;  12,  NDp  in  pt.  Qal,  and  otherwise  only  Exoci. 
XV.  8,  Zech.  xiv.  6,  Job  x.  10;  14,  "IHJO  (adj.),  but  the  pointing  may 
be  wrong— cf.  Maher-shalal-hash-baz,  Isa.  viii.  i,  3;  mV  in  Qal, 
elsewhere  only  once  in  Hi.  Isa.  xiii.  13;  17,  DIPl'?  in  sense  of  flesh,  cf. 
Job  XX.  23;  18,  n?n33  if  a  noun  (?)  ;  ii.  I,  ^\y\>  in  Qal  and  Hithpo, 
elsewhere  only  in  Polel;  9,  pCJ'OD,  m3D;  u,  nP,  to  make  lean, 
otherwise  only  in  Isa.  xvii.  4,  to  be  lean;  14,  HtlX  (?) ;  iii.  i,  HNID, 
pt.  of  tViO ;  \\y\\  pt  Qal,  in  Jer.  xlvi.  16,  1,  16,  it  may  be  a  noun ; 

4,  nnjn  ^Jj'ix;  6,  n^3;  9,  nnx  ddb';  10,  »^iD-na  nni;(?);  15,  njs 

in  sense  to  turn  away  ;    i8,  VH  "]IDD  (?). 


THE  BOOK  OF  ZEPHANIAH  37 

symptoms  of  the  comparative  lateness  of  Zephaniah's 
dialect.^ 

We  now  come  to  the  question  of  date,  and  we  take, 
to  begin  with,  the  First  Chapter.  It  was  said  above  that 
critics  agree  as  to  the  general  period — between  639, 
when  Josiah  began  to  reign,  and  600.  But  this  period 
was  divided  into  three  very  different  sections,  and  each 
of  these  has  received  considerable  support  from  modern 
criticism.  The  great  majority  of  critics  place  the 
chapter  in  the  early  years  of  Josiah,  before  the  enforce- 
ment of  Deuteronomy  and  the  great  Reform  in  621.^ 
Others  have  argued  for  the  later  years  of  Josiah, 
621 — 608,  on  the  ground  that  the  chapter  implies  that 
the  great  Reform  has  already  taken  place,  and  other- 
wise shows  knowledge  of  Deuteronomy  ; '  while  some 
prefer  the  days  of  reaction  under  Jehoiakim,  608  ff.,* 
and  assume  that  the  phrase  in  the  title,  in  the  days  0/ 
Josiahf  is  a  late  and  erroneous  inference  from  i.  4. 

The  evidence  for  the  argument  consists  of  the  title 
and  the  condition  of  Judah  reflected  in  the  body  of  the 


•  i.  8,  etc.,  7V  npD,  followed  by  person,  but  not  by  thing — cf, 
Jer.  ix.  24,  xxiii.  34,  etc.,  Job  xxxvi.  23,  2  Chron.  xxxvi.  23,  Ezek. 
i.  2;  13,  HDw'D,  only  in  Hab.  ii.  7,  Isa.  xlii.,  Jer.  xxx.  16,  2  Kings 
xxi.  14;  17,  "I^D,  Hi.  ofnV,  only  in  i  Kings  viii.  37,  and  Deut.,  2  Chron., 
Jer.,  Neh.;  ii.  3,  ni:i; ;  8,  DiDHJ,  Isa.  xliii.  28,  li.  7  (fem.  pi.);  9,  bnn, 
Prov.  xxiv.  31,  Job  xxx.  7;  iii.  i,  nP^JJ,  Ni,  pt,x=impure,  Isa. 
lix.  3,  Lam.  iv.  14;  nj1\  a  pt.  in  Jer.  xlvi.  16,  1.  16;  3,  21^  ''2NT, 
Hab.  i.  8— cf.  Jer.  v.  6,  nuiy  3Nr ;  9,  inn,  Isa.  xlix.  2,  lin, 
Ezek.  XX.  38,  I  Chron.  vii.  40,  ix.  22,  xvi.  41,  Neh.  v.  18,  Job 
xxxiii.  3,  Eccles.  iii.  18,  ix.  I ;  II,  mXJ  ''vhv,  Isa.  xiii.  3;  18,  *>13, 
Lam.  i.  4  has  mJ-IJ. 

•  So  Hitzig,  Ewald,  Pusey,  Kuenen,  Robertson  Smith  {Encyc.  Brit.), 
Driver,  Wellhausen,  Kirkpatrick,  Budde,  von  Orelli,  Cornill,  Schwally, 
Davidson. 

•  So  Dclit^sch,  Kleinert,  and  Schulz  (jContmentar  uber  den  Proph 
Ztph.,  1892,  p.  7,  quoted  by  KOnig).  *  So  KOnig. 


38  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

chapter.  The  latter  is  a  definite  piece  of  oratory. 
Under  the  alarm  of  an  immediate  and  general  war, 
Zephaniah  proclaims  a  vast  destruction  upon  the  earth. 
Judah  must  fall  beneath  it :  the  worshippers  of  Baal, 
of  the  host  of  heaven  and  of  Milcom,  the  apostates 
from  Jehovah,  the  princes  and  house  of  the  king,  the 
imitators  of  foreign  fashions,  and  the  forceful  and 
fraudulent,  shall  be  cut  off  in  a  great  slaughter.  Those 
who  have  grown  sceptical  and  indifferent  to  Jehovah 
shall  be  unsettled  by  invasion  and  war.  This  shall 
be  the  Day  of  Jehovah,  near  and  immediate,  a  day  of 
battle  and  disaster  on  the  whole  land. 

The  conditions  reflected  are  thus  twofold — the  idola- 
trous and  sceptical  state  of  the  people,  and  an  impending 
invasion.  But  these  suit,  more  or  less  exactly,  each 
of  the  three  sections  of  our  period.  For  Jeremiah 
distinctly  states  that  he  had  to  attack  idolatry  in  Judah 
for  twenty-three  years,  627  to  604 ;  ^  he  inveighs  against 
the  falseness  and  impurity  of  the  people  alike  before 
the  great  Reform,  and  after  it  while  Josiah  was  still 
alive,  and  still  more  fiercely  under  Jehoiakim.  And, 
while  before  621  the  great  Scythian  invasion  was 
sweeping  upon  Palestine  from  the  north,  after  621, 
and  especially  after  604,  the  Babylonians  from  the  same 
quarter  were  visibly  threatening  the  land.  But  when 
looked  at  more  closely,  the  chapter  shows  several 
features  which  suit  the  second  section  of  our  period  less 
than  they  do  the  other  two.  The  worship  of  the  host  of 
heaven,  probably  introduced  under  Manasseh,  was  put 
down  by  Josiah  in  621  ;  it  revived  under  Jehoiakim,^ 
but  during  the  latter  years  of  Josiah  it  cannot 
possibly  have  been  so  public  as  Zephaniah  describes.^ 

»  Jer.  XXV.  *  Jer.  vii.  18.  »  i.  3. 


THE  BOOK   OF  ZEPHANIAH  39 

Other  reasons  which  have  been  given  for  those  years 
are  inconclusive  ^ — the  chapter,  for  instance,  makes  no 
indubitable  reference  to  Deuteronomy  or  the  Covenant 
of  621 — and  on  the  whole  we  may  leave  the  end  of 
Josiah's  reign  out  of  account.  Turning  to  the  third 
section,  Jehoiakim's  reign,  we  find  one  feature  of  the 
prophecy  which  suits  it  admirably.  The  temper  de- 
scribed in  ver.  12 — men  who  are  settled  on  their  lees, 
who  say  in  their  heart,  Jehovah  doeth  neither  good  nor 
evil — is  the  kind  of  temper  likely  to  have  been  produced 
among  the  less  earnest  adherents  of  Jehovah  by  the 
failure  of  the  great  Reform  in  62 1  to  effect  either  the 
purity  or  the  prosperity  of  the  nation.  But  this  is 
more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  significant  exception 
of  the  king  from  the  condemnation  which  ver.  8  passes 

'  Kleinert  in  his  Commentary  in  Lange's  Btbelwerk,  and  Delitzsch 
in  his  article  in  Hcrzog's  Real-Encyclopadie^,  both  offer  a  number  of 
inconclusive  arguments.  These  are  drawn  from  the  position  of 
Zcphaniah  after  Habakkuk,  but,  as  we  have  seen,  the  order  of  the 
Twelve  is  not  always  chronological ;  from  the  supposition  that 
Zephaniah  i.  7,  Silence  before  the  Lord  Jehovah,  quotes  Habakkuk  ii. 
20,  Keep  silence  before  Him,  all  the  earth,  but  the  phrase  common  to 
both  is  too  general  to  be  deciiive,  and  if  borrowed  by  one  or  other 
may  just  as  well  have  been  Zephaniah's  originally  as  Habakkuk's; 
from  the  phrase  remnant  of  Baal  (i.  4),  as  if  this  were  appropriate 
only  after  the  Reform  of  621,  but  it  was  quite  as  appropriate  after 
the  beginnings  of  reform  six  years  earlier ;  from  the  condemnation 
of  the  sons  of  the  king  (i.  8),  whom  Delitzsch  takes  as  Josiah's  sons, 
who  before  the  great  Reform  were  too  young  to  be  condemned, 
while  later  their  characters  did  develop  badly  and  judgment  fell 
upon  all  of  them,  but  sons  of  the  king,  even  if  that  be  the  correct 
reading  (LXX.  house  of  the  king),  does  not  necessarily  mean  the 
reigning  monarch's  children  ;  and  from  the  assertion  that  Deuteronomy 
is  quoted  in  the  first  chapter  of  Zephaniah,  and  "  so  quoted  as  to  show 
that  the  prophet  needs  only  to  put  the  people  in  mind  of  it  as  some- 
thing supposed  to  be  known,"  but  the  verses  cited  in  support  of  this 
(viz.  13,  15,  17:  cf.  Deut.  xxviii.  30  and  29)  are  too  general  in  the.i 
character  to  prove  the  assertion.     See  translation  below. 


40  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

on  the  princes  and  the  sons  of  the  king.  Such  an  ex- 
ception could  not  have  been  made  when  Jehoiakim  was 
on  the  throne ;  it  points  almost  conclusively  to  the 
reign  of  the  good  Josiah.  And  with  this  agrees  the 
title  of  the  chapter — in  the  days  of  Josiah}  We  are, 
therefore,  driven  back  to  the  years  of  Josiah  before 
621.  In  these  we  find  no  discrepancy  either  with  the 
chapter  itself,  or  with  its  title.  The  southward  march 
of  the  Scythians,*  between  630  and  625,  accounts  for 
Zephaniah's  alarm  of  a  general  war,  including  the 
invasion  of  Judah;  the  idolatrous  practices  which  he 
describes  may  well  have  been  those  surviving  from 
the  days  of  Manasseh,'  and  not  yet  reached  by  the 
drastic  measures  of  621  ;  the  temper  of  scepticism  and 
hopelessness  condemned  by  ver.  12  was  possible  among 
those  adherents  of  Jehovah  who  had  hoped  greater 
things  from  the  overthrow  of  Amon  than  the  slow  and 
small  reforms  of  the  first  fifteen  years  of  Josiah's  reign. 
Nor  is  a  date  before  621  made  at  all  difficult  by 
the  genealogy  of  Zephaniah  in  the  title.  If,  as  is 
probable,*  the  Hezekiah  given  as  his  great-great- 
grandfather be  Hezekiah  the  king,  and  if  he  died 
about  695,  and  Manasseh,  his  successor,  who  was  then 
twelve,  was  his  eldest  son,  then  by  630  Zephaniah 
cannot  have  been  much  more  than  twenty  years  of  age, 

'  KOnig  has  to  deny  the  authenticity  of  this  in  order  to  make  his 
case  for  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim.  But  nearly  all  critics  take  the  phrase 
as  genuine. 

^  See  above,  p.  15.  For  inconclusive  reasons  Schwally,  Z.A.T.W., 
1890,  pp.  215-217,  prefers  the  Egyptians  under  Psamtik.  See  in  answer 
Davidson,  p.  98. 

'  Not  much  stress  can  be  laid  upon  the  phrase  /  will  cut  off  the 
remnant  of  Baal,  ver.  4,  for,  if  the  reading  be  correct,  it  may  only  mean 
the  destruction  of  Baal-worship,  and  not  the  uprooting  of  wha»  l^as 
been  left  over.  *  See  below,  p.  47,  n,  2. 


THE  BOOK   OF  ZEPHANIAH  4 1 

and  not  more  than  twenty-five  by  the  time  the  Scythian 
invasion  had  passed  av^ray.^  It  is  therefore  by  no 
means  impossible  to  suppose  that  he  prophesied  before 
625 ;  and  besides,  the  data  of  the  genealogy  in  the 
title  are  too  precarious  to  make  them  valid,  as  against 
an  inference  from  the  contents  of  the  chapter  itself. 

The  date,  therefore,  of  the  first  chapter  of  Zephaniah 
may  be  given  as  about  625  B.C.,  and  probably  rather 
before  than  after  that  year,  as  the  tide  of  Scythian 
invasion  has  apparently  not  yet  ebbed. 

The  other  two  chapters  have  within  recent  years  been 
almost  wholly  denied  to  Zephaniah.  Kuenen  doubted 
chap.  iii.  9-20.  Stade  makes  all  chap.  iii.  post-exilic, 
and  suspects  ii.  1-3,  ii.  A  very  thorough  examination 
of  them  has  led  Schwally  ^  to  assign  to  exilic  or  post- 
exilic  times  the  whole  of  the  little  sections  comprising 
them,  with  the  possible  exception  of  chap.  iii.  1-7,  which 
"  may  be  "  Zephaniah's.  His  essay  has  been  subjected 
to  a  searching  and  generally  hostile  criticism  by  a 
number  of  leading  scholars  ; '  and  he  has  admitted  the 
inconclusiveness  of  some  of  his  reasons.* 

Chap.  ii.  1-4  is  assigned  by  Schwally  to  a  date  later 
than  Zephaniah's,  principally  because  of  the  term  meek- 
ness (ver.  3),  which  is  a  favourite  one  with  post-exilic 
writers.     He  has  been  sufficiently  answered  ; '  and  the 


'  If  695  be  the  date  of  the  accession  of  Manasseh,  being  then  twelve, 
Amariah,  Zephaniah's  great-grandfather,  cannot  have  been  more  than 
ten,  that  is,  born  in  705.  His  son  Gedaliah  was  probably  not  bom 
before  689,  his  son  Kushi  probably  not  before  672,  and  his  son 
Zephaniah  probably  not  before  650. 

'  Z.A.T.W.,  1890,  Heft  I. 

•  Bacher,  Z.A.T.W.,  1891,  186;  Cornill,  Einleitung,  1891 ;  Budde, 
Thtol.  Stud.  u.  Krit.,  1893,  393  ff- J  Davidson,  Nah.,  Hub.  and  Zeph., 
100  flf.  *  Z.A.T.W.,  1891,  Heft  2. 

*  By  especially  Bacher,  Cornill  and  Budde  as  above. 


42  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

close  connection  of  w.  1-3  with  chap.  i.  has  been  clearly 
proved.^  Chap.  ii.  4-15  is  the  passage  in  elegiac 
measure  but  broken,  an  argument  for  the  theory  that 
insertions  have  been  made  in  it.  The  subject  is  a 
series  of  foreign  nations — Philistia  (5-7),  Moab  and 
Ammon  (8-10),  Egypt  (11)  and  Assyria  (13-15).  The 
passage  has  given  rise  to  many  doubts  ;  every  one  must 
admit  the  difficulty  of  coming  to  a  conclusion  as  to  its 
authenticity.  On  the  one  hand,  the  destruction  just 
predicted  is  so  universal  that,  as  Professor  Davidson 
says,  we  should  expect  Zephaniah  to  mention  other 
nations  than  Judah.^  The  concluding  oracle  on  Niniveh 
must  have  been  published  before  608,  and  even  Schwally 
admits  that  it  may  be  Zephaniah's  own.  But  if  this  be 
so,  then  we  may  infer  that  the  first  of  the  oracles  on 
Philistia  is  also  Zephaniah's,  for  both  it  and  the  oracle 
on  Assyria  are  in  the  elegiac  measure,  a  fact  which 
makes  it  probable  that  the  whole  passage,  however 
broken  and  intruded  upon,  was  originally  a  unity.  Nor 
is  there  anything  in  the  oracle  on  Philistia  incompatible 
with  Zephaniah's  date.  Philistia  lay  on  the  path  of 
the  Scythian  invasion  ;  the  phrase  in  ver.  7,  shall  turn 
their  captivity,  is  not  necessarily  exilic.  As  Cornill,  too, 
points  out,  the  expression  in  ver.  13,  He  will  stretch  out 
His  hand  to  the  north,  implies  that  the  prophecy  has 
already  looked  in  other  directions.  There  remains  the 
passage  between  the  oracles  on  Philistia  and  Assyria. 
This  is  not  in  the  elegiac  measure.     Its  subject  is  Moab 

'  See  Budde  and  Davidson. 

*  The  ideal  of  chap.  i. — ii.  3,  of  the  final  security  of  a  poor  and  lowly 
remnant  of  Israel,  "  necessaril}'  implies  that  they  shall  no  longer  be 
threatened  by  hostility  from  without,  and  this  condition  is  satisfied 
by  the  prophet's  view  of  the  impending  judgment  on  the  ancient 
enemies  of  his  nation,"  i.e.  those  mentioned  in  ii.  4-15  (Robertson 
Smith,  Encyc.  Brit.,  art.  "  Zephaniah  "). 


THE  BOOK  OF  ZEPHANIAH  43 

and  Ammon,  who  were  not  on  the  line  of  the  Scythian 
invasion,  and  Wellhausen  further  objects  to  it,  because 
the  attitude  to  Israel  of  the  two  peoples  whom  it 
describes  is  that  which  is  attributed  to  them  only  just 
before  the  Exile  and  surprises  us  in  Josiah's  reign. 
Dr.  Davidson  meets  this  objection  by  pointing  out  that, 
just  as  in  Deuteronomy,  so  here,  Moab  and  Ammon 
are  denounced,  while  Edom,  which  in  Deuteronomy  is 
spoken  of  with  kindness,  is  here  not  denounced  at  all. 
A  stronger  objection  to  the  passage  is  that  ver.  11 
predicts  the  conversion  of  the  nations,  while  ver.  I2 
makes  them  the  prey  of  Jehovah's  sword,  and  in  this 
ver.  12  follows  on  naturally  to  ver.  7.  On  this  ground 
as  well  as  on  the  absence  of  the  elegiac  measure  the 
oracle  on  Moab  and  Ammon  is  strongly  to  be  suspected. 

On  the  whole,  then,  the  most  probable  conclusion  is 
that  chap.  ii.  4-15  was  originally  an  authentic  oracle  of 
Zephaniah's  in  the  elegiac  metre,  uttered  at  the  same 
date  as  chap.  i. — ii.  3,  the  period  of  the  Scythian 
invasion,  though  from  a  different  standpoint;  and 
that  it  has  suffered  considerable  dilapidation  (witness 
especially  w.  6  and  14),  and  probably  one  great 
intrusion,  w.  8-10. 

There  remains  the  Third  Chapter.  The  authenticity 
has  been  denied  by  Schwally,  who  transfers  the  whole 
till  after  the  Exile.     But  the  chapter  is  not  a  unity.* 

'  See,  however,  Davidson  for  some  linguistic  reasons  for  taking  the 
two  sections  as  one.  Robertson  Smith,  also  in  1888  (Encyc.  Brit., 
art.  "Zephaniah"),  assumed  (though  not  without  pointing  out  the 
possibility  of  the  addition  of  other  pieces  to  the  genuine  prophecies 
of  Zephaniah)  that  "a  single  leading  motive  runs  through  the  whole" 
book,  and  "  the  first  two  chapters  would  be  incomplete  without  the 
third,  which  moreover  is  certainly  pre-exilic  (vv.  1-4)  and  presents 
specific  points  of  contact  with  what  precedes,  as  well  as  a  general 
agreement  in  style  and  idea." 


44  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

In  the  first  place,  it  falls  into  two  sections,  vv.  1-13  and 
14-20.  There  is  no  reason  to  take  away  the  bulk  of 
the  first  section  from  Zephaniah.  As  Schwally  admits, 
the  argument  here  is  parallel  to  that  of  chap.  i. — ii.  3.  It 
could  hardly  have  been  applied  to  Jerusalem  during  or 
after  the  Exile,  but  suits  her  conditions  before  her  fall. 
Schwally's  linguistic  objections  to  a  pre-exilic  date  have 
been  answered  by  Budde.^  He  holds  ver.  6  to  be  out 
of  place  and  puts  it  after  ver.  8,  and  this  may  be.  But  as 
it  stands  it  appeals  to  the  impenitent  Jews  of  ver.  5  with 
the  picture  of  the  judgment  God  has  already  completed 
upon  the  nations,  and  contrasts  with  ver.  7,  in  which 
God  says  that  He  trusts  Israel  will  repent.  Vv.  9  and 
10  are,  we  shall  see,  obviously  an  intrusion,  as  Budde 
maintains  and  Davidson  admits  to  be  possible.' 

We  reach  more  certainty  when  we  come  to  the 
second  section  of  the  chapter,  vv.  14-20.  Since 
Kuenen  it  has  been  recognised  by  the  majority  of  critics 
that  we  have  here  a  prophecy  from  the  end  of  the  Exile 
or  after  the  Return.  The  temper  has  changed.  In- 
stead of  the  austere  and  sombre  outlook  of  chap. 
i. — ii.  3  and  chap.  iii.  1-13,  in  which  the  sinful  Israel 
is  to  be  saved  indeed,  but  only  as  by  fire,  we  have 
a  triumphant  prophecy  of  her  recovery  from  all  afflic- 
tion (nothing  is  said  of  her  sin)  and  of  her  glory  among 


'  Schwally  (234)  thinks  that  the  epithet  pH^  (ver,  5)  was  first 
applied  to  Jehovah  by  the  Second  Isaiah  (xlv.  21,  Ixiv.  2,  xlii.  21), 
and  became  frequent  from  his  time  on.  In  disproof  Budde  (3398) 
quotes  Exod.  ix.  27,  Jer.  xii.  i,  Lam.  i.  1 8.  Schwally  also  points  to 
nV3  as  borrowed  from  Aramaic. 

*  Budde,  p.  395;  Davidson,  103.  Schwally  (230  fif.)  seeks  to  prove 
the  unity  of  9  and  10  with  the  context,  but  he  has  apparently  mistaken 
the  meaning  of  ver.  8  (231).  That  surely  does  not  mean  that  the 
nations  are  gathered  in  order  to  punish  the  godlessness  of  the  Jews, 
but  that  they  may  themselves  be  punished. 


THE  BOOK  OF  ZEPHANIAH  4S 

the  nations  of  the  world.  To  put  it  otherwise,  while 
the  genuine  prophecies  of  Zephaniah  almost  grudgingly 
allow  a  door  of  escape  to  a  few  righteous  and  humble 
Israelites  from  a  judgment  which  is  to  fall  alike  on 
Israel  and  the  Gentiles,  chap.  iii.  14-20  predicts  Israel's 
deliverance  from  her  Gentile  oppressors,  her  return 
from  captivity  and  the  establishment  of  her  renown 
over  the  earth.  The  language,  too,  has  many  re- 
semblances to  that  of  Second  Isaiah.^  Obviously  there- 
fore we  have  here,  added  to  the  severe  prophecies  of 
Zephaniah,  such  a  more  hopeful,  peaceful  epilogue  as 
we  saw  was  added,  during  the  Exile  or  immediately 
after  it,  to  the  despairing  prophecies  of  Amos. 

'  See  Davidson,  103. 


CHAPTER    III 

THE  PROPHET  AND   THE  REFORMERS 
Zephaniah  i. — ii.  3 

TOWARDS  the  year  625,  when  King  Josiah  had 
passed  out  of  his  minority/  and  was  making 
his  first  efforts  at  religious  reform,  prophecy,  long 
slumbering,  awoke  again  in  Israel. 

Like  the  king  himself,  its  first  heralds  were  men  in 
their  early  youth.  In  627  Jeremiah  calls  himself  but 
a  boy,  and  Zephaniah  can  hardly  have  been  out  of 
his  teens.^  For  the  sudden  outbreak  of  these  young 
lives  there  must  have  been  a  large  reservoir  of  patience 
and  hope  gathered  in  the  generation  behind  them. 
So  Scripture  itself  testifies.  To  Jeremiah  it  was  said  : 
Before  I  formed  thee  in  the  belly  I  knew  thee,  and  before 
thou  earnest  forth  out  of  the  womb  I  consecrated  thee?  In 
an  age  when  names  were  bestowed  only  because  of 
their  significance,*  both  prophets  bore  that  of  Jehovah 
in  their  own.  So  did  Jeremiah's  father,  who  was  of 
the  priests  of  Anathoth.  Zephaniah's  *'  forbears  "  are 
given    for   four  generations,    and   with  one  exception 


'  Josiah,  bom  c,  648,  succeeded  c.  639,  was  about  eighteen  in  630, 
and  then  appears  to  have  begun  his  reforms. 

*  See  above,  pp.  40  f.,  n.  i. 

*  Jer.  i.  5. 

*  See  G.  B.  Gray,  Hebrew  Proper  Nanus. 

4C 


Zeph.  i.-ii.  3]  THE  PROPHET  AND    THE  REFORMERS      47 

they  also  are  called  after  Jehovah :  The  Word  of 
Jehovah  which  came  to  Sephanyah,  son  of  Kushi,  son  of 
Gedhalyah^  son  of  Ama/yah,  son  of  Hizkiyah,  in  the 
days  of  Joshiyahu^  Amon^s  son,  king  of  Judah. 
Zephaniah's  great-great-grandfather  Hezekiah  was  in 
all  probability  the  king.^  His  father's  name  Kushi, 
or  Ethiop,  is  curious.  If  we  are  right,  that  Zephaniah 
was  a  young  man  towards  625,  then  Kushi  must  have 
been  born  towards  66^,  about  the  time  of  the  conflicts 
between  Assyria  and  Egypt,  and  it  is  possible  that,  as 
Manasseh  and  the  predominant  party  in  Judah  so 
closely  hung  upon  and  imitated  Assyria,  the  adherents 
of  Jehovah  put  their  hope  in  Egypt,  whereof,  it  may  be, 
this  name  Kushi  is  a  token.^  The  name  Zephaniah 
itself,  meaning  Jehovah  hath  hidden,  suggests  the 
prophet's  birth  in  the  "  killing-time "  of  Manasseh. 
There  was  at  least  one  other  contemporary  of  the 
same  name — a  priest  executed  by  Nebuchadrezzar.* 


'  Josiah. 

'  It  is  not  usual  in  the  O.T.  to  carry  a  man's  genealogy  beyond 
his  grandfather,  except  for  some  special  purpose,  or  in  order  to 
include  some  ancestor  of  note.  Also  the  name  Hezekiah  is  very 
rare  apart  from  the  king.  The  number  of  names  compounded  with 
Jah  or  Jehovah  is  another  proof  that  the  line  is  a  royal  one.  The 
omission  of  the  phrase  king  of  Judah  after  Hezekiah's  name  proves 
nothing;  it  may  have  been  of  purpose  because  the  phrase  has  to 
occur  immediately  again. 

•  It  was  not  till  652  that  a  league  was  made  between  the  Palestine 
princes  and  Psamtik  I.  against  Assyria.  This  certainly  would  have 
been  the  most  natural  year  for  a  child  to  be  named  Kushi,  But 
that  would  set  the  birth  of  Zephaniah  as  late  as  632,  and  his  pro- 
phecy towards  the  end  of  Josiah's  reign,  which  we  have  seen  to 
be  improbable  on  other  grounds. 

*  Jer.  xxi.  i,  xxix.  25,  29,  xxxvii.  3,  Hi.  24ff. ;  2  Kings  xxv.  18.  The 
analogous  Phoenician  name  7^332^,  Saphan-ba'al  =  "Baal  protects 
or  hides,"  is  found  in  No.  207  of  the  Phoenician  inscriptions  in  the 
Corpusflnscr,  Seniiticarum. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


Of  the  adherents  of  Jehovah,  then,  and  probably 
of  royal  descent,  Zephaniah  lived  in  Jerusalem.  We 
descry  him  against  her,  almost  as  clearly  as  we 
descry  Isaiah.  In  the  glare  and  smoke  of  the  con- 
flagration which  his  vision  sweeps  across  the  world, 
only  her  features  stand  out  definite  and  particular  : 
the  flat  roofs  with  men  and  women  bowing  in  the 
twilight  to  the  host  of  heaven,  the  crowds  of  priests, 
the  nobles  and  their  foreign  fashions ;  the  Fishgate,  the 
New  or  Second  Town,  where  the  rich  lived,  the  Heights 
to  which  building  had  at  last  spread,  and  between 
them  the  hollow  Mortar,  with  its  markets,  Phoenician 
merchants  and  money-dealers.  In  the  first  few  verses 
of  Zephaniah  we  see  almost  as  much  of  Jerusalem  as 
in  the  whole  book  either  of  Isaiah  or  Jeremiah. 

For  so  young  a  man  the  vision  of  Zephaniah  may  seem 
strangely  dark  and  final.  Yet  not  otherwise  was  Isaiah's 
inaugural  vision,  and  as  a  rule  it  is  the  young  and  not 
the  old  whose  indignation  is  ardent  and  unsparing. 
Zephaniah  carries  this  temper  to  the  extreme.  There 
is  no  great  hope  in  his  book,  hardly  any  tenderness 
and  never  a  glimpse  of  beauty.  A  townsman,  Zephaniah 
has  no  eye  for  nature ;  not  only  is  no  fair  prospect 
described  by  him,  he  has  not  even  a  single  metaphor 
drawn  from  nature's  loveliness  or  peace.  He  is 
pitilessly  true  to  his  great  keynotes :  /  will  sweep, 
sweep  from  the  face  of  the  ground ;  He  will  burn,  burn 
up  everything.  No  hotter  book  lies  in  all  the  Old 
Testament.  Neither  dew  nor  grass  nor  tree  nor  any 
blossom  lives  in  it,  but  it  is  everywhere  fire,  smoke 
and  darkness,  drifting  chaff",  ruins,  nettles,  saltpits,  and 
owls  and  ravens  looking  from  the  windows  of  desolate 
palaces.  Nor  does  Zephaniah  foretell  the  restoration 
of  nature  in  the  end  of  the  days.     There  is  no  prospect 


Zeph.  i.-ii,  3]    THE  PROPHET  AND    THE  REFORMERS     49 

of  a  redeemed  and  fruitful  land,  but  only  of  a  group 
of  battered  and  hardly  saved  characters :  a  few  meek 
and  righteous  are  hidden  from  the  fire  and  creep  forth 
when  it  is  over.  Israel  is  left  a  poor  and  humble  folk. 
No  prophet  is  more  true  to  the  doctrine  of  the  remnant, 
or  more  resolutely  refuses  to  modify  it.  Perhaps  he 
died  young. 

The  full  truth,  however,  is  that  Zephaniah,  though 
he  found  his  material  in  the  events  of  his  own  day,  tears 
himself  loose  from  history  altogether.  To  the  earlier 
prophets  the  Day  of  the  Lord,  the  crisis  .of  the  world, 
is  a  definite  point  in  history  :  full  of  terrible,  divine 
events,  yet  "  natural "  ones — battle,  siege,  famine, 
massacre  and  captivity.  After  it  history  is  still  to  flow 
on,  common  days  come  back  and  Israel  pursue  their 
way  as  a  nation.  But  to  Zephaniah  the  Day  of  the 
Lord  begins  to  assume  what  we  call  the  "  supernatural." 
The  grim  colours  are  still  woven  of  war  and  siege,  but 
mixed  with  vague  and  solemn  terrors  from  another 
sphere,  by  which  history  appears  to  be  swallowed 
up,  and  it  is  only  with  an  effort  that  the  prophet 
thinks  of  a  rally  of  Israel  beyond.  In  short,  with 
Zephaniah  the  Day  of  the  Lord  tends  to  become  the 
Last  Day.  His  book  is  the  first  tinging  of  prophecy  with 
apocalypse  :  that  is  the  moment  which  it  supplies  in 
the  history  of  Israel's  religion.  And,  therefore,  it  was 
with  a  true  instinct  that  the  great  Christian  singer  of 
the  Last  Day  took  from  Zephaniah  his  keynote.  The 
"Dies  Irae,  Dies  Ilia"  of  Thomas  of  Celano  is  but  the 
Vulgate  translation  of  Zephaniah's  A  day  of  wrath  is 
that  day} 

'  Chap.  i.   15.     With   the  above  paragraph  cf.   Robertson  Smith, 
Encyc.  Brit,  art.  "  Zephaniah." 

VOL.  II.  4 


50  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Nevertheless,  though  the  first  of  apocalyptic  writer?, 
Zephaniah  does  not  allow  himself  the  license  of  apoca- 
lypse. As  he  refuses  to  imagine  great  glory  for  the 
righteous,  so  he  does  not  dwell  on  the  terrors  of  the 
wicked.  He  is  sober  and  restrained,  a  matter-of-fact 
man,  yet  with  power  of  imagination,  who,  amidst  the 
vague  horrors  he  summons,  delights  in  giving  a  sharp 
realistic  impression.  The  Day  of  the  Lord,  he  says, 
what  is  it  ?     A  strong  man — there  ! — crying  bitterly} 

It  is  to  the  fierce  ardour,  and  to  the  elemental  interests 
of  the  book,  that  we  owe  the  absence  of  two  features 
of  prophecy  which  are  so  constant  in  the  prophets  of 
the  eighth  century.  Firstly,  Zephaniah  betrays  no 
interest  in  the  practical  reforms  which  (if  we  are  right 
about  the  date)  the  young  king,  his  contemporary,  had 
already  started.^  There  was  a  party  of  reform,  the 
party  had  a  programme,  the  programme  was  drawn 
from  the  main  principles  of  prophecy  and  was  designed 
to  put  these  into  practice.  And  Zephaniah  was  a 
prophet — and  ignored  them.  This  forms  the  dramatic 
interest  of  his  book.  Here  was  a  man  of  the  same  faith 
which  kings,  priests  and  statesmen  were  striving  to 
realise  in  public  life,  in  the  assured  hope — as  is  plain 
from  the  temper  of  Deuteronomy — that  the  nation  as 
a  whole  would  be  reformed  and  become  a  very  great 
nation,  righteous  and  victorious.     All  this  he  ignored, 


'  Chap.  i.  146. 

*  In  fact  this  forms  one  diflSculty  about  the  conclusion  which  we 
have  reached  as  to  the  date.  We  saw  that  one  reason  against  putting 
the  Book  of  Zephaniah  after  the  great  Reforms  of  621  was  that  it 
betrayed  no  sign  of  their  effects.  But  it  might  justly  be  answered  that, 
if  Zephaniah  prophesied  before  621,  his  book  ought  to  betray  some 
sign  of  the  approach  of  reform,  btill  the  explanation  given  above  is 
satisfactory. 


Zeph.l-ii.3]    THE  PROPHET  AND  THE  REFORMERS     51 

and  gave  his  own  vision  of  the  future :  Israel  is  a 
brand  plucked  from  the  burning ;  a  very  few  meek 
and  righteous  are  saved  from  the  conflagration  of  a 
whole  world.  Why  ?  Because  for  Zephaniah  the 
elements  were  loose,  and  when  the  elements  were 
loose  what  was  the  use  of  talking  about  reforms  ? 
The  Scythians  were  sweeping  down  upon  Palestine, 
with  enough  of  God's  wrath  in  them  to  destroy  a  people 
still  so  full  of  idolatry  as  Israel  was ;  and  if  not  the 
Scythians,  then  some  other  power  in  that  dark,  rum- 
bling North  which  had  ever  been  so  full  of  doom.  Let 
Josiah  try  to  reform  Israel,  but  it  was  neither  Josiah's 
nor  Israel's  day  that  was  falling.  It  was  the  Day  of 
the  Lord,  and  when  He  came  it  was  neither  to  reform 
nor  to  build  up  Israel,  but  to  make  visitation  and  to 
punish  in  His  wrath  for  the  unbelief  and  wickedness 
of  which  the  nation  was  still  full. 

An  analogy  to  this  dramatic  opposition  between 
prophet  and  reformer  may  be  found  in  our  own  century. 
At  its  crisis,  in  1848,  there  were  many  righteous  men 
rich  in  hope  and  energy.  The  political  institutions  of 
Europe  were  being  rebuilt.  In  our  own  land  there 
were  great  measures  for  the  relief  of  labouring  children 
and  women,  the  organisation  of  labour  and  the  just 
distribution  of  wealth.  But  Carlyle  that  year  held 
apart  from  them  all,  and,  though  a  personal  friend  of 
many  of  the  reformers,  counted  their  work  hopeless  : 
society  was  too  corrupt,  the  rudest  forces  were  loose, 
"Niagara"  was  near.  Carlyle  was  proved  wrong  and 
the  reformers  right,  but  in  the  analogous  situation 
of  Israel  the  reformers  were  wrong  and  the  prophet 
right.  Josiah's  hope  and  daring  were  overthrown  at 
Megiddo,  and,  though  the  Scythians  passed  awa}', 
Zephaniah's  conviction  of  the  sin  and  doom  of  Israel 


52  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

was  fulfilled,  not  forty  years  later,  in  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem  and  the  great  Exile. 

Again,  to  the  same  elemental  interests,  as  we  may 
call  them,  is  due  the  absence  from  Zephaniah's  pages 
of  all  the  social  and  individual  studies  which  form  the 
charm  of  other  prophets.  With  one  exception,  there 
is  no  analysis  of  character,  no  portrait,  no  satire.  But 
the  exception  is  worth  dwelling  upon  :  it  describes  the 
temper  equally  abhorred  by  both  prophet  and  reformer 
— that  of  the  indifferent  and  stagnant  man.  Here  we 
have  a  subtle  and  memorable  picture  of  character,  which 
is  not  without  its  warnings  for  our  own  time. 

Zephaniah  heard  God  say :  And  it  shall  be  at  that 
time  that  I  will  search  out  Jerusalem  with  lights,  and  I 
will  make  visitation  upon  the  men  who  are  become 
stagnant  upon  their  lees,  who  say  in  their  hearts,  Jehovah 
doeth  no  good  and  docth  no  evil}  The  metaphor  is 
clear.  New  wine  was  left  upon  its  lees  only  long 
enough  to  fix  its  colour  and  body.^  If  not  then  drawn 
off  it  grew  thick  and  syrupy — sweeter  indeed  than  the 
strained  wine,  and  to  the  taste  of  some  more  pleasant, 
but  feeble  and  ready  to  decay.  "  To  settle  upon  one's 
lees  "  became  a  proverb  for  sloth,  indifference  and  the 
muddy  mind.  Moab  hath  been  at  ease  from  his  youth 
and  hath  settled  upon  his  lees,  and  hath  not  been  emptied 
from  vessel  to  vessel;  therefore  his  taste  stands  in  him  and 
his  scent  is  not  changed.^  The  characters  stigmatised 
by  Zephaniah  are  also  obvious.  They  were  a  pre- 
cipitate from  the  ferment  of  fifteen  3^ears  back.  Through 
the  cruel  days  of  Manasseh  and  Amon  hope  had  been 


'  Chap.  i.  12. 

*  So  witie  upon  the  lees  is  a  generous  wine  according 'to  Isa.  xxv.  6. 

'  Jer.  xlviii.  1 1. 


Zeph.L-ii.3]    THE  PROPHET  AND   THE  REFORMERS     53 

Stirred  and  strained,  emptied  from  vessel  to  vessel,  and 
so  had  sprung  sparkling  and  keen  into  the  new  days  of 
Josiah.  But  no  miracle  came,  only  ten  years  of  waiting 
for  the  king's  majority  and  five  more  of  small,  tentative 
reforms.  Nothing  divine  happened.  There  were  but 
the  ambiguous  successes  of  a  small  party  who  had 
secured  the  king  for  their  principles.  The  court  was 
still  full  of  foreign  fashions,  and  idolatry  was  rank  upon 
the  housetops.  Of  course  disappointment  ensued — 
disappointment  and  listlessness.  The  new  security 
of  life  became  a  temptation ;  persecution  ceased,  and 
religious  men  lived  again  at  ease.  So  numbers  of 
eager  and  sparkling  souls,  who  had  been  in  the  front 
of  the  movement,  fell  away  into  a  selfish  and  idle 
obscurity.  The  prophet  hears  God  say,  /  must  search 
Jerusalem  with  lights  in  order  to  find  them.  They  had 
"  fallen  from  the  van  and  the  freemen  "  ;  they  had  "  sunk 
to  the  rear  and  the  slaves,"  where  they  wallowed  in  the 
excuse  that  Jehovah  Himself  would  do  nothing — neither 
good,  therefore  it  is  useless  to  attempt  reform  like 
Josiah  and  his  party,  nor  evil,  therefore  Zephaniah's 
prophecy  of  destruction  is  also  vain.  Exactly  the 
same  temper  was  encountered  by  Mazzini  in  the  second 
stage  of  his  career.  Many  of  those,  who  with  him  had 
eagerly  dreamt  of  a  free  Italy,  fell  away  when  the  first 
revolt  failed — fell  away  not  merely  into  weariness  and 
fear,  but,  as  he  emphasises,  into  the  very  two  tempers 
which  are  described  by  Zephaniah,  scepticism  and 
self-indulgence. 

All  this  starts  questions  for  ourselves.  Here  is 
evidently  the  same  public  temper,  which  at  all  periods 
provokes  alike  the  despair  of  the  reformer  and  the 
indignation  of  the  prophet :  the  criminal  apathy  of  the 
well-to-do  classes  sunk  in  ease  and  religious  indiffer- 


54  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

ence.  We  have  to-day  the  same  mass  of  obscure, 
nameless  persons,  who  oppose  their  almost  unconquer- 
able inertia  to  every  movement  of  reform,  and  are  the 
drag  upon  all  vital  and  progressive  religion.  The 
great  causes  of  God  and  Humanity  are  not  defeated 
by  the  hot  assaults  of  the  Devil,  but  by  the  slow, 
crushing,  glacier-like  mass  of  thousands  and  thousands 
of  indifferent  nobodies.  God's  causes  are  never  des- 
tro3^ed  by  being  blown  up,  but  by  being  sat  upon.  It 
is  not  the  violent  and  anarchical  whom  we  have  to  fear 
in  the  war  for  human  progress,  but  the  slow,  the  staid, 
the  respectable.  And  the  danger  of  these  does  not  lie 
in  their  stupidity.  Notwithstanding  all  their  religious 
profession,  it  lies  in  their  real  scepticism.  Respecta- 
bility may  be  the  precipitate  of  unbelief.  Nay,  it  is 
that,  however  religious  its  mask,  wherever  it  is  mere 
comfort,  decorousness  and  conventionality;  where, 
though  it  would  abhor  articulately  confessing  that  God 
does  nothing,  it  virtually  means  so — says  so  (as 
Zephaniah  puts  it)  in  its  hearty  by  refusing  to  share 
manifest  opportunities  of  serving  Him,  and  covers  its 
sloth  and  its  fear  by  sneering  that  God  is  not  with 
the  great  crusades  for  freedom  and  purity  to  which 
it  is  summoned.  In  these  ways,  Respectability  is  the 
precipitate  which  unbelief  naturally  forms  in  the  selfish 
ease  and  stillness  of  so  much  of  our  middle-class  life. 
And  that  is  what  makes  mere  respectability  so 
dangerous.  Like  the  unshaken,  unstrained  wine  to 
which  the  prophet  compares  its  obscure  and  muddy 
comfort,  it  tends  to  decay.  To  some  extent  our 
respectable  classes  are  just  the  dregs  and  lees  of  our 
national  life ;  like  all  dregs,  they  are  subject  to  cor- 
ruption. A  great  sermon  could  be  preached  on  the 
putrescence  of  respectability — how  the  ignoble  comfort 


Zeph.i.-ii.3]    THE  PROPHET  AND   THE  REFORMERS      SS 

of  our  respectable  classes  and  their  indifference  to  holy 
causes  lead  to  sensuality,  and  poison  the  very  institu- 
tions of  the  Home  and  the  Family,  on  which  they  pride 
themselves.  A  large  amount  of  the  licentiousness  of 
the  present  day  is  not  that  of  outlaw  and  disordered 
lives,  but  is  bred  from  the  settled  ease  and  indifference 
of  many  of  our  middle-class  families. 

It  is  perhaps  the  chief  part  of  the  sin  of  the  obscure 
units,  which  form  these  great  masses  of  indifference, 
that  they  think  they  escape  notice  and  cover  their 
individual  responsibility.  At  all  times  many  have 
sought  obscurity,  not  because  they  are  humble,  but 
because  they  are  slothful,  cowardly  or  indifferent. 
Obviously  it  is  this  temper  which  is  met  by  the  words, 
/  will  search  out  Jerusalem  with  lights.  None  of  us 
shall  escape  because  we  have  said,  "  I  will  go  with 
the  crowd,"  or  "I  am  a  common  man  and  have  no 
right  to  thrust  myself  forward."  We  shall  be  followed 
and  judged,  each  of  us  for  his  and  her  personal  attitude 
to  the  great  movements  of  our  time.  These  things 
are  not  too  high  for  us  :  they  are  our  duty ;  and  we 
cannot  escape  our  duty  by  slinking  into  the  shadow. 

For  all  this  wickedness  and  indifference  Zephaniah 
sees  prepared  the  Day  of  the  Lord — near,  hastening 
and  very  terrible.  It  sweeps  at  first  in  vague  deso- 
lation and  ruin  of  all  things,  but  then  takes  the  out- 
lines of  a  solemn  slaughter-feast  for  which  Jehovah 
has  consecrated  the  guests,  the  dim  unnamed  armies 
from  the  north.  Judah  shall  be  invaded,  and  they 
that  are  at  ease,  who  say  Jehovah  docs  nothing,  shall 
be  unsettled  and  routed.  One  vivid  trait  comes  in  like 
a  screech  upon  the  hearts  of  a  people  unaccustomed 
for  years  to  war.  Hark,  JehovaHs  Day!  cries  the 
prophet.    A  strong  man — there  ! — crying  bitterly.    From 


S6  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

this  flash  upon  the  concrete,  he  returns  to  a  great  vague 
terror,  in  which  earthly  armies  merge  in  heavenly; 
battle,  siege,  storm  and  darkness  are  mingled,  and 
destruction  is  spread  abroad  upon  the  whole  earth. 
The  first  shades  of  Apocalypse  are  upon  us. 

We  may  now  take  the  full  text  of  this  strong  and 
significant  prophecy.  We  have  already  given  the 
title.  Textual  emendations  and  other  points  are 
explained  in  footnotes. 

/  will  sweep,  sweep  away  everything  from  the  face  of 
the  ground — oracle  of  fehovah — sweep  man  and  beast, 
sweep  the  fowl  of  the  heaven  and  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and 
I  will  bring  to  ruin  ^  the  wicked  and  cut  off  the  men  of 
wickedness  from  the  ground — oracle  of  fehovah.  And  I 
will  stretch  forth  My  hand  upon  fudah,  and  upon  all  the 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem;  and  I  will  cut  off  from  this  place 
the  remnant '  of  the  Baal,*  the  names  *  of  the  priestlings 

•  The  text  reads  the  ruins  (nt?K'pD,  unless  we  prefer  with  Wellhausen 
D  vK'Iip,  the  stumbling-blocks,  i.e.  idols)  with  the  wicked,  and  I  will  cut 
off  man  (LXX.  the  lawless)  from  off  the  face  of  the  ground.  Some  think 
the  clause  partly  too  redundant,  partly  too  specific,  to  be  original. 
But  suppose  we  read  ^J^^t^'Dni  (cf.  Mai.  ii.  8,  Lam.  i.  14  and  passim: 
this  is  more  probable  than  Schwally's  '•J^^CJ^D,  op.  cit.,  p.  169),  and 
for  D^N  the  reading  which  probably  the  LXX.  had  before  them, 
F^p  D^N  (Job  XX.  29,  xxvii.  13,  Prov.  xi.  7  :  cf.  bVpl  dlH,  Prov.  vi.  12) 
or  7^y  DIN  (cf.  iii.  5),  we  get  the  rendering  adopted  in  the  translation 
above.  Some  think  the  whole  passage  an  intrusion,  yet  it  is  surely 
probable  that  the  earnest  moral' spirit  of  Zephaniah  would  aim  at  the 
wicked  from  the  very  outset  of  his  prophecy. 

*  LXX.  names,  held  bj'  some  to  be  the  original  reading  (Schwally, 
etc).  In  that  case  the  phrase  might  have  some  allusion  to  the  well- 
known  promise  in  Deut.,  the  place  where  I  shall  set  My  name.  This  is 
more  natural  than  a  reference  to  Hosea  ii.  19,  which  is  quoted  by 
some. 

•  Some  Greek  codd.  take  Baal  as  fem.,  others  as  plur, 

♦  So  LXX. 


Zeph.i.-iL3]    THE  PROPHET  AND   THE    REFORMERS     57 

with  the  priests,  and  them  who  upon  the  housetops  bow 
themselves  to  the  host  of  heaven,  and  them  who .  .  }  swear  by 
their  Melech^  and  them  who  have  turned  from  following 
Jehovah,  and  who  do  not  seek  Jehovah  nor  have  inquired 
of  Him. 

Silence  for  the  Lord  Jehovah  !  For  near  is  JehovaHs 
Day.  Jehovah  has  prepared  a '  slaughter,  He  has 
consecrated  His  guests. 

And  it  shall  be  in  JehovaUs  day  of  slaughter  that  I 
will  make  visitation  upon  the  princes  and  the  house  *  of 
the  king,  and  upon  all  who  array  themselves  in  foreign 
raiment;  and  I  will  make  visitation  upon  all  who  leap 
over  the  threshold^  on  that  day,  who  fill  their  lord^s  house 
full  of  violence  and  fraud. 

And  on  that  day — oracle  of  Jehovah — there  shall  be  a 
noise  of  crying  from  the  Fishgate,  and  wailing  from 
the  Mishneh^  and  great  havoc  on  the  Heights.     Howl, 

'  Heb.  reads  and  them  who  bow  themselves,  who  swear,  by  Jehovah 
So  LXX.  B  with  and  before  who  swear.  But  LXX.  A  omits  and. 
LXX.  Q  omits  them  who  bow  themselves.  Wellhausen  keeps  the 
clause  with  the  exception  of  who  swear,  and  so  reads  (to  the  end  of 
verse)  them  who  bow  themselves  to  Jehovah  and  swear  by  Milcom. 

'  Or  Molech  =  king.  LXX.  by  their  king.  Other  Greek  versions : 
Moloch  and  Melchom.     Vulg.  Melchom. 

*  LXX.  His. 

*  So  L    X.     Heb.  sons. 

*  Is  this  some  superstitious  rite  of  the  idol-worshippers  as  described 
in  the  case  of  Dagon,  i  Sam.  v.  5  ?  Or  is  it  a  phrase  for  breaking  into 
a  house,  and  so  parallel  to  the  second  clause  of  the  verse  ?  Most 
interpreters  prefer  the  latter.  The  idolatrous  rites  have  been  left 
behind.  Schwally  suggests  the  original  order  may  have  been  '.princes 
and  sons  of  the  king,  who  fill  their  lords  house  fill  of  violence  and  deceit ; 
and  I  will  visit  upon  every  one  that  leapeth  over  the  threshold  on  that 
day,  and  upon  all  that  wear  foreign  raiment. 

*  The  Second  or  New  Town  :  cf.  2  Kings  xxii.  14,  2  Chron.  xxxiv. 
22,  which  state  that  the  prophetess  Huldah  lived  there.  Cf.  Neh. 
iii.  9,  12,  xi.  9. 


SS  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

O  dwellers  in  the  Mortar,^  for  undone  are  all  the  merchant 
folk^  cut  off  are  all  the  money-dealers} 

And  in  that  time  it  shall  be,  that  I  will  search  Jerusalem 
with  lanterns,  and  make  visitation  upon  the  men  who  are 
become  stagnant  upon  their  lees,  who  in  their  hearts  say, 
Jehovah  doeth  no  good  and  doeth  no  evil}  Their  sub- 
stance shall  be  for  spoil,  and  their  houses  for  wasting.  .  .  } 

Near  is  the  great  Day  of  Jehovah,  near  and  very 
speedy}  Hark,  the  Day  of  Jehovah  !  A  strong  man — 
there  / — crying  bitterly  I 

A  day  of  wrath  is  that  Day  I ''  Day  of  siege  and 
blockade,  day  of  stress  and  distress,^  day  of  darkness  and 
murk,  day  of  cloud  and  heavy  mist,  day  of  the  war-horn 
and  battle-roar,  up  against  the  fenced  cities  and  against 
the  highest  turrets  !  And  I  will  beleaguer  men,  and 
they  shall  walk  like  the  blind,  for  they  have  sinned 
against  Jehovah;  and  poured  out  shall  their  blood  be 
like  dust,  and  the  flesh  of  them  like  dung.  Even  their 
silver,    even   their  gold  shall  not  avail    to  save   them 

'  The  hollow  probably  between  the  western  and  eastern  hills,  or 
the  upper  part  of  the  TyropcEan  (Orelli). 

•  Heb.  people  of  Canaan. 

•  ?''D3,  found  only  here,  from  ?t33,  to  lift  up,  and  in  Isa.  xl.  15  to 
weigh.  Still  it  may  have  a  wider  meaning,  all  they  that  carry  money 
(Davidson). 

•  See  above,  p.  52. 

•  The  Hebrew  text  and  versions  here  add  :  And  they  shall  build 
houses  atid  not  inliabit  (Greek  in  them),  and  plant  vineyards  and  not 
drink  the  wine  thereof.  But  the  phrase  is  a  common  one  (Deut. 
xxviii.  30 ;  Amos  v.  1 1 :  cf.  Micah  vi.  15),  and  while  likely  to  have  been 
inserted  by  a  later  hand,  is  here  superfluous,  and  mars  the  firmness 
and  edge  of  Zephaniah's  threat. 

•  For  "iniO  Wellhausen  reads  "IHJOD,  pt.  Pi ;  but  iriD  may  be  a 
verbal  adj. ;  compare  the  phrase  ??t^'  IHO,  Isa.  viii.  I. 

'  Dies  Irae,  Dies  Ilia  1 

•  Heb.  sho'ah  u-mesho'ah.  Lit.  ruin  (or  devastation)  and 
destruction. 


Zeph.  i.-ii.  3]    THE  PROPHET  AND   THE  REFORMERS     59 

tn  the  day  of  Jehovah'' s  wrath, ^  and  in  the  fire  of  His 
zeal  shall  all  the  earth  be  devoured^  for  destruction^  yea^ 
sudden  collapse  shall  He  make  of  all  the  inhabitants  of 
the  earth. 

Upon  this  vision  of  absolute  doom  there  follows' 
a  qualification  for  the  few  meek  and  righteous.  They 
may  be  hidden  on  the  day  of  the  Lord's  anger ;  but 
even  for  them  escape  is  only  a  possibility.  Note  the 
absence  of  all  mention  of  the  Divine  mercy  as  the  cause 
of  deliverance.  Zephaniah  has  no  gospel  of  that  kind. 
The  conditions  of  escape  are  sternly  ethical — meekness, 
the  doing  of  justice  and  righteousness.  So  austere  is 
our  prophet. 

.  .  .  /O  people  unabashed!^  before  that  ye  become  as 

'  Some  take  this  first  clause  ofver.  18  as  a  gloss.  See  Schwally 
in  loco. 

*  Read  PlN  for  ^K.     So  LXX.,  Syr.,  Wellhausen,  SchwaUy. 

*  In  vv.  1-3  of  chap,  ii.,  wrongly  separated  from  chap,  i.:  see 
Davidson. 

*  Heb.  .IB^pl  •IK^tJ'Tprin.  A.V.  Gather  yourselves  together,  yea, 
gather  together  (EJ'lf'lp  is  to  gather  straw  or  sticks— ct  Arab,  kash,  to 
sweep  up — and  Nithp.  of  the  Aram,  is  to  assemble).  Orelli :  Crowd  and 
crouch  down.  Ewald  compares  Aram,  kash,  late  Heb.  E'K'p,  to  grow 
old,  which  he  believes  originally  meant  to  be  withered,  grey.  Budde 
suggests  lEJ'K'ann  1^*3,  but,  as  Davidson  remarks,  it  is  not  easy  to 
see  how  this,  if  once  extant,  was  altered  to  the  present  reading. 

*  5)033  is  usually  thought  to  have  as  its  root  meaning  to  be  pale 
or  colourless,  i.e.  either  white  or  black  {Journal  of  Phil.,  14,  125), 
whence  ^103,  silver  or  the  pale  metal:  hence  in  the  Qal  to  long  for, 
Job  xiv.  15,  Ps.  xvii.  12 ;  so  Ni,  Gen.  xxxi.  30,  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  3 ;  and  here 
to  be  ashamed.  But  the  derivation  of  the  name  for  silver  is  quite 
imaginary,  and  the  colour  of  shame  is  red  rather  than  white  :  of.  the 
mod.  Arab,  saying,  "They  are  a  people  that  cannot  blush;  they  have 
no  blood  in  their  faces,"  i.e.  shameless.  Indeed  Schwally  says  {in  loco), 
"  Die  Bedeutung  fahl,  blass  ist  unerweislich."  Hence  (in  spite  of  the 
meanings  of  the  Aram.  fjDD  both  to  lose  colour  and  to  be  ashamed) 
a  derivation  for  the  Hebrew  is  more  probably  to  be  found  in  the 
root  kasaf,  to  cut  off.     The  Arab.  /     o.,.C.  which  in  the  cjassicgue  ton 


6o  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  drifting  chaff,  before  the  anger  of  Jehovah  come  upon 
you,^  before  there  come  upon  you  the  day  of  JehovaKs 
wrath ;  ^  seek  Jehovah,  all  ye  meek  of  the  land  who  do 
His  ordinance,^  seek  righteousness,  seek  meekness,  per- 
adventure  ye  may  hide  yourselves  in  the  day  of  Jehovah* s 
wrath. 


means  to  cut  a  thread  or  eclipse  the  sun,  is  in  colloquial  Arabic  to 
give  a  rebuff,  refuse  a  favour,  disappoint,  shame.  In  the  forms 
inkasaf  and  tikasaf  it  means  to  receive  a  rebuff,  be  disappointed,  then 
shy  or  timid,  and  kasuf  means  shame,  shyness  (as  well  as  eclipse  of 
the  sun).  See  Spiro's  Arabic-Etiglish  Vocabulary.  In  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  PjODJ 
is  evidently  used  of  unsatisfied  longing  (but  see  Cheyne),  v^rhich  is 
also  the  proper  meaning  of  the  parallel  n"?D  (cf.  other  passages  where 
n?D  is  used  of  still  unfulfilled  or  rebuffed  hopes :  Job  xix.  27,  Ps. 
Ixix.  4,  cxix.  81,  cxliii.  7).  So  in  Ps.  xvii.  4  P]D3  is  used  of  a  lion 
who  is  longing  for,  i.e.  still  disappointed  in,  his  prey,  and  so  in  Job 
xiv.  15. 

'  LXX.  wpb  Tov  yh>€<70ai  vp.ds  cos  duOos  (here  in  error  reading  ^3  for 
Y^)  vapairopevbfievov,  wpb  tov  iweXdeiy  i<p'  i/ids  dpyijv  Kvplov  (last 
clause  omitted  by  K"^).  According  to  this  the  Hebrew  text,  which  is 
obviously  disarranged,  may  be  restored  to  "I3y  }*bD  VHR'N?   ^^^"^ 

*  This  clause  Wellhausen  deletes.    Cf.  Hexaplar  Syriac  translation. 

*  LXX.  take  this  also  as  imperative,  do  judgment,  and  so  co-ordinate 
to  tbe  other  clauses. 


CHAPTER    IV 

NINIVE     DELENDA 
Zephaniah  ii.  4-15 

THERE  now  come  a  series  of  oracles  on  foreign 
nations,  connected  with  the  previous  prophecy 
by  the  conjunction  for,  and  detailing  the  worldwide 
judgment  which  it  had  proclaimed.  But  though  dated 
from  the  same  period  as  that  prophecy,  circa  626, 
these  oracles  are  best  treated  by  themselves.^ 

These  oracles  originally  formed  one  passage  in  the 
well-known  Qinah  or  elegiac  measure  ;  but  this  has 
suffered  sadly  both  by  dilapidation  and  rebuilding. 
How  mangled  the  text  is  may  be  seen  especially 
from  vv.  6  and  14,  where  the  Greek  gives  us  some 
help  in  restoring  it.  The  verses  (8-1 1)  upon  Moab 
and  Ammon  cannot  be  reduced  to  the  metre  which 
both  precedes  and  follows  them.  Probably,  there- 
fore, they  are  a  later  addition :  nor  did  Moab  and 
Ammon  lie  upon  the  way  of  the  Sc3'thians,  who  are 
presumably  the  invaders  pictured  by  the  prophet.^ 

The  poem  begins  with   Philistia  and  the  sea-coast, 

'  See  above,  pp.  41  fi. 

*  Some,  however,  think  the  prophet  is  speaking  in  prospect  of  the 
Chaldean  invasion  of  a  few  years  later.  This  is  not  so  likely,  because 
he  pictures  the  overthrow  of  Niniveh  as  subsequent  to  the  invasion 
of  Philistia,  while  the  Chaldeans  accomplished  the  latter  only  after 
Niniveh  had  fallen. 

61 


62  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  very  path  of  the  Scythian  raid,*  Evidently  the 
latter  is  imminent,  the  Philistine  cities  are  shortly  to  be 
taken  and  the  whole  land  reduced  to  grass.  Across 
the  emptied  strip  the  long  hope  of  Israel  springs  sea- 
ward ;  but — mark ! — not  yet  with  a  vision  of  the  isles 
beyond.  The  prophet  is  satisfied  with  reaching  the 
edge  of  the  Promised  Land:  by  the  sea  shall  they  feed '^ 
their  flocks. 

For  Gaza  forsaken  shall  be, 

Ashk'lon  a  desert. 
Ashdod — by  noon  shall  they  rout  her^ 

And  Ekron  be  torn  up  ! ' 

Ah  !  woe,  dwellers  of  the  sea-shore, 

Folk  of  Kerethim. 
The  word  of  Jehovah  against  thee,  Kena'an,* 

Land  of  the  Philistines  ! 

'  According  to  Herodotus. 
»  Ver.  7,  LXX. 

*  The  measure,  as  said  above,  is  elegiac :  alternate  lines  long 
with  a  rising,  and  short  with  a  falling,  cadence.  There  is  a 
play  upon  the  names,  at  least  on  the  first  and  last — "  Gazzah  "  or 
""Azzah  'Azubah  " — which  in  English  we  might  reproduce  by  the 
use  of  Spenser's  word  for  "  dreary " :  For  Gaza  ghastftd  shall  be. 
""Ekron  te'aker."  LXX.  'AKKapwv  eKpij^wdrjo-eTai  (B),  eKpifprjueTcu  (A). 
In  the  second  line  we  have  a  sli;Thter  assonance, 'Aslikelon  lishemamah. 
In  the  third  the  verb  is  nVt'nj^;  Bacher  (Z.A.T.IV..  1891,  185  ff.) 
points  out  that  t^^jl  is  not  used  of  cities,  but  of  their  populations  or 
of  individual  men,  and  suggests  (from  Abulwalid)  nVJ-'")^*,  s/iallpossess 
her,  as  "  a  plausible  emendation."  Schwall}'  (ibid.,  260)  prefers  to 
alter  to  H-IEJ^Iti',^,  with  the  remark  that  this  is  not  only  a  good  parallel 
to  *1pm,  but  suits  the  LXX.  iKpKprjfferai. — On  the  expression  by  noon 
see  Davidson,  N.  H.  and  Z.,  Appendix,  Note  2,  where  he  quotes  a 
parallel  expression,  in  the  Senjerli  inscription,  of  Asarhaddon  :  that 
he  took  Memphis  by  midday  or  in  half  a  day  (Schrader).  This  suits 
the  use  of  the  phrase  in  Jer.  xv.  8,  where  it  is  parallel  to  suddenly. 

*  Canaan  omitted  by  MTellhausen,  who  reads  Iw  for  DD*'?y.  But 
as  the  metre  requires  a  larger  number  of  syllables  in  the  first  line  of 


Zcph.ii.4-15]  NINIVE  DELENDA  63 

And  I  destroy  thee  to  the  last  inhabitant^ 
And  Kereth  shall  become  shepherds^  cots' 

And /olds  for  flocks. 
And  the  coast^  for  the  remnant  ofJudaUs  house; 

By  the  sea  *  shall  they  feed. 
In  Ashkelon^s  houses  at  even  shall  they  couch; 

6 

For  Jehovah  their  God  shall  visit  them, 
And  turn  their  captivity.^ 

There  comes  now  an  oracle  upon  Moab  and  Ammon 
(vv.  8-1 1 ).  As  already  said,  it  is  not  in  the  elegiac 
measure  which  precedes  and  follows  it,  while  other 
features  cast  a  doubt  upon  its  authenticity.  Like  other 
oracles  on  the  same  peoples,  this  denounces  the  loud- 
mouthed arrogance  of  the  sons  of  Moab  and  Ammon. 

each  couplet  than  in  the  second,  KSna'an  should  probably  remain. 
The  difficulty  is  the  use  of  Canaan  as  synonymous  with  Land  of 
the  Philistines.  Nowhere  else  in  the  Old  Testament  is  it  expressly 
applied  to  the  coast  south  of  Carmel,  though  it  is  so  used  in  the 
Egyptian  inscriptions,  and  even  in  the  Old  Testament  in  a  sense 
which  covers  this  as  well  as  other  lowlying  parts  of  Palestine. 

'  An  odd  long  line,  either  the  remains  of  two,  or  perhaps  we  should 
take  the  two  previous  lines  as  one,  omitting  Canaan. 

'  So  LXX.  :  Hebrew  text  and  the  sea-coast  shall  become  dwellings, 
cots  (T\'\'^\  of  shepherds.  But  the  pointing  and  meaning  of  JTID  are 
both  conjectural,  and  the  sea-coast  has  probably  fallen  by  mistake 
into  this  verse  from  the  next.  On  Kereth  and  Kerethim  as  names 
for  Philistia  and  the  Philistines  see  Hist.  Geog.,  p.  171. 

'  LXX.  adds  of  the  sea.  So  Wellhausen,  but  unnecessarily  and  im- 
probably for  phonetic  reasons,  as  sea  has  to  be  read  in  the  next  line. 

♦  So  Wellhausen,  reading  for  Urxhv  D*n"'?y. 

'  Some  words  must  have  fallen  out,  fory,'  st  a  short  line  is  required 
here  by  the  metre,  and  second  the  LXX.  have  some  additional  words, 
which,  however,  give  us  no  help  to  what  the  lost  line  was :  diri 
irpoadiirov  vlwv  'Ioi;5a. 

*  As  stated  above,  there  is  no  conclusive  reason  against  the  pre- 
exilic  date  of  this  expression. 


64  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

I  have  heard'^  the  reviling  of  Moab  and  the  insults  of 
the  sons  of  Ammon,  who  have  reviled  My  people  and 
vaunted  themselves  upon  their^  border.  Wherefore  as 
I  live,  saith  fehovah  of  Hosts,  God  of  Israel,  Moab  shall 
become  as  Sodom,  and  Ammon's  sons  as  Gomorrah — the 
possession '  of  nettles,  and  salipits,*  and  a  desolation  for 
ever;  the  remnant  of  My  people  shall  spoil  them,  and 
the  rest  of  My  nation  possess  them.  This  to  them  for 
their  arrogance,  because  they  reviled,  and  vaunted  them- 
selves against,  the  people  of  ^  fehovah  of  Hosts,  fehovah 
shoiveth  Himself  terrible^  against  them,  for  He  hath 
made  lean ''  all  gods  of  earth,  that  all  the  coasts  of  the 
nations  may  worship  Him,  every  man  from  his  own  place.* 

The  next  oracle  is  a  very  short  one  (ver.  12)  upon 
Egypt,  which  after  its  long  subjection  to  Ethiopic 
dynasties  is  called,  not  Misraim,  but  Kush,  or  Ethiopia. 
The  verse  follows  on  naturally  to  ver.  7,  but  is  not 
reducible  to  the  elegiac  measure. 

Also  ye,  O  Kushites,  are  the  slain  of  My  sword.* 

'  Cf.  Isa.  xvi.  6. 
^  LXX.  My. 

*  Doubtful  word,  not  occurring  elsewhere, 

*  Heb.  singular. 

*  LXX.  omits  the  people  oj. 

«  LXX.  makelh  Himself  manifest,  HKnj  for  KTll 
'  fin-af  \ey6fievov.     The  passive  of  the  verb  means  to  grow  lean 
fisa.  xvii.    4). 

*  DIpD  has  probably  here  the  sense  which  it  has  in  a  few  other 
passages  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  in  Arabic,  of  sacred  place. 

Many  will  share  Schwally's  doubts  (p.  192)  about  the  authenticity 
of  ver.  II  ;  nor,  as  Wellhausen  points  out,  does  its  prediction  of  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen  agree  with  ver.  12,  which  devotes  them 
to  destruction.     Ver.  12  follows  naturally  on  to  ver.  "]. 

'  Wellhausen  reads  His  sword,  to  agree  with  the  next  verse. 
Perhaps  "'2"in  is  an  abbrevialion  for  ni""'  3"in. 


Zeph.ii.4-iS]  NINIVE  DELENDA  65 

The  elegiac  measure  is  now  renewed  *  in  an  oracle 
against  Assyria,  the  climax  and  front  of  heathendoiii 
(vv.  13-15).  It  must  have  been  written  before  608  ; 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  it  is  Zephaniah's. 

And  may  He  stretch  out  His  hand  against  the  North, 

And  destroy  Asshur; 
And  may  He  turn  Niniveh  to  desolation^ 

Dry  as  the  desert. 
And  herds  shall  couch  in  her  midst, 

Every  beast  of  .  .  .  ? 
Yea,  pelican  and  bittern  ^  shall  roost  on  the  capitals ; 
The  owl  shall  hoot  in  the  window. 

The  raven  on  the  doorstep. 

« 
•  •  •  •  • 

Such  is  the  City^  the  Jubilant, 
She  that  sitteth  at  ease, 


'  See  Budde,  Z.A.T.W.,  1882,  25. 

*  Heb.  reads  a  nation,  and  Wellhausen  translates  ein  bunfes 
Gemisch  von  Folk.     LXX.  beasts  of  the  earth. 

■  nXp,  a  water-bird  according  to  Deut  xiv.  17,  Lev.  xi.  18,  mostly 
taken  &%  pelican',  so  R.V.  A.V.  cormorant.  T2i5  has  usually  been 
taken  from  ^Dp,  to  draw  together,  therefore  hedgehog  or  porcupine. 
But  the  other  animals  mentioned  here  are  birds,  and  it  is  birds  which 
would  naturally  roost  on  capitals.  Therefore  bittern  is  the  better 
rendering  (Hitzig,  Cheyne).  The  name  is  onomatopoeic.  Cf.  Eng. 
butter-dump.     LXX.  translates  chameleons  and  hedgehogs. 

*  Heb. :  a  voice  shall  sing  in  the  window,  desolation  on  the  threshold, 
for  He  shall  uncover  the  cedar-work.  LXX.  Kal  dripla  (pwvfiffu  iv  rois 
Siop&yfJiacnv  avrrj^,  K6paK€i  iv  rois  wvXQcri.v  avTrjs,  diSri  K^dpos  t6 
ivd(TTr]fMa  aiirfjs  :  Wild  beasts  shall  sound  in  her  excavations,  ravens 
in  her  porches,  because  (the)  cedar  is  her  height.  For  ?lp,  voice, 
Wellhausen  reads  D13,  owl,  and  with  the  LXX.  3"iy,  raven,  for 
3"in,  desolation.  The  last  two  words  are  left  untranslated  above. 
nflN  occurs  only  here  and  is  usually  taken  to  mean  cedar-work; 
but  it  might  be  pointed  her  cedar.  Hli^,  he,  or  one,  has  st  pped  the 
cedar-work. 

VOL.  II.  5 


66  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

She  that  saith  in  her  heart,  I  am 

And  there  is  none  else  ! 
How  hath  she  become  desolation  1 

A  lair  of  beasts. 
Every  one  passing  by  her  hisses, 

Shakes  his  hand. 

The  essence  of  these  oracles  is  their  clear  confidence 
in  the  fall  of  Niniveh.  From  652,  when  Egypt  revolted 
from  Assyria,  and,  Assurbanipal  notwithstanding,  began 
to  push  northward,  men  must  have  felt,  throughout 
all  Western  Asia,  that  the  great  empire  upon  the 
Tigris  was  beginning  to  totter.  This  feeling  was 
strengthened  by  the  Scythian  invasion,  and  after  625 
it  became  a  moral  certainty  that  Niniveh  would  fall  ^ — 
which  happened  in  607-6.  These  are  the  feelings,  625 
to  608,  which  Zephaniah's  oracles  reflect.  We  can 
hardly  over-estimate  what  they  meant.  Not  a  man 
was  then  alive  who  had  ever  known  anything  else 
than  the  greatness  and  the  glory  of  Assyria.  It  was 
two  hundred  and  thirty  years  since  Israel  first  felt 
the  weight  of  her  arms.'  It  was  more  than  a  hundred 
since  her  hosts  had  swept  through  Palestine,'  and  for 
at  least  fifty  her  supremacy  had  been  accepted  by 
Judah.  Now  the  colossus  began  to  totter.  As  she 
had  menaced,  so  she  was  menaced.  The  ruins  with 
which  for  nigh  three  centuries  she  had  strewn  Western 
Asia — to  these  were  to  be  reduced  her  own  impregnable 
and  ancient  glory.     It  was  the  close  of  an  epoch. 

•  See  above,  pp.  17,  18.  »  At  the  battle  of  Karkar,  854. 

•  Under  Tiglath-Pileser  in  734. 


CHAPTER    V 

SO   AS   BY  FIRE 
Zephaniah  iii 

THE  third  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Zephaniah 
consists  *  of  two  sections,  of  which  only  the  first, 
vv.  I-13,  is  a  genuine  work  of  the  prophet;  while 
the  second,  w.  14-20,  is  a  later  epilogue  such  as 
we  found  added  to  the  genuine  prophecies  of  Amos. 
It  is  written  in  the  large  hope  and  brilliant  temper  of 
the  Second  Isaiah,  saying  no  word  of  Judah's  sin  or 
judgment,  but  predicting  her  triumphant  deliverance 
out  of  all  her  afflictions 

In  a  second  address  to  his  City  (w.  1-13)  Zeph- 
aniah strikes  the  same  notes  as  he  did  in  his  first. 
He  spares  the  king,  but  denounces  the  ruling  and 
teaching  classes.  Jerusalem's  princes  are  lions,  her 
judges  wolves,  her  prophets  braggarts,  her  priests 
pervert  the  law,  her  wicked  have  no  shame.  He 
repeats  the  proclamation  of  a  universal  doom.  But  the 
time  is  perhaps  later.  Judah  has  disregarded  the  many 
threats.  She  will  not  accept  the  Lord's  discipline ; 
and  while  in  chap.  i. — ii.  3  Zephaniah  had  said  that  the 
meek  and  righteous  might  escape  the  doom,  he  now 
emphatically  affirm.s  that  all  proud  and  impenitent  men 
shall    be    removed    from    Jerusalem,    and    a    humble 

'  See  above,  pp.  43-45. 
67 


68  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

people  be  left  to  her,  righteous  and  secure.  There 
is  the  same  moral  earnestness  as  before,  the  same 
absence  of  all  other  elements  of  prophecy  than  the 
ethical.  Before  we  ask  the  reason  and  emphasise  the 
beauty  of  this  austere  gospel,  let  us  see  the  exact 
words  of  the  address.  There  are  the  usual  marks  of 
poetic  diction  in  it — elliptic  phrases,  the  frequent  absence 
of  the  definite  article,  archaic  forms  and  an  order  of  the 
syntax  different  from  that  which  obtains  in  prose. 
But  the  measure  is  difficult  to  determine,  and  must  be 
printed  as  prose.  The  echo  of  the  elegiac  rhythm  in 
the  opening  is  more  apparent  than  real:  it  is  not 
sustained  beyond  the  first  verse.  Verses  9  and  10 
are  relegated  to  a  footnote,  as  very  probably  an 
intrusion,  and  disturbance  of  the  argument. 

Woe^  rebel  and  unclean,  city  of  oppression  I  *  She 
listens  to  no  voice,  she  accepts  no  discipline,  in  Jehovah 
she  trusts  not,  nor  has  drawn  near  to  her  God. 

Her  princes  itt  her  midst  are  roaring  lions;  her 
judges  evening  wolves,^  they  .  .  . '  not  till  morning;  her 

•  Heb.  th4  city  the  oppressor.  The  two  participles  in  the  first 
clause  are  not  predicates  to  the  noun  and  adjective  of  the  second 
(Schwally),  but  vocatives,  though  without  the  article,  after  *in. 

•  LXX.  wolves  of  Arabia. 

•  The  verb  left  untranslated,  "I?D"I3,  is  quite  uncertain  in  meaning. 
D^J  is  a  root  common  to  the  Semitic  languages  and  seems  to  mean 
originally  to  cut  off,  while  the  noun  D"13  is  a  bone.  In  Num.  xxiv.  8 
the  Piel  of  the  verb  used  with  another  word  for  bone  means  to  gnaw, 
munch.  (The  only  other  passage  where  it  is  used,  Ezek,  xxiii.  34,  is 
corrupt. )  So  some  take  it  here  :  they  do  not  gnaw  bones  till  morning, 
i.e.  devour  all  at  once;  but  this  is  awkward,  and  Schwally  (198)  has 
proposed  to  omit  the  negative,  they  do  gnaw  bones  till  morning,  yet  in 
that  case  surely  the  impf.  and  not  the  perf.  tense  would  have  been 
used.  The  LXX.  render  they  do  not  leave  over,  and  it  has  been 
attempted,  though  inconclnsivelj',  to  derive  this  meaning  from  that  of 


Zeph.iii.]  SO  AS  BY  FIRE  69 

prophets  are  braggarts  and  traitors;  her  priests  have 
profaned  what  is  holy  and  done  violence  to  the  Law} 
Jehovah  is  righteous  in  the  midst  of  her^  He  does  no 
wrong.  Morning  by  morning  He  brings  His  judg- 
ment to  light :  He  does  not  let  Himself  fail  ^ — but  the 
wicked  man  knows  no  shame.  I  have  cut  off  nations, 
their  turrets  are  ruined;  I  have  laid  waste  their  broad 
streets,  till  no  one  passes  upon  them;  destroyed  are 
their  cities,  without  a  man,  without  a  dweller?  I  said, 
Surely  she  will  fear  Me,  she  will  accept  punishment,*' 
and  all  that  I  have  visited  upon  her^  shall  never 
vanish  from  her  eyes?  But  only  the  more  zealously 
have  they  corrupted  all  their  doings? 

Wherefore  wait  ye  for  Me — oracle  of  Jehovah — wait 
for  the  day  of  My  rising  to  testify,  for  'tis  My  fixed 
purpose^  to  siveep  nations  together,  to  collect  kingdoms, 
to  pour  upon  them  .  .  .^  all  the  heat  of  My  wrath — 

cutting  off,  i.e.  laying  aside  (the  Arabic  Form  II.  means,  however,  to 
leave  behind).  Another  line  of  meaning  perhaps  promises  more.  In 
Aram,  the  verb  means  to  be  the  cause  of  anything,  to  bring  about,  and 
perhaps  contains  the  idea  of  deciding  (Levy  sub  voce  compares  Kplvw, 
cemo) ;  in  Arab,  it  means,  among  other  things,  to  contmit  a  crime,  be 
guilty,  but  in  mod.  Arabic  to  fine.  Now  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  here 
the  expression  is  used  oi judges,  and  it  may  be  there  is  an  intentional 
play  upon  the  double  possibility  of  meaning  in  the  root. 

'  Ezek.  xxii.  26  :  Her  priests  have  done  violence  to  My  Law  and 
have  profaned  My  holy  things  ;  they  have  put  no  difference  between  the 
holy  and  profane,  between  the  clean  and  the  unclean.     Cf.  Jer.  ii.  8, 

^  Schwally  by  altering  the  accents:  morning  by  morning  He  giveth 
forth  His  judgment:  no  day  does  He  fail. 

*  On  this  ver.  6  see  above,  p.  44.     It  is  doubtful, 

*  Or  discipline. 

*  Wellhausen :  that  which  I  have  cotnnianded  her.  Cf.  Job 
xxxvi.  23 ;   2  Chron.  xxxvi.  23 ;   Ezra  i.  2. 

*  So  LXX.,  reading  n-i^.Tp  for  the  Heb.  Pljiyp^  h4r  dwelling. 

*  A  frequent  phrase  of  Jeremiah's. 

*  *D3tJ'D,  decree,  ordinance,  decision, 

*  Heb.  My  anger.     LXX.  omits. 


yo  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

yea,  with  the  fire  of  My  jealousy  shall  the  whole  earth 
be  consumed} 

In  that  day  thou  shall  not  be  ashamed^  of  all  thy 
deeds,  by  which  thou  hast  rebelled  against  Me:  for 
then  will  I  turn  out  of  the  midst  of  thee  all  who 
exult  with  that  arrogance  of  thine^  and  thou  wilt  not 
again  vaunt  thyself  upon  the  Mount  of  My  Holiness. 
But  I  will  leave  in  thy  midst  a  people  humble  and  poor, 
and  they  shall  trust  in  the  name  of  fehovah.  The 
Remnant  of  Israel  shall  do  no  evil,  and  shall  not  speak 
falsehood,  and  no  fraud  shall  be  found  in  their  mouth, 
but  they  shall  pasture  and  they  shall  couch,  with  none 
to  make  them  afraid. 

Such  is  the  simple  and  austere  gospel  of  Zephaniah. 

'  That  is  to  say,  the  prophet  returns  to  that  general  judgment  of 
the  whole  earth,  with  which  in  his  first  discourse  he  had  already 
threatened  Judah.  He  threatens  her  with  it  again  in  this  eighth 
verse,  because,  as  he  has  said  in  the  preceding  ones,  all  other 
warnings  have  failed.  The  eighth  verse  therefore  follows  naturally 
upon  the  seventh,  just  as  naturally  as  in  Amos  iv.  ver.  12,  intro- 
duced by  the  same  \yp  as  here,  follows  its  predecessors.  The  next 
two  verses  of  the  text,  however,  describe  an  opposite  result :  instead 
of  the  destruction  of  the  heathen,  they  picture  their  conversion,  and  it 
is  only  in  the  eleventh  verse  that  we  return  to  the  main  subject  of 
the  passage,  Judah  herself,  who  is  represented  (in  harmony  with  the 
close  of  Zephaniah's  first  discourse)  as  reduced  to  a  righteous  and 
pious  remnant.  Vv.  9  and  10  are  therefore  obviously  a  later  insertion, 
and  we  pass  to  the  eleventh  versef.  Vv.  9  and  10  :  For  then  (this  has 
no  meaning  after  ver.  8)  will  I  give  to  the  peoples  a  pure  lip  (elliptic 
phrase :  turn  to  the  peoples  a  pure  lip — i.e.  turn  their  evil  lip  into  a 
purt  lip  :  pure  =  picked  out,  select,  excellent,  cf.  Isa.  xlix.  2),  that  they 
may  all  of  them  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,  that  they  may  serve  Hint 
with  one  consent  (Heb.  shoulder,  ISX^-yoke).  From  beyond  the  rivers 
of  Ethiopia — there  follows  a  very  obscure  phrase,  ^^-ISTIB  Tipy,  sup- 
pliants (?)  of  the  daughter  of  My  dispersed,  but  Ewald  of  the  daughter 
of  Phut — they  shall  bring  Mine  offering. 

'  Wellhausen  despair.        '  Heb.  the  jubilant  ones  ofthtne  arrogance. 


Zeph.iii.]  SO  AS  BY  FIRE  71 

It  is  not  to  be  overlooked  amid  the  lavish  and  gorgeous 
promises  which  other  prophets  have  poured  around 
it,  and  by  ourselves,  too,  it  is  needed  in  our  often 
unscrupulous  enjoyment  of  the  riches  of  grace  that 
are  in  Christ  Jesus.  A  thorough  purgation,  the 
removal  of  the  wicked,  the  sparing  of  the  honest  and 
the  meek ;  insistence  only  upon  the  rudiments  of 
morality  and  religion  ;  faith  in  its  simplest  form  of  trust 
in  a  righteous  God,  and  character  in  its  basal  elements 
of  meekness  and  truth, — these  and  these  alone  survive 
the  judgment.  Why  does  Zephaniah  never  talk  of 
the  Love  of  God,  of  the  Divine  Patience,  of  the  Grace 
that  has  spared  and  will  spare  wicked  hearts  if  only 
it  can  touch  them  to  penitence  ?  Why  has  he  no  call 
to  repent,  no  appeal  to  the  wicked  to  turn  from 
the  evil  of  their  ways  ?  We  have  already  seen  part 
of  the  answer.  Zephaniah  stands  too  near  to  judg- 
ment and  the  last  things.  Character  is  fixed,  the 
time  for  pleading  is  past ;  there  remains  only  the 
separation  of  bad  men  from  good.  It  is  the  same 
standpoint  (at  least  ethically)  as  that  of  Christ's  visions 
of  the  Judgment.  Perhaps  also  an  austere  gospel  was 
required  by  the  fashionable  temper  of  the  day.  The 
generation  was  loud  and  arrogant;  it  gilded  the  future 
to  excess,  and  knew  no  shame.^  The  true  prophet 
was  forced  to  reticence  ;  he  must  make  his  age  feel 
the  desperate  earnestness  of  life,  and  that  salvation  is 
by  fire.  For  the  gorgeous  future  of  its  unsanctified 
hopes  he  must  give  it  this  severe,  almost  mean,  picture 
of  a  poor  and  humble  folk,  hardly  saved  but  at  last  at 
peace. 

The  permanent  value  of  such  a  message  is  proved 

'  See  vv.  4,  5,  II. 


72  THE    TIVELVE  PROPHETS 

by  the  thirst  which  we  feel  even  to-day  for  the  dear, 
cold  water  of  its  simple  promises.  Where  a  glaring 
optimism  prevails,  and  the  future  is  preached  with  a 
loud  assurance,  where  many  find  their  only  reli- 
gious enthusiasm  in  the  resurrection  of  mediaeval  ritual 
or  the  singing  of  stirring  and  gorgeous  hymns  of 
second-hand  imagery,  how  needful  to  be  recalled  to 
the  earnestness  and  severity  of  life,  to  the  simplicity 
of  the  conditions  of  salvation,  and  to  their  ethical,  not 
emotional,  character !  Where  sensationalism  has  so 
invaded  religion,  how  good  to  hear  the  sober  insistence 
upon  God's  daily  commonplaces — morning  by  morning 
He  bringeth  forth  His  judgment  to  light — and  to  know 
that  the  acceptance  of  discipline  is  what  prevails  with 
Him.  Where  national  reform  is  vaunted  and  the  pro- 
gress of  education,  how  well  to  go  back  to  a  prophet 
who  ignored  all  the  great  reforms  of  his  day  that  he 
might  impress  his  people  with  the  indispensableness 
of  humility  and  faith.  Where  Churches  have  such 
large  ambitions  for  themselves,  how  necessary  to  hear 
that  the  future  is  destined  for  a  poor  folk,  the  meek 
and  the  honest.  Where  men  boast  that  their  religion — 
Bible,  Creed  or  Church — has  undertaken  to  save  them, 
vaunting  themselves  on  the  Mount  of  My  Holiness^  how 
needful  to  hear  salvation  placed  upon  character  and  a 
very  simple  trust  in  God. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  is  any  one  in  despair  at  the 
darkness  and  cruelty  of  this  life,  let  him  hear  how 
Zephaniah  proclaims  that,  though  all  else  be  fraud,  the 
Lord  is  righteous  in  the  midst  of  us,  He  doth  not  let 
Himself  Jail,  that  the  resigned  heart  and  the  humble, 
the  just  and  the  pure  heart,  is  imperishable,  and  in  the 
end  there  is  at  least  peace. 


Zeph.iii.  I4-20J  SO  AS  BY  FIRE  73 

Epilogue. 

Verses  14-20. 

Zephaniah's  prophecy  was  fulfilled.  The  Day  of  the 
Lord  came,  and  the  people  met  their  judgment.  The 
Remnant  survived — a  folk  poor  and  humble.  To 
them,  in  the  new  estate  and  temper  of  their  life,  came 
a  new  song  from  God — perhaps  it  was  nearly  a  hundred 
years  after  Zephaniah  had  spoken — and  they  added  it 
to  his  prophecies.  It  came  in  with  wonderful  fitness,  for 
it  was  the  song  of  the  redeemed,  whom  he  had  foreseen, 
and  it  tuned  his  book,  severe  and  simple,  to  the  full 
harmony  of  prophecy,  so  that  his  book  might  take 
a  place  in  the  great  choir  of  Israel — the  diapason  of 
that  full  salvation  which  no  one  man,  but  only  the 
experience  of  centuries,  could  achieve. 

Sing  out,  O  daughter  of  Zion  !  shout  aloud,  O  Israel  I 
Rejoice  and  be  jubilant  with  all  thy  ^  heart,  daughter  of 
Jerusalem  1  Jehovah  hath  set  aside  thy  judgments,^  He 
hath  turned  thy  foes.  King  of  Israel,  Jehovah  is  in  thy 
midst;  thou  shall  not  see  ^  evil  any  more. 

In  that  day  it  shall  be  said  to  ferusalem,  Fear  not,  O 
Zion,  let  not  thy  hands  droop  !  Jehovah,  thy  God,  in  the 
midst  of  thee  is  mighty;^  He  will  save.  He  will  rejoice 
over  thee  with  joy.  He  will  make  new  *  His  love,  He  will 
exult  over  thee  with  singing. 

«  Heb.  the. 

*  "^J^B'^P,  But  Wellhausen  reads  'qjDSit^P  thine  adversaries; 
cf.  Job  ix.  15. 

»  Reading  "-Nin  (with  LXX.,  Wellhausen  and  Schwally)  for  ^NTJ^ 
of  the  Hebrew  text,  fear. 

*  Lit.  hero,  mighty  man. 

*  Heb.  will  be  silent  in,  K'^'irP^  but  not  in  harmony  with  the  next 
clause.  LXX.  and  Syr.  render  will  make  new,  which  translates  IJ''*1I1^ 
a  form  that  does  not  elsewhere  occur,  though  that  is  no  objection  to 


74  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

The  scattered  of  thy  congregation  *  have  I  gathered — 
thine*  are  they, . .  .'  reproach  upon  her.  Behold,  lam  about 
to  do  all  for  thy  sake  at  that  time*  and  I  will  rescue  the 
lame  and  fhr  outcast  will  I  bring  in^  and  I  will  make  them 
for  renown  and  fame  whose  shame  is  in  the  whole  earth} 
In  that  time  I  will  bring  you  in^  even  in  the  time  that 
I  gather  you}  For  I  will  set  you  for  fame  and  renown 
among  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth,  when  I  turn  again 
your  captivity  before  your  eyes,  saith  fehovah.* 

finding  it  in  Zephaniah,  or  E^"i!n^.  Hitzig  :  He  makes  new  things  in 
His  love.  Buhl :  He  renews  His  love.  Schwally  suggests  mfl*,  He 
rejoices  in  His  love. 

'  LXX.  In  the  days  of  thy  festival,  which  it  takes  with  the  previous 
verse.  The  Heb.  construction  is  ungrammatical,  though  not  unpre- 
cedented— the  construct  state  before  a  preposition.  Besides  '31D  is 
obscure  in  meaning.  It  is  a  Ni.  pt.  for  n313  from  T\y,  to  be  sad:  cf.  the 
Pi.  in  Lam.  iii.  33.  But  the  Hiphil  HJIH  in  2  Sam.  xx.  13,  followed 
(as  here)  by  jD,  means  to  thrust  away  from,  and  that  is  probably  the 
sense  here. 

•  LXX.  thine  oppressed  in  &cc.  governed  by  the  preceding  verb,  which 
in  LXX.  begins  the  verse. 

•  The  Heb.,  nKCJ^D^  burden  of,  is  unintelligible.  Wellhausen  pro- 
poses Dn*!?!!  n><bp. 

•  This  rendering  is  only  a  venture  in  the  almost  impossible  task  of 
restoring  the  text  of  the  clause.  As  it  stands  the  Heb.  runs,  Behold,  I 
am  about  to  do,  or  deal,  with  thine  oppressors  (which  Hitzig  and  Ewald 
accept).  Schwally  points  "^JSUP  (active)  as  a  passive,  ^.''3^0  thine 
oppressed.  LXX.  has  ISob  tyu  iroiG)  tv  col  h/eKev  ffoO,  i.e.  it  read  'iJRN 
"ijy^D?,  Following  its  suggestion  we  might  read  "ilJyp?  PiSTlX^  and 
so  get  the  above  translation.  *  Micah  iv.  6. 

•  This  rendering  (Ewald's)  is  doubtful.  The  verse  concludes  with 
in  the  whole  earth  their  shame.  But  DriJJ'3  may  be  a  gloss.  LXX. 
take  it  as  a  verb  with  the  next  verse. 

'  LXX.  do  good  to  you;  perhaps  n"'lDN  for  X*3K. 

•  So  Heb.  literally,  but  the  construction  is  very  awkward.  Perhaps 
we  should  read  in  that  time  I  will  gather  you. 

•  Before  your  eyes,  i.e.  in  your  lifetime.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
ver.  20  is  original  to  the  passage.  For  it  is  simply  a  variation  on 
ver.  19,  and  it  has  more  than  one  impossible  reading:  see  previous 
note,  and  for  DD^nnt;'  read  DSITllB'. 


NAMUM 


W 


fVot  to  the  City  of  Blood, 

All  of  her  guile,  robbery-full,  ceaseless  rapitu  I 

Hark  the  whip, 

And  the  rumbling  of  wheels  I 

Horses  at  the  gallop. 

And  the  rattling  dance  of  the  chartotf 

Cavalry  at  the  charge, 

Flash  of  sabres,  and  lightning  of  lance*  I 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  BOOK  OF  NAHUM 

THE  Book  of  Nahum  consists  of  a  double  title  and 
three  odes.  The  title  runs  Oracle  of  Nintveh: 
Book  of  the  Vision  oj  Nahum  the  Elkoshite.  The  three 
odes,  eager  and  passionate  pieces,  are  all  of  them  appar- 
ently vibrant  to  the  impending  fall  of  Assyria.  The 
first,  chap.  i.  with  the  possible  inclusion  of  chap.  ii.  2,^ 
is  general  and  theological,  affirming  God's  power  of 
vengeance  and  the  certainty  of  the  overthrow  of  His 
enemies.  The  second,  chap.  ii.  with  the  omission  of 
ver.  2,^  and  the  third,  chap,  iii.,  can  hardly  be  disjoined; 
they  both  present  a  vivid  picture  of  the  siege,  the 
storm  and  the  spoiling  of  Niniveh. 

The  introductory  questions,  which  title  and  contents 
start,  are  in  the  main  three  :  i.  The  position  of  Elkosh, 
to  which  the  title  assigns  the  prophet ;  2.  The 
authenticity  of  chap.  i. ;  3.  The  date  of  chaps,  ii.,  iii.  : 
to  which  siege  of  Niniveh  do  they  refer? 


'  In  the  English  version,  but  in  the  Hebrew  chap.  ii.  w.  I  and  3 ; 

for  the  Hebrew  text  divides  chap.  i.  from  chap.  ii.  differently  from 
the  English,  which  follows  the  Greek.  The  Hebrew  begins  chap,  ii. 
with  what  in  the  English  and  Greek  is  the  fifteenth  verse  of  chap.  i.  : 
Behold,  upon  the  mountains,  etc. 

*  In  the  English  text,  but  in  the  Hebrew  with  the  omission  of 
vv.  I  and  3:  see  previous  note. 

77 


78  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

I.  The  Position  of  Elkosh. 

The  title  calls  Nahum  the  Elkdshite — that  is,  native 
or  citizen  of  Elkosh.^  Three  positions  have  been 
claimed  for  this  place,  which  is  not  mentioned  elsewhere 
in  the  Bible. 

The  first  we  take  is  the  modem  Al-Ktish,  a  town 
still  flourishing  about  twenty-four  miles  to  the  north 
of  the  site  of  Niniveh,'  with  "no  fragments  of  antiquity" 
about  it,  but  possessing  a  "  simple  plaster  box,"  which 
Jews,  Christians  and  Mohammedans  alike  reverence 
as  the  tomb  of  Nahum.'  There  is  no  evidence  that 
Al-Kush,  a  name  of  Arabic  form,  is  older  than  the 
Arab  period,  while  the  tradition  which  locates  the 
tomb  there  is  not  found  before  the  sixteenth  century 
of  our  era,  but  on  the  contrary  Nahum's  grave  was 
pomted  out  to  Benjamin  of  Tudela  in  1165  at  'Ain 
Japhaia,  on  the  south  of  Babylon,*  The  tradition  that 
the  prophet  lived  and  died  at  Al-Kush  is  therefore 
due  to  the  similarity  of  the  name  to  that  of  Nahum's 
Elkosh,  as  well  as  to  the  fact  that  Niniveh  was  the 
subject  of  his  prophesying.*  In  his  book  there  is 
no  trace  of  proof  for  the  assertion  that  Nahum  was 
a  descendant  of  the  ten  tribes  exiled  in  721  to  the 
region  to  the  north  of  Al-Kush.  He  prophesies  for 
Judah  alone.  Nor  does  he  show  any  more  knowledge 
of  Niniveh  than  her  ancient  fame  must  have  scattered 


'  Other  meanings  have  been  suggested,  but  are  impossible. 

•  So  it  lies  on  Billerbeck's  map  in  Delitzsch  and  Haupt's  Bettrage 
gur  Assyr.,  III.  Smith's  Bidie  Dictionary  puts  it  at  only  2  m.  N.  of 
Mosul. 

'  Layard,  Niniveh  and  its  Remains,  I.  233,  3rd  ed.,  1 849. 

•  Bohn's  Early  Travels  in  Palestine,  p.  102. 

•  Just  as  they  show  Jonah's  tomb  at  Niniveh  itself. 


THE  BOOK  OF  NAHUM  79 

to  the  limits  of  the  world.*  We  might  as  well  argue 
from  chap.  iii.  8-10  that  Nahum  had  visited  Thebes 
of  Egypt. 

The  second  tradition  of  the  position  of  ElkCsh  is 
older.  In  his  commentary  on  Nahum  Jerome  says 
that  in  his  day  it  still  existed,  a  petty  village  of  Galilee, 
under  the  name  of  Helkesei,^  or  Elkese,  and  apparently 
with  an  established  reputation  as  the  town  of  Nahum.* 
But  the  book  itself  bears  no  symptom  of  its  author's 
connection  with  Galilee,  and  although  it  was  quite 
possible  for  a  prophet  of  that  period  to  have  lived  there, 
it  is  not  very  probable.* 

A  third  tradition  places  Elkosh  in  the  south  of  Judah. 
A  Syriac  version  of  the  accounts  of  the  prophets,  which 
are  ascribed  to  Epiphanius,®  describes  Nahum  as  "of 
Elkosh  beyond  Bet  Gabrd,  of  the  tribe  of  Simeon  " ;  *  and 


'  See  above,  p.  18. 

*  Just  as  in  Micah's  case  Jerome  calls  his  birthplace  Moresheth  by 
the  adjective  Morasthi,  so  with  equal  carelessness  he  calls  Elkosh 
by  the  adjective  with  the  article  Ha-elkoshi,  the  Elkoshite.  Jerome's 
words  are :  "  Quum  Elcese  usque  hodie  in  Galilea  viculus  sit,  parvus 
quidem  et  vix  ruinis  veteruiu  aedificiorum  indicans  vestigia,  sed  tamen 
notus  Judaeis  et  mihi  quoque  a  circumducente  monstratus  "  (in  Prol. 
ad  Prophetiam  Nachutm).  In  the  Onomasticon  ]trome  gives  the  name 
as  Elcese,  Eusebius  as  'EX^ecr^,  but  without  defining  the  position. 

*  This  Elkese  has  been  identified,  though  not  conclusively,  with 
the  modern  El  Kauze  near  Ramieh,  some  seven  miles  W.  of  Tibnin. 

*  Cf.  Kuenen,  §  75,  n.  5  ;  Davidson,  p.  12  (2). 

Capernaum,  which  the  Textus  Receptus  gives  as  Kairepvao^/M,  but 
most  authorities  as  Ka.<papvao(ifi.  and  the  Peshitto  as  Kaphar  Nahum, 
obviously  means  Village  of  Nahum,  and  both  Hitzig  and  Knobel 
looked  for  Elk6sh  in  it.     See  Hist.  Geog.,  p.  456. 

Against  the  Galilean  origin  of  Nahum  it  is  usual  to  appeal  to 
John  vii.  52:  Search  and  see  that  out  of  Galilee  ariseth  no  prophet; 
but  this  is  not  decisive,  for  Jonah  came  out  of  Galilee. 

*  Though  perhaps  falsely. 

*  This  occurs  in  the  Syriac  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  by  Paul 


8o  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

it  may  be  noted  that  Cyril  of  Alexandria  says  *  that 
Elkese  was  a  village  in  the  country  of  the  Jews.  This 
tradition  is  superior  to  the  first  in  that  there  is  no  appar- 
ent motive  for  its  fabrication,  and  to  the  second  in  so 
far  as  Judah  was  at  the  time  of  Nahum  a  much  more 
probable  home  for  a  prophet  than  Galilee ;  nor  does 
the  book  give  any  references  except  such  as  might  be 
made  by  a  Judsean.^  No  modern  place-name,  however, 
can  be  suggested  with  any  certainty  as  the  echo  of 
Elkosh.  Umm  Lakis,  which  has  been  proved  not  to 
be  Lachish,  contains  the  same  radicals,  and  some  six 
and  a  quarter  miles  east  from  Beit-Jibrin  at  the  upper 
end  of  the  Wady  es  Sur  there  is  an  ancient  well  with 
the  name  Bir  el  Kus.' 

of  Telia,  617  A.D.,  in  which  the  notices  of  Epiphanius  (Bishop  of 
Constantia  in  Cyprus  a.d.  367)  or  Pseudepiphanius  are  attached  to 
their  respective  prophets.  It  was  first  communicated  to  the  Z.D.P.V., 
I.  122S.,  by  Dr.  Nestle  :  cf.  Hist.  Geog.,  p.  231,  n.  i.  The  previously 
known  readings  of  the  passage  were  either  geographically  impossible, 
as  "He  came  from  Elkesei  beyond  Jordan,  towards  Begabar  of  the 
tribe  of  Simeon "  (so  in  Paris  edition,  1622,  of  the  works  of 
St,  Epiphanius,  Vol.  II.,  p.  147:  cf.  Migne,  Pair.  Gr.,  XLIII.  409) ; 
or  based  on  a  misreading  of  the  title  of  the  book:  "Nahum  son  of 
Elkesaios  was  of  Jesbe  of  the  tribe  of  Simeon " ;  or  indefinable  : 
"  Nahum  was  of  Elkesem  beyond  Betabarem  of  the  tribe  of  Simeon  " ; 
these  last  two  from  recensions  of  Epiphanius  published  in  1855  by 
Tischendorf  (quoted  by  Davidson,  p.  13).  In  the  STtx'?/'^''  tuv  IB' 
'n.po<pr}TG)v  Koi'ltraiov,  attributed  to  Hesychius,  Presbyter  of  Jerusalem, 
who  died  428  or  433  (Migne,  Pairologia  Gr.,  XCIII.  1357),  it  is 
said  that  Nahum  was  airb  'EX/ceireti'  (Helcesin)  iripav  rod  Tijv^apelv 
iK  <pv\^s  "Svfieibv ;  to  which  has  been  added  a  note  from  Theophylact, 
'EXKCurat  vepav  rod  'lopddfov  eli  Biy a^pl. 

>  Ad  Nahum  i.   i   (Migne,  Pair.  Gr.,  LXXI.  780) :  Kwfii)  5^  ailrij 
vdfTUS  rod  r^s  'lovdalwv  xthpaa. 

•  The  selection  Bashan,  Carmel  and  Lebanon  (i.  4),  does  not  prove 
northern  authorship. 

*  B'^p?^  may  be    (l)  a  theophoric   name   =  Kosh   is   God;    and 
Kosh  might  then  be  the  Edomite  deity  DTp  whose  name  is  spelt  with 


THE  BOOK  OF  NAHUM 


2.  The  Authenticity  of  Chap.  I. 

Till  recently  no  one  doubted  that  the  three  chapters 
formed  a  unity.  "  Nahum's  prophecy/'  said  Kuenen 
in  1889,  "is  a  whole."  In  1891  ^  Cornill  affirmed  that 
no  questions  of  authenticity  arose  in  regard  to  the 
book;  and  in  1892  Wellhausen  saw  in  chap.  i.  an 
introduction  leading  "  in  no  awkward  way  to  the  proper 
subject  of  the  prophecy." 

Meantime,  however,  Bickell,*  discovering  what  he 
thought  to  be  the  remains  of  an  alphabetic  Psalm 
in  chap.  i.  1-7,  attempted  to  reconstruct  throughout 
chap,  i.— ''i.  3  twenty-two  verses,  each  beginning  with  a 
successive  better  of  the  alphabet.  And,  following  this, 
Gunkel  in   1893   produced  a  more  full  and  plausible 


a  Shin  on  the  Assyrian  monuments  (Baethgen,  Bettrage  a.  Semit. 
Religionsgeschichte,  p.  Il ;  Schrader,  K.A.T!\  pp.  150,  613),  and  who 
is  probably  the  same  as  the  Arab  deity  Kais  (Baethgen,  id.,  p.  108)  ; 
and  this  would  suit  a  position  in  the  south  of  Judah,  in  which  region 
we  find  the  majority  of  place-names  compounded  with  7K.  Or 
else  (2)  the  N  is  prosthetic,  as  in  the  place-names  3''T3N  on  the 
Phoenician  coast,  PjtJ'DK  in  Southern  Canaan,  TnC^N,  etc.  In  this 
case  we  might  find  its  equivalent  in  the  form  K'IpT'  (cf.  3V3N  3*f3) ; 
but  no  such  form  is  now  extant  or  recorded  at  any  previous  period- 
The  form  Lakis  would  not  suit.  On  Bir  el  KQs  see  Robinson,  B.R., 
III.,  p.  14,  and  Guenn,  J  ltd e'e,  III.,  p.  341.  Bir  el  Kus  means  Well  of 
the  Bow,  or,  according  to  Guerin,  of  the  Arch,  from  ruins  that  stand 
by  it.  The  position,  east  of  Beit-Jibrin,  is  unsuitable ;  for  the  early 
Christian  texts  quoted  in  the  previous  note  fix  it  beyond,  presumably 
south  or  south-west  of  Beit-Jibrin,  and  in  the  tribe  of  Simeon.  The 
error  "  tribe  of  Simeon  "  does  not  matter,  for  the  same  fathers  place 
Bethzecharias,  the  alleged  birthplace  of  Habakkuk,  there. 

'  Einleitung,  1st  ed. 

*  Who  seems  to  have  owed  the  hint  to  a  quotation  by  Delitzsch 
on  Psalm  ix.  from  G.  Frohnmo}  er  to  the  effect  that  there  were  traces 
of  "alphabetic"  verses  in  chap,  i.,  at  least  in  vv.  3-7.     See  Bickell's 
Beitrage  zur  Semit.  Meiiik,  Separatabdruck,  Wien,  1894. 
VOL.  II.  6 


82  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

reconstruction  of  the  same  scheme.*  By  radical  emen- 
dations of  the  text,  by  excision  of  what  he  beUeves  to 
be  glosses  and  by  altering  the  order  of  many  of  the 
verses,  Gunkel  seeks  to  produce  twenty-three  distichs, 
twenty  ot  which  begin  with  the  successive  letters  of 
the  alphabet,  two  are  wanting,  while  in  the  first  three 
letters  of  the  twenty-third,  ,  he  finds  very  probable 
the  name  of  the  author,  Shobai  or  Shobi,^  He  takes 
this  ode,  therefore,  to  be  an  eschatological  Psalm  of 
the  later  Judaism,  which  from  its  theological  bearing 
has  been  thought  suitable  as  an  introduction  to 
Nahum's  genuine  prophecies. 

The  text  of  chap.  i. — ii.  4  has  been  badly  mauled  and 
is  clamant  for  reconstruction  of  some  kind.  As  it 
lies,  there  are  traces  of  an  alphabetical  arrangement 
as  far  as  the  beginning  of  ver.  9,'  and  so  far  Gunkel's 
changes  are  comparatively  simple.  Many  of  his  emen- 
dations are  in  themselves  and  apart  from  the  alphabetic 
scheme  desirable.  They  get  rid  of  difficulties  and 
improve  the  poetry  of  the  passage.*  His  reconstruction 
is  always  clever  and  as  a  whole  forms  a  wonderfully 
spirited  poem.  But  to  have  produced  good  or  poetical 
Hebrew  is  not  conclusive  proof  of  having  recovered 
the  original,   and  there  are  obvious  objections  to  the 


'  Z.A.T.IV.,  1893,  pp.  223  fi. 

*  Cf.  Ezra  ii.  42 ;  Neh.  vii.  45  ;  2  Sam.  xvii.  27. 

•  Ver,  I  is  title  ;  2  begins  with  N ;  3  is  found  in  riS1D3,  3* ;  3  in 
"lyii,  4;  T  is  wanting — Bickell  proposes  to  substitute  a  New-Hebrew 
word  p^'n,  Gunkel  2Nn,  for  '?'?0N,  46;  H  in  Dnn,  5a;  1  in  XtJTll,  56  ; 
f  by  removing  ""SQ?  of  ver.  6a  to  the  end  of  the  clause  (and  reading 
it  there  VJD*?),  and  so  leaving  ID^T  as  the  first  word ;  D  in  inon  in 
66;  ID  in  3113,  7a;  '  by  eliding!  from  yn^  76;  3  in  n'?D,  8 ;  *?  is 
wanting,  though  Gunkel  seeks  to  supply  it  by  taking  %  beginning 
K^,  with  9A,  before  9a  ;  "0  begins  9a. 

See  below  in  the  translation. 


THE  BOOK  OF  NAHUM  83 

process.  Several  of  the  proposed  changes  are  unnatural 
in  themselves  and  unsupported  by  anything  except  the 
exigencies  of  the  scheme ;  for  example,  2b  and  3a  are 
dismissed  as  a  gloss  only  because,  if  they  be  retained,  the 
Aleph  verse  is  two  bars  too  long.  The  gloss,  Gunkel 
thinks,  was  introduced  to  mitigate  the  absoluteness  of 
the  declaration  that  Jehovah  is  a  God  of  wrath  and 
vengeance ;  but  this  is  not  obvious  and  would  hardly 
have  been  alleged  apart  from  the  needs  of  the  alphabetic 
scheme.  In  order  to  find  a  Daleth^  it  is  quite  arbitrary 
to  say  that  the  first  'j^dx  in  46  is  redundant  in  face 
of  the  second,  and  that  a  word  beginning  with  Daleth 
originally  filled  its  place,  but  was  removed  because  it 
was  a  rare  or  difficult  word  1  The  re-arrangement  of 
7  and  8a  is  very  clever,  and  reads  as  if  it  were  right;  but 
the  next  effort,  to  get  a  verse  beginning  with  Lamed^ 
is  of  the  kind  by  which  anything  might  be  proved. 
These,  however,  are  nothing  to  the  difficulties  which 
vv.  9-14  and  chap.  ii.  i,  3,  present  to  an  alphabetic 
scheme,  or  to  the  means  which  Gunkel  takes  to  surmount 
them.  He  has  to  re-arrange  the  order  ot  the  verses,* 
and  of  the  words  within  the  verses.  The  distichs 
beginning  with  Nun  and  Koph  are  wanting,  or  at 
least  undecipherable.  To  provide  one  with  initial  Resh 
the  interjection  has  to  be  removed  from  the  opening 
of  chap.  ii.  i,  and  the  verse  made  to  begin  with  hy^  and 
to  run  thus  :  the  feet  of  him  that  bringcth  good  news 
on  the  mountains;  behold  him  that  publisheth  peace. 
Other  unlikely  changes  will  be  noticed  when  we  come 
to  the  translation.  Here  we  may  ask  the  question  :  if 
the  passage  was  originally  alphabetic,  that  is,  furnished 
with  so  fixed  and  easily  recognised  a  frame,  why  has 
it  so  fallen  to  pieces  ?     And  again,  if  it  has  so  fallen 

»  As  thus  :  9a,  \\b,  12  (but  unintelligible),  lo,  13,  14,  ii.  I,  3. 


84  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 


to  pieces,  is  it  possible  that  it  can  be  restored  ?  The 
many  arbitrarinesses  of  Gunkel's  able  essay  would  seeR. 
to  imply  that  it  is  not.  Dr.  Davidson  says  :  "  Even  if 
it  should  be  assumed  that  an  alphabetical  poem  lurks 
under  chap,  i.,  the  attempt  to  restore  it,  just  as  in 
Psalm  X.,  can  never  be  more  than  an  academic  exercise." 

Little  is  to  be  learned  from  the  language.  Well- 
hausen,  who  makes  no  objection  to  the  genuineness  of 
the  passage,  thinks  that  about  ver.  7  we  begin  to  catch 
the  familiar  dialect  of  the  Psalms.  Gunkel  finds  a 
want  of  originality  in  the  language,  with  many  touches 
that  betray  connection  not  only  with  the  Psalms  but 
with  late  eschatological  literature.  But  when  we  take 
one  by  one  the  clauses  of  chap,  i.,  we  discover  very  few 
parallels  with  the  Psalms,  which  are  not  at  the  same 
time  parallels  with  Jeremiah's  or  some  earlier  writings. 
That  the  prophecy  is  vague,  and  with  much  of  the  air 
of  the  later  eschatology  about  it,  is  no  reason  for 
removing  it  from  an  age  in  which  we  have  already 
seen  prophecy  beginning  to  show  the  same  apocalyptic 
temper.*  Gunkel  denies  any  reference  in  ver.  96  to 
the  approaching  fall  of  Niniveh,  although  that  is  seen 
by  Kuenen,  Wellhausen,  Konig  and  others,  and  he 
omits  ver.  iia,  in  which  most  read  an  allusion  to 
Sennacherib. 

Therefore,  while  it  is  possible  that  a  later  poem  has 
been  prefixed  to  the  genuine  prophecies  of  Nahum» 
and  the  first  chapter  supplies  many  provocations  to 
belief  in  such  a  theory,  this  has  not  been  proved,  and 
the  able  essays  of  proof  have  much  against  them.  The 
question  is  open.* 

•  See  above  on  Zephaniah,  pp.  49  ff, 

*  Comill,  in  the  2nd  ed.  of  his  Einleitung,  has  accepted  Gunkel'a 
and  Bickell's  main  contentions. 


THE  BOOK  OF  NAHUM  85 

3.  The  Date  of  Chaps.  II.  and  III. 

We  turn  now  to  the  date  of  the  Book  apart  from  this 
prologue.  It  was  written  after  a  great  overthrow  of 
the  Egyptian  Thebes^  and  when  the  overthrow  of 
Niniveh  was  imminent.  Now  Thebes  had  been  devas- 
tated by  Assurbanipal  about  664  (we  know  of  no  later 
overthrow),  and  Niniveh  fell  finally  about  607.  Nahum 
flourished,  then,  somewhere  between  664  and  6oy} 
Some  critics,  feeling  in  his  description  of  the  fall  of 
Thebes  the  force  of  a  recent  impression,  have  placed 
his  prophesying  immediately  after  that,  or  about  660.' 
But  this  is  too  far  away  from  the  fail  of  Niniveh.  In  660 
the  power  of  Assyria  was  unthreatened.  Nor  is  652, 
the  year  of  the  revolt  of  Babylon,  Egypt  and  the 
princes  of  Palestine,  a  more  hkely  date.*  For  although 
in  that  year  Assyrian  supremacy  ebbed  from  Egypt 
never  to  return,  Assurbanipal  quickly  reduced  Elam, 
Babylon  and  all  Syria.  Nahum,  on  the  other  hand, 
represents  the  very  centre  of  the  empire  as  threatened. 
The  land  of  Assyria  is  apparently  already  invaded  (iii.  13, 
etc.).  Niniveh,  if  not  invested,  must  immediately  be  so, 
and  that  by  forces  too  great  for  resistance.  Her  mixed 
populace  already  show  signs  of  breaking  up.  Within, 
as  without,  her  doom  is  sealed.  All  this  implies  not 
only  the  advance  of  an  enormous  force  upon  Niniveh, 
but  the  reduction  of  her  people  to  the  last  stage  of 

•  iii.  8-10. 

'  The  description  of  the  fall  of  No-Amon  precludes  the  older  view 
almost  universally  held  before  the  discovery  of  Assurbanipal's  destruc- 
tion of  Thebes,  viz.  that  Nahum  prophesied  in  the  days  of  Hezekiah 
or  in  the  earlier  years  of  Manasseh  (Lightfoot,  Pusey,  Nagelsbach,  etc.). 

'  So  Sc-hrader,  Volck  in  Herz.  Real.  Emc,  and  others. 

*  It  is  favoured  by  Winckk  r,  A.T.  Unlet  ^iieh.,  pp.  127  f. 


86  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

hopelessness.  Now,  as  we  have  seen,^  Assyria  proper 
was  thrice  overrun.  The  Scythians  poured  across  her 
about  626,  but  there  is  no  proof  that  they  threatened 
Niniveh.*  A  Httle  after  Assurbanipal's  death  in  625, 
the  Medes  under  King  Phraortes  invaded  Assyria,  but 
Phraortes  was  slain  and  his  son  Kyaxares  called  away 
by  an  invasion  of  his  own  country.  Herodotus  says 
that  this  was  after  he  had  defeated  the  Assyrians  in  a 
battle  and  had  begun  the  siege  of  Niniveh,^  but  before 
he  had  succeeded  in  reducing  the  city.  After  a  time 
he  subdued  or  assimilated  the  Medes,  and  then  invest- 
ing Niniveh  once  more,  about  607,  in  two  years  he  took 
and  destroyed  her. 

To  which  of  these  two  sieges  by  Kyaxares  are  we 
to  assign  the  Book  of  Nahum  ?  Hitzig,  Kuenen, 
Cornill  and  others  incline  to  the  first  on  the  ground 
that  Nahum  speaks  of  the  yoke  of  Assyria  as 
still  heavy  on  Judah,  though  about  to  be  lifted. 
They  argue  that  by  608,  when  King  Josiah  had 
already  felt  himself  free  enough  to  extend  his  reforms 
into  Northern  Israel,  and  dared  to  dispute  Necho's 
passage  across  Esdraelon,  the  Jews  must  have  been 
conscious  that  they  had  nothing  more  to  fear  from 
Assyria,  and  Nahum  could  hardly  have  written  as  he 
does  in  i.  13,  /  will  break  his  yoke  from  off  thee  and 
burst  thy  bonds  in  sunder.*"     But  this  is  not  conclusive, 

•  Above,  pp.  15  f. ;  19,  22  ff. 

•  This  in  answer  to  Jeremias  in  Delitzsch's  and  Haupt's  Beitrage 
zur  Assyriologie,  III.  96. 

•  L  103. 

•  Hitzig's  other  reason,  that  the  besiegers  of  Niniveh  are  described 
by  Nahum  in  ii.  3  ff.  as  single,  which  was  true  of  the  siege  in  625  c,  but 
not  of  that  of  607-6,  when  the  Chaldeans  joined  the  Medes,  is  disposed 
of  by  the  proof  on  p.  22  above,  that  even  in  607-6  the  Medes  carried 
on  the  siege  alone. 


THE  BOOK  OF  NAHUM  87 

^or  first,  as  we  have  seen,  it  is  not  certain  that  i.  13  is 
from  Nahum  himself,  and  second,  if  it  be  from  himself, 
he  might  as  well  have  written  it  about  608  as  about 
625,  for  he  speaks  not  from  the  feelings  of  any  single 
year,  but  with  the  impression  upon  him  of  the  whole 
epoch  of  Assyrian  servitude  then  drawing  to  a  close. 
The  eve  of  the  later  siege  as  a  date  for  the  book  is,  as 
Davidson  remarks,^  "well  within  the  verge  of  possi- 
bility," and  some  critics  prefer  it  because  in  their 
opinion  Nahum's  descriptions  thereby  acquire  greater 
reality  and  naturalness.  But  this  is  not  convincing,  for  if 
Kyaxares  actually  began  the  siege  of  Niniveh  about  625, 
Nahum's  sense  of  the  imminence  of  her  fall  is  perfectly 
natural.  Wellhausen  indeed  denies  that  earlier  siege. 
"  Apart  from  Herodotus,"  he  says,  "  it  would  never  have 
occurred  to  anybody  to  doubt  that  Nahum's  prophecy 
coincided  with  the  fall  of  Niniveh."^  This  is  true,  for 
it  is  to  Herodotus  alone  that  we  owe  the  tradition  of 
the  earlier  siege.  But  what  if  v^^e  believe  Herodotus  ? 
In  that  case,  it  is  impossible  to  come  to  a  decision  as 
between  the  two  sieges.  With  our  present  scanty 
knowledge  of  both,  the  prophecy  of  Nahum  suits  either 
equally  well.' 

Fortunately  it  is  not  necessary  to  come  to  a  decision. 


*  Page  17. 

*  In  commenting  on  chap.  i.  9;  p.  156  of  Kleine  Prophettn. 

*  The  phrase  which  is  so  often  appealed  to  by  both  sides,  i.  9, 
Jehovah  ynakcth  a  coniplcle  end,  not  tivice  shall  trouble  arise,  is  really 
inconclusive.  Hitzig  maintains  that  if  Nahum  had  written  this  after 
the  first  and  before  the  second  siege  of  Niniveh  he  would  have  had 
to  say,  "not  thrice  shall  trouble  arise."  This  is  not  conclusive  :  the 
prophet  is  looking  only  at  the  future  and  thinking  of  it — not  twice 
again  shall  trouble  rise ;  and  if  there  were  really  two  sieges  of 
Niniveh,  would  the  words  not  twice  have  been  suffered  to  remain,  if 


THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 


Nahum,  we  cannot  too  often  insist,  expresses  the 
feelings  neither  of  this  nor  of  that  decade  in  the  reign 
of  Josiah,  but  the  whole  volume  of  hope,  wrath  and 
just  passion  of  vengeance  which  had  been  gathering  for 
more  than  a  century  and  which  at  last  broke  into  exulta- 
tion when  it  became  certain  that  Niniveh  was  falling. 
That  suits  the  eve  of  either  siege  by  Kyaxares.  Till 
we  learn  a  little  more  about  the  first  siege  and  how 
far  it  proceeded  towards  a  successful  result,  perhaps 
we  ought  to  prefer  the  second.  And  of  course  those 
who  feel  that  Nahum  writes  not  in  the  future  but 
the  present  tense  of  the  details  of  Niniveh's  overthrov/, 
must  prefer  the  second. 

That  the  form  as  well  as  the  spirit  of  the  Book  o! 
Nahum  is  poetical  is  proved  by  the  familiar  marks  of 
poetic  measure — the  unusual  syntax,  the  frequent 
absence  of  the  article  and  particles,  the  presence  of 
elliptic  forms  and  archaic  and  sonorous  ones.  In  the 
two  chapters  on  the  siege  of  Niniveh  the  lines  are 
short  and  quick,  in  harmony  with  the  dashing  action 
they  echo. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  text  of  chap.  i.  is  very  un- 
certain. The  subject  of  the  other  two  chapters  involves 
the  use  of  a  number  of  technical  and  some  foreign 
terms,    of   the  meaning    of    most    of    which    we    are 


they  had  been  a  confident  prediction  before  the  first  siege  ?  Besides, 
the  meaning  of  the  phrase  is  not  certain  ;  it  may  be  only  a  general 
statement  corresponding  to  what  seems  a  general  statement  in  the 
first  clause  of  the  verse.  Kuenen  and  others  refer  the  trouble  not 
to  that  which  is  about  to  afflict  Assyria,  but  to  the  long  slavery  and 
slaughter  which  Judah  has  sufiered  at  Assyria's  hands.  Davidson 
leaves  it  ambiguous. 


THE  BOOK  OF  NAHUM  89 

ignorant.*  There  are  apparently  some  glosses ;  here 
and  there  the  text  is  obviously  disordered.  We  get 
the  usual  help,  and  find  the  usual  faults,  in  the 
Septuagint ;  they  will  be  noticed  in  the  course  of  the 
translation. 

'  Technical  military  terms :  ii.  2,  miVfD  ;  4,  m^Q  (?) ;  4,  l^nil ; 
6,  IDOn ;  iii.  3,  rhvo  (?).  Probably  foreign  terms :  ii.  8,  3Vn  ; 
lii.  17,  ^nT31D.     Certainly  foreign  :  iii.  17,  ^>"lDBl^. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   VENGEANCE  OF  THE  LORD 
Nahuh  i 

THE  prophet  Nahum,  as  we  have  seen,*  arose  pro- 
bably in  Judah,  if  not  about  the  same  time  as 
Zephaniah  and  Jeremiah,  then  a  few  years  later. 
Whether  he  prophesied  before  or  after  the  great 
Reform  of  621  we  have  no  means  of  deciding.  His 
book  does  not  reflect  the  inner  history,  character  or 
merits  of  his  generation.  His  sole  interest  is  the  fate 
of  Niniveh.  Zephaniah  had  also  doomed  the  Assyrian 
capital,  yet  he  was  much  more  concerned  with  Israel's 
unworthiness  of  the  opportunity  presented  to  them. 
The  yoke  of  Asshur,  he  saw,  was  to  be  broken,  but 
the  same  cloud  which  was  bursting  from  the  north 
upon  Niniveh  must  overwhelm  the  incorrigible  people 
of  Jehovah.  For  this  Nahum  has  no  thought  His 
heart,  for  all  its  bigness,  holds  room  only  for  the 
bitter  memories,  the  bafQed  hopes,  the  unappeased 
hatreds  of  a  hundred  years.  And  that  is  why  we 
need  not  be  anxious  to  fix  his  date  upon  one  or  other 
of  the  shifting  phases  of  Israel's  history  during  that 
last  quarter  of  the  seventh  century.  For  he  represents 
no  single  movement  of  his  fickle  people's  progress,  but 

'  Above,  pp.  78  ff.,  85  £f. 

90 


Nahumi.]        THE   VENGEANCE   OF  THE  LORD  91 

the  passion  of  the  whole  epoch  then  drawing  to  a 
close.     Nahum's  book  is  one  great  At  Last  I 

And,  therefore,  while  Nahum  is  a  worse  prophet 
than  Zephaniah,  with  less  conscience  and  less  in- 
sight, he  is  a  greater  poet,  pouring  forth  the  exultation 
of  a  people  long  enslaved,  who  see  their  tyrant  ready 
for  destruction.  His  language  is  strong  and  brilliant ; 
his  rhythm  rumbles  and  rolls,  leaps  and  flashes,  like 
the  horsemen  and  chariots  he  describes.  It  is  a  great 
pity  the  text  is  so  corrupt.  If  the  original  lay  before 
us,  and  that  full  knowledge  of  the  times  which  the 
excavation  of  ancient  Assyria  may  still  yield  to  us,  we 
might  judge  Nahum  to  be  an  even  greater  poet  than 
we  do. 

We  have  seen  that  there  are  some  reasons  for  doubt- 
ing whether  he  wrote  the  first  chapter  of  the  book,^ 
but  no  one  questions  its  fitness  as  an  introduction  to 
the  exultation  over  Niniveh's  fall  in  chapters  ii.  and  iii. 
The  chapter  is  theological,  affirming  those  general 
principles  of  Divine  Providence,  by  which  the  over- 
throw of  the  tyrant  is  certain  and  God's  own  people  are 
assured  of  deliverance.  Let  us  place  ourselves  among 
the  people,  who  for  so  long  a  time  had  been  thwarted, 
crushed  and  demoralised  by  the  most  brutal  empire 
which  was  ever  suffered  to  roll  its  force  across  the 
world,  and  we  shall  sympathise  with  the  author,  who 
for  the  moment  will  feel  nothing  about  his  God,  save 
that  He  is  a  God  of  vengeance.  Like  the  grief  of  a 
bereaved  man,  the  vengeance  of  an  enslaved  people  has 
hours  sacred  to  itseli.  And  this  people  had  such  a 
God  1  Jehovah  must  punish  the  tyrant,  else  were  He 
untrue.     He  had  been  patient,  and  patient,  as  a  verse 

'  See  above,  pp.  8 1  ff. 


92  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

seems  to  hint,*  just  because  He  was  omnipotent,  but 
in  the  end  He  must  rise  to  judgment.  He  was  God  of 
heaven  and  earth,  and  it  is  the  old  physical  proofs  of 
His  power,  so  often  appealed  to  by  the  peoples  of  the 
East,  for  they  feel  them  as  we  cannot,  which  this  hymn 
calls  up  as  Jehovah  sweeps  to  the  overthrow  of  the 
oppressor.  Before  such  power  of  wrath  who  may 
stand  ?  What  think  ye  of  Jehovah  ?  The  God  who 
works  with  such  ruthless,  absolute  force  in  nature  will 
not  relax  in  the  fate  He  is  preparing  for  Niniveh.  He 
is  one  who  maketh  utter  destruction,  not  needing  to  raise 
up  His  forces  a  second  time,  and  as  stubble  before 
fire  so  His  foes  go  down  before  Him.  No  half- 
measures  are  His,  Whose  are  the  storm,  the  drought 
and  the  earthquake. 

Such  is  the  sheer  religion  of  the  Proem  to  the  Book 
of  Nahum — thoroughly  Oriental  in  its  sense  of  God's 
method  and  resources  of  destruction ;  very  Jewish, 
and  very  natural  to  that  age  of  Jewish  history,  in  the 
bursting  of  its  long  pent  hopes  of  revenge.  We  of 
the  West  might  express  these  hopes  differently.  We 
should  not  attribute  so  much  personal  passion  to  the 
Avenger.  With  our  keener  sense  of  law,  we  should 
emphasise  the  slowness  of  the  process,  and  select  for 
its  illustration  the  forces  of  decay  rather  than  those  of 
sudden  ruin.  But  we  must  remember  the  crashing 
times  in  which  the  Jews  lived.  The  world  was  break- 
ing up.  The  elements  were  loose,  and  all  that  God's 
own  people  could  hope  for  was  the  bursting  of  their 
yoke,  with  a  little  shelter  in  the  day  of  trouble.  The 
elements  were  loose,  but  amidst  the  blind  crash  the 
little  people  knew  that  Jehovah  knew  them. 

'  Ver.  3,  if  the  reading  be  correct. 


Nahumi.]        THE   VENGEANCE   OF  THE  LORD  93 

A  God  jealous  and  avenging  is  Jehovah; 
Jehovah  is  avenger  and  lord  of  wrath; 
Vengeful  is  Jehovah  towards  His  enemies, 
And  implacable  He  to  His  foes. 

Jehovah  is  long-suffering  and  great  in  might^ 
Yet  He  will  not  absolve. 

Jehovah  I  His  way  is  in  storm  and  in  hurricane^ 
And  clouds  are  the  dust  of  His  feet.* 
He  curbeth  the  sea,  and  drieth  it  up; 
All  the  streams  hath  He  parched. 
Withered^  be  Bashan  and  Carmel; 
The  bloom  of  Lebanon  is  withered. 
Mountains  have  quaked  before  Him, 
And  the  hills  have  rolled  down. 
Earth  heaved  at  His  presence, 
The  world  and  all  its  inhabitants. 
Before  His  rage  who  may  stand, 
Or  who  abide  in  the  glow  of  His  anger? 
His  wrath  pours  forth  like  fire, 
And  rocks  are  rent  before  Him. 

Good  is  Jehovah  to  them  that  wait  upon  Him  in  the 

day  of  trouble,^ 
And  He  knoweth  them  that  trust  Him. 
ifVith  an  overwhelming  jlood  He  makes  an  end  of 

His  rebels. 
And  His  foes  He  comes  down  on  *  with  darkness. 

'  &.-nkel  amends  to  in  mercy  to  make  the  parallel  exact.     But  see 
above,  p.  82. 

'  Gu-kel's  emendation  is  quite  unnecessary  here. 

•  See  above,  p.  83. 

*  So  LXX.      Heb.  =  for  a  stronghold  in  the  day  of  trouble. 

'  ThrtiSts  into,  Wellhausen,  reading  t)13*  or  9\1'*  for  C)nT.      LXX, 
d^ukness  ^hall pursue. 


94  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

What  think  ye  of  Jehovah  ? 

He  is  one  that  makes  utter  destruction  i 

Not  twice  need  trouble  arise. 

For  though  tJiey  be  like  plaited  thorns^ 

And  sodden  as  ...  ,^ 

They  shall  be  consumed  like  dry  stubble. 

Came  there  not  ^  out  of  thee  one  to  plan  evil  against 

Jehovah, 
A  counsellor  of  mischief  ?* 

Thus  saith  Jehovah,  .  .  .  many  waters,*  yet  shall  they 
be  cut  off  and  pass  away,  and  I  will  so  humble  thee  that 
I  need  hntnble  thee  ^  no  more;^  and  Jehovah  hath  ordered 
concerning  thee,  that  no  more  of  thy  seed  be  sown :  from 
the  house  of  thy  God,  I  will  cut  off  graven  and  molten 
image.     I  will  make  thy  sepulchre  .  .  / 

'  Heb.  and  R.V.  drenched  as  with  iheif  drink.  LXX.  like  a  tangled 
yew.     The  text  is  corrupt. 

*  The  superfluous  word  N^D  at  the  end  of  ver.  lO  Wellhausen 
reads  as  N?n  at  the  beginning  of  ver.  Ii. 

*  Usually  taken  as  Sennacherib. 

*  The  Hebrew  is  given  by  the  R.V.  though  they  be  in  full  strength 
and  likewise  many.  LXX.  Thus  saith  Jehovah  ruling  over  many  waters, 
reading  CST  D^D  b'CO  and  omitting  the  first  pV  Similarly  Syr. 
Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  the  heads  of  many  waters,  D"'31  D''D  vC'O  71?. 
Wellhausen,  substituting  D*0  for  the  first  pi,  translates,  Let  the  great 
waters  be  ever  so  full,  they  will  yet  all .  .  .  1  (misprint  here)  and  vanish 
For  "13y  read  1*)2y  wiih  LXX.,  borrov.'ing  "I  from  next  word. 

*  Lit.  and  I  will  affict  thee,  I  will  not  afflict  thee  again.  This 
rendering  implies  that  Niniveh  is  the  object.  The  A.V.,  though 
I  have  afflicted  thee  I  will  afflict  thee  no  more,  refers  to   Israel. 

*  Omit  ver.  13  and  run  14  on  to  12.  For  the  curious  alternation 
now  occurs  :  Assyria  in  one  verse,  Judah  in  the  other,  Assyria  : 
i.  12,  14,  ii.  2  (Heb.;  Fng.  ii.  i),  4fr.  Judah:  i.  13,  ii.  i  (Heb.; 
Eng.  i.  15),  3  (Heb.;  Eng.  2).  Remove  these  latter,  as  Wellhausen 
does,  and  the  verses  on  Assyria  remain  a  connected  and  orderly 
whole.     So  in  the  text  above, 

'  Syr.  make  it  thy  sepulchre.     The  Hebrew  left  untranslated  above 


Nahumi.]       THE   VENGEANCE  OF  THE  LORD  95 

Disentangled  from  the  above  verses  are  three  which 
plainly  refer  not  to  Assyria  but  to  Judah.  How  they 
came  to  be  woven  among  the  others  we  cannot  tell. 
Some  of  them  appear  applicable  to  the  days  of  Josiah 
after  the  great  Reform. 

And  now  will  I  break  his  yoke  from  upon  theey 

And  burst  thy  bonds  asunder. 

LOf  upon  the  mountains  the  feet  of  Him  that  bringeth 

good  tidings, 
That  publisheth  peace  I 
Keep  thy  feasts,  O  fudah, 
Fulfil  thy  vows : 
For  no  more  shall  the  wicked  attempt  to  pass  through 

thee; 
Cut  off  is  the  whole  of  him} 
For  fehovah  hath  turned  the  pride  ofjacobf 
Like  to  the  pride  of  Israel :  ^ 
For  the  plunderers  plundered  them, 
And  destroyed  their  vinebranches. 

might  be  rendered /or  thou  art  vile.  Bickell  amends  into  dunghills. 
Lightfoot,  Citron.  Temp,  et  Orel.  Te.xt  V.T.  in  Collected  Works,  I.  109, 
takes  this  as  a  prediction  of  Sennacherib's  murder  in  the  temple, 
an  interpretation  which  demands  a  date  for  Nahum  under  either 
Hezekiah  or  Manasseh.     So  Pusey  also,  p.  357. 

'  LXX.  desiruciion,  nSs  for  rb"^. 

*  Davidson :  restoreth  the  excellency  of  Jacob,  as  the  excellency  of  Israel, 
but  when  was  the  latter  restored  ? 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  SIEGE  AND  FALL  OF  NINIVEH 
Nahum  ii.,  iii 

THE  scene  now  changes  from  the  presence  and 
awful  arsenal  of  the  Almighty  to  the  historical 
consummation  of  His  vengeance.  Nahum  foresees  the 
siege  of  Niniveh.  Probably  the  Medes  have  already 
overrun  Assyria.*  The  Old  Lion  has  withdrawn  to 
his  inner  den,  and  is  making  his  last  stand.  The 
suburbs  are  full  of  the  enemy,  and  the  great  walls 
which  made  the  inner  city  one  vast  fortress  are  invested. 
Nahum  describes  the  details  of  the  assault.  Let  us 
try,  before  we  follow  him  through  them,  to  form  some 
picture  of  Assyria  and  her  capital  at  this  time.* 

'  See  above,  pp.  22  flf. 

'  The  authorities  are  very  full.  First  there  is  M.  Botta's  huge  work 
Monument  de  Ninive,  Paris,  5  vols.,  1845.  Then  must  be  mentioned 
the  work  of  which  we  availed  ourselves  in  describing  Babylon  in 
Isaiah  xl. — Ixvi.,  Expositor's  Bible,  pp.  52  ff. :  "  Memoiis  by  Com- 
mander James  Felix  Jones,  I.N.,"  in  Selections  from  the  Records  of  the 
Bombay  Government,  No.  XLIII.,  New  Series,  1857.  It  is  good  to  find 
that  the  careful  and  able  observations  of  Commander  Jones,  too  much 
neglected  in  his  own  country,  have  had  justice  done  them  by  the 
German  Colonel  Billerbeck  in  the  work  about  to  be  cited.  Then 
there  is  the  invaluable  Niniveh  and  its  Reyiiains,  by  Layard.  There 
are  also  the  works  of  Rawlinson  and  George  Smith.  And  recently 
Colonel  Billerbeck,  founding  on  these  and  other  works,  has  published 
an  admirable  moaograpli  (lavishly  illustrated  by  maps  and  pictures), 

96 


Nahumii.,iii.]     THE  SIEGE  AND  FALL   OF  NINIVEH        y? 

As  we  have  seen,*  the  Assyrian  Empire  began 
about  625  to  shrink  to  the  hmits  of  Assyria  proper,  or 
Upper  Mesopotamia,  within  the  Euphrates  on  the  south- 
west, the  mountain-range  of  Kurdistan  on  the  north- 
east, the  river  Chabor  on  the  north-west  and  the 
Lesser  Zab  on  the  south-east.^  This  is  a  territory  of 
nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  north  to  south, 
and  rather  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  from  east 
to  west.  To  the  south  of  it  the  Viceroy  of  Babylon, 
Nabopolassar,  held  practically  independent  sway  over 
Lower  Mesopotamia,  if  he  did  not  command  as  well  a 
large  part  of  the  Upper  Euphrates  Valley.  On  the  north 
the  Medes  were  urgent,  holding  at  least  the  farther 
ends  of  the  passes  through  the  Kurdish  mountains,  if 
they  had  not  already  penetrated  these  to  their  southern 
issues. 

The  kernel  of  the  Assyrian  territory  was  the  triangle, 
two  of  whose  sides  are  represented  by  the  Tigris 
and  the  Greater  Zab,  the  third  by  the  foot  of  the 
Kurdistan  mountains.  It  is  a  fertile  plain,  with  some 
low  hills.  To-day  the  level  parts  of  it  are  covered  by 
a  large  number  of  villages  and  well-cultivated  fields. 
The  more   frequent  mounds  of  ruin  attest  in  ancient 

not  ogly  upon  the  military  state  of  Assyria  proper  and  of  Niniveh 
at  this  period,  but  upon  the  whole  subject  of  Assyrian  fortification 
and  art  of  besieging,  as  well  as  upon  the  course  of  the  Median 
invasions.  It  forms  the  larger  part  of  an  article  to  which  Dr.  Alfred 
Jeremias  contributes  an  introduction,  and  reconstruction  with  notes 
of  chaps,  ii.  and  iii.  of  the  Book  of  Nahum  :  "  Der  Untergang 
Niniveh's  und  die  Weissagungschrift  des  Nahum  von  Elkosh,"  in 
Vol.  III.  of  Beitrdge  zur  Assyriologie  und  Scniitischen  Sprachwissen- 
schaft,  edited  by  Friedrich  Delitzsch  and  Paul  Haupt,  with  the  support 
of  Johns  Hopkins  University  at  Baltimore,  U.S.A. :  Leipzig,  1895. 

'  Pages  20  f. 

'  Colonel  Billerbeck  (p.  115)  thinks  that  the  south-east  frontier  at 
this  time  lay  more  to  the  north,  near  the  Greater  Zab. 
VOL,  II. 


98  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

times  a  still  greater  population.  At  the  period  of  which 
we  are  treating,  the  plains  must  have  been  covered  b}/ 
an  almost  continuous  series  of  towns.  At  either  end  lay 
a  group  of  fortresses.  The  southern  was  the  ancient 
capital  of  Assyria,  Kalchu,  now  Nimrud,  about  six 
miles  to  the  north  of  the  confluence  of  the  Greater  Zab 
and  the  Tigris.  The  northern,  close  by  the  present 
town  of  Khorsabad,  was  the  great  fortress  and  palace 
df  Sargon,  Dur-Sargina :  ^  it  covered  the  roads  upon 
Niniveh  from  the  north,  and  standing  upon  the  upper 
reaches  of  the  Choser  protected  Niniveh's  water  supply. 
But  besides  these  there  were  scattered  upon  all  the 
main  roads  and  round  the  frontiers  of  the  territory  a 
number  of  other  forts,  towers  and  posts,  the  ruins  of 
many  of  which  are  still  considerable,  but  others  have 
perished  without  leaving  any  visible  traces.  The  roads 
thus  protected  drew  in  upon  Niniveh  from  all  directions. 
The  chief  of  those,  along  which  the  Medes  and  their 
allies  would  advance  from  the  east  and  north,  crossed 
the  Greater  Zab,  or  came  down  through  the  Kurdistan 
mountains  upon  the  citadel  of  Sargon.  Two  of  them 
were  distant  enough  from  the  latter  to  relieve  the 
invaders  from  the  necessity  of  taking  it,  and  Kalchu 
lay  far  to  the  south  of  all  of  them.  The  brunt  of  the 
first  defence  of  the  land  would  therefore  fall  upon  the 
smaller  fortresses. 

Niniveh  itself  lay  upon  the  Tigi-is  between  Kalchu 
and  Sargon's  city,  just  where  the  Tigris  is  met  by  the 
Choser.  Low  hills  descend  from  the  north  upon  the 
very  site  of  the  fortress,  and  then  curve  east  and  south, 
bow-shaped,  to  draw  west  again  upon  the  Tigris  at 

•  First  excavated  by  M.  Botta,  1842 — 1845.    See  also  George  Smith, 
Assyr.  Disc,  pp.  98  f. 


Nahum  ii.,  iii.]     THE  SIEGE  AND  FALL   OF  NINIVEH        99 

the  south  end  of  the  city.  To  the  east  of  the  latter 
they  leave  a  level  plain,  some  two  and  a  half  miles  by 
one  and  a  half.  These  hills  appear  to  have  been 
covered  by  several  forts.  The  city  itself  was  four-sided, 
lying  lengthwise  to  the  Tigris  and  cut  across  its  breadth 
by  the  Choser.  The  circumference  was  about  seven 
and  a  half  miles,  enclosing  the  largest  fortified  space 
in  Western  Asia,  and  capable  of  holding  a  population 
of  three  hundred  thousand.  The  western  wall,  rather 
over  two  and  a  half  miles  long,  touched  the  Tigris  at 
either  end,  but  between  there  lay  a  broad,  bow-shaped 
stretch  of  land,  probably  in  ancient  times,  as  now,  free 
of  buildings.  The  north-western  wall  ran  up  from  the 
Tigris  for  a  mile  and  a  quarter  to  the  low  ridge  which 
entered  the  city  at  its  northern  corner.  From  this  the 
eastern  wall,  with  a  curve  upon  it,  ran  down  in  face  of 
the  eastern  plain  for  a  little  more  than  three  miles,  and 
was  joined  to  the  western  by  the  short  southern  wall 
of  not  quite  half  a  mile.  The  ruins  of  the  western  wall 
stand  from  ten  to  twenty,  those  of  the  others  from 
twenty-five  to  sixty,  feet  above  the  natural  surface,  with 
here  and  there  the  still  higher  remains  of  towers. 
There  were  several  gates,  of  which  the  chief  were  one 
in  the  northern  and  two  in  the  eastern  wall.  Round 
all  the  walls  except  the  western  ran  moats  about  a 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  broad — not  close  up  to  the  foot 
of  the  walls,  but  at  a  distance  of  some  sixty  feet. 
Water  was  supplied  by  the  Choser  to  all  the  moats 
south  of  it ;  those  to  the  north  were  fed  from  a  canal 
which  entered  the  city  near  its  northern  corner.  At 
these  and  other  points  one  can  still  trace  the  remains 
of  huge  dams,  batardeaux  and  sluices  ;  and  the  moats 
might  be  emptied  by  opening  at  either  end  of  the 
western  wall  other  dams,  which  kept  back  the  waters 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


from  the  bed  of  the  Tigris.  Beyond  its  moat,  the  eastern 
wall  was  protected  north  of  the  Choser  by  a  large 
outwork  covering  its  gate,  and  south  of  the  Choser  by 
another  outwork,  in  shape  the  segment  of  a  circle,  and 
consisting  of  a  double  line  of  fortification  more  than 
five  hundred  yards  long,  of  which  the  inner  wall  was 
almost  as  high  as  the  great  wall  itself,  but  the  outer 
considerably  lower.  Again,  in  front  of  this  and  in  face 
of  the  eastern  plain  was  a  third  line  of  fortification, 
consisting  of  a  low  inner  wall  and  a  colossal  outer  wall 
still  rising  to  a  height  of  fifty  feet,  with  a  moat  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  broad  between  them.  On  the 
south  this  third  line  was  closed  by  a  large  fortress. 

Upon  the  trebly  fortified  city  the  Medes  drew  in 
from  east  and  north,  far  away  from  Kalchu  and  able  to 
avoid  even  Dur-Sargina.  The  other  fortresses  on  the 
frontier  and  the  approaches  fell  into  their  hands,  says 
Nahum,  like  ripe  fruit}  He  cries  to  Niniveh  to  prepare 
for  the  siege. ^  Military  authorities  ^  suppose  that  the 
Medes  directed  their  main  attack  upon  the  northern 
corner  of  the  city.  Here  they  would  be  upon  a  level 
with  its  highest  point,  and  would  command  the  water- 
works by  which  most  of  the  moats  were  fed.  Their 
flank,  too,  would  be  protected  by  the  ravines  of  the 
Choser.  Nahum  describes  fighting  in  the  suburbs 
before  the  assault  of  the  walls,  and  it  was  just  here, 
according  to  some  authorities,*  that  the  famous  suburbs 
of  Niniveh  lay,  out  upon  the  canal  and  the  road  to 
Khorsabad.      All    the    open    fighting    which    Nahum 

•  iii.  12. 

*  iii.  14. 

•  See  Jones  and  Billerbeck. 

*  Delitzsch  places  the  num  Tr  of  Gen.  x.  II,  the  "ribit  Nina" 
of  the  inscriptions,  on  the  north-east  of  Niniveh. 


Nahum  ii.,  iii.]    THE  SIEGE  AND  FALL  OF  NINIVEH      loi 

foresees  would  take  place  in  these  outplaces  and  broad 
streets  ^ — the  mustering  of  the  red  ranks,^  the  prancing 
horses '  and  rattling  chariots  *  and  cavalry  at  the  charged 
Beaten  there  the  Assyrians  would  retire  to  the  great 
walls,  and  the  waterworks  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
besiegers.  They  would  not  immediately  destroy  these, 
but  in  order  to  bring  their  engines  and  battering-rams 
against  the  walls  they  would  have  to  lay  strong  dams 
across  the  moats  ;  the  eastern  moat  has  actually  been 
found  filled  with  rubbish  in  face  of  a  great  breach  at 
the  north  end  of  its  wall.  This  breach  may  have  been 
effected  not  only  by  the  rams  but  by  directing  upon  the 
wall  the  waters  of  the  canal;  or  farther  south  the  Choser 
itself,  in  its  spring  floods,  may  have  been  confined  by 
the  besiegers  and  swept  in  upon  the  sluices  which 
regulate  its  passage  through  the  eastern  wall  into  the 
city.  To  this  means  tradition  has  assigned  the  capture 
of  Niniveh,"  and  Nahum  perhaps  foresees  the  possibility 
of  it :  the  gates  of  the  rivers  are  opened,  the  palace  is 
dissolved!! 

Now  of  all  this  probable  progress  of  the  siege  Nahum, 
of  course,  does  not  give  us  a  narrative,  for  he  is  writing 
upon  the  eve  of  it,  and  probably,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
Judah,  with  only  such  knowledge  of  the  position  and 
strength  of  Niniveh  as  her  fame  had  scattered  across 
the  world.  The  military  details,  the  muster,  the  fight- 
ing in  the  open,  the  investment,  the  assault,  he  did  not 
need  to  go  to  Assyria  or  to  wait  for  the  fall  of  Niniveh 

>  ii.  4  Eng.,  5  Heb.  •  Ibid.     LXX. 

•  ii.  3  Eng.,  4  Heb.  *  iii.  2. 

•  iii.  3- 

•  It  is  the  waters  of  the  Tigris  that  the  tradition  avers  to  havi 
broken  the  wall ;  but  the  Tigris  itself  runs  in  a  bed  too  low  for  this  « 
it  can  only  have  been  the  Choser.     See  both  Jones  and  Billerbeck, 

'  ii.  6. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


to  describe  as  he  has  done.  Assyria  herself  (and 
herein  lies  much  of  the  pathos  of  the  poem)  had  made 
all  Western  Asia  familiar  with  their  horrors  for  the 
last  two  centuries.  As  we  learn  from  the  prophets 
and  now  still  more  from  herself,  Assyria  was  the  great 
Besieger  of  Men.  It  is  siege,  siege,  siege,  which  Amos, 
Hosea  and  Isaiah  tell  their  people  they  shall  feel  :  siege 
and  blockade,  and  that  right  round  the  land  !  It  is  siege, 
irresistible  and  full  of  cruelty,  which  Assyria  records 
as  her  own  glory.  Miles  of  sculpture  are  covered 
with  masses  of  troops  marching  upon  some  Syrian  or 
Median  fortress.  Scaling  ladders  and  enormous  engines 
are  pushed  forward  to  the  walls  under  cover  of  a  shower 
of  arrows.  There  are  assaults  and  breaches,  panic- 
stricken  and  suppliant  defenders.  Streets  and  places 
are  strewn  v/ith  corpses,  men  are  impaled,  women  led 
away  weeping,  children  dashed  against  the  stones.  The 
Jews  had  seen,  had  felt  these  horrors  for  a  hundred 
years,  and  it  is  out  of  their  experience  of  them  that 
Nahum  weaves  his  exultant  predictions.  The  Besieger 
of  the  world  is  at  last  besieged  ;  every  cruelty  he  has 
inflicted  upon  men  is  now  to  be  turned  upon  himself. 
Again  and  again  does  Nahum  return  to  the  vivid  details, 
— he  hears  the  very  whips  crack  beneath  the  walls,  and 
the  rattle  of  the  leaping  chariots ;  the  end  is  slaughter, 
dispersion  and  a  dead  waste.* 

'  If  the  above  conception  of  chaps,  ii.  and  iii.  be  correct,  then 
there  is  no  need  for  such  a  re-arrangement  of  these  verses  as  has 
been  proposed  by  Jercmias  and  Billerbeck.  In  order  to  produce  a 
continuous  narrative  of  tlie  progress  of  tlie  siege,  they  bring  forward 
iii.  12-15  (describing  the  fall  of  the  fortresses  and  gates  of  the  land 
and  the  call  to  the  defence  of  the  city),  and  place  it  immediately  after 
ii.  2,4  (the  description  of  the  invader)  and  ii.  5-1 1  (the  appearance 
of  chariots  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city,  the  opening  of  the  floodgates, 
the  flight  and  the  spoiling  of  the  city).     But  if  they  believe  that  the 


Nahum  ii.,  iii.]    THE  SIEGE  AND  FALL   OF  NINIVEH      103 

Two  Other  points  remain  to  be  emphasised. 

There  is  a  striking  absence  from  both  chapters  of  any 
reference  to  Israel/  Jehovah  of  Hosts  is  mentioned 
twice  in  the  same  formula,^  but  otherwise  the  author  does 
not  obtrude  his  nationality.  It  is  not  in  Judah's  name 
he  exults,  but  in  that  of  all  the  peoples  of  Western  Asia. 
Niniveh  has  sold  peoples  by  her  harlotries  and  races  by 
her  witchcraft ;  it  is  peoples  that  shall  gaze  upon  her 
nakedness  and  kingdoms  upon  her  shame.  Nahum 
gives  voice  to  no  national  passions,  but  to  the  outraged 
conscience  of  mankind.  We  see  here  another  proof,  not 
only  of  the  large,  human  heart  of  prophecy,  but  of  that 
which  in  the  introduction  to  these  Twelve  Prophets  we 
ventured  to  assign  as  one  of  its  causes.  By  crushing 
all  peoples  to  a  common  level  of  despair,  by  the  universal 
pity  which  her  cruelties  excited,  Assyria  contributed  to 
the  development  in  Israel  of  the  idea  of  a  common 
humanity.' 

The  other  thing  to  be  noticed  is  Nahum's  feeling  of 
the  incoherence  and  mercenariness  of  the  vast  popula- 
tion of  Niniveh.  Niniveh's  command  of  the  world  had 
turned  her  into  a  great  trading  power.  Under  Assur- 
banipal  the  lines  of  ancient  commerce  had  been  diverted 
so  as  to  pass  through  her.     The  immediate  result  was 

original  gave  an  orderly  account  of  the  progress  of  the  siege,  why  do 
they  not  bring  forward  also  iii.  2  f.,  which  describe  the  arrival  of  the 
foe  under  the  city  walls  ?  The  truth  appears  to  be  as  stated  above. 
We  have  really  two  poems  against  Nrniveh,  chap.  ii.  and  chap.  iii. 
They  do  not  give  an  orderly  description  of  the  siege,  but  exult  over 
Niniveh's  imminent  downfall,  with  gleams  scattered  here  and  there 
of  how  this  is  to  happen.  Of  these  "  impressions "  of  the  coming 
siege  there  are  three,  and  in  the  order  in  which  we  now  have  them 
they  occur  verj'  naturally  :  ii.  5  ff.,  iii.  2  f.,  and  iii.  12  ff. 

'  ii.  2  goes  with  the  previous  chapter.     See  above,  pp.  94  f. 

»  ii.  13,  iii.  5. 

■  See  above,  Vol.  I.,  Chap.  IV.,  especially  pp.  54  flf. 


104  ^^^   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

an  enormous  increase  of  population,  such  as  the  world 
had  never  before  seen  within  the  limits  of  one  city. 
But  this  had  come  out  of  all  races  and  was  held 
together  only  by  the  greed  of  gain.  What  had  once 
been  a  firm  and  vigorous  nation  of  warriors,  irresistible 
in  their  united  impact  upon  the  world,  was  now  a  loose 
aggregate  of  many  peoples,  without  patriotism,  discipline 
or  sense  of  honour.  Nahum  likens  it  to  a  reservoir  of 
waters,^  which  as  soon  as  it  is  breached  must  scatter, 
and  leave  the  city  bare.  The  Second  Isaiah  said 
the  same  of  Babylon,  to  which  the  bulk  of  Niniveh's 
mercenary  populace  must  have  fled  : — 

Thus  are  they  grown  to  thee,  they  who  did  weary  thee, 
Traders  of  thine  front  thy  youth  up  ; 
Each  as  he  could  escape  have  they  fled; 
None  is  thy  helper} 

The  prophets  saw  the  truth  about  both  cities.  Their 
vastness  and  their  splendour  were  artificial.  Neither 
of  them,  and  Niniveh  still  less  than  Babylon,  was  a 
natural  centre  for  the  world's  commerce.  When  their 
political  power  fell,  the  great  lines  of  trade,  which  had 
been  twisted  to  their  feet,  drew  back  to  more  natural 
courses,  and  Niniveh  in  especial  became  deserted.  This 
is  the  explanation  of  the  absolute  collapse  of  that 
mighty  city.  Nahum's  foresight,  and  the  very  metaphor 
in  which  he  expressed  it,  were  thoroughly  sound.  The 
population  vanished  like  water.  The  site  bears  little 
trace  of  any  disturbance  since  the  ruin  by  the  Medes, 
except  such  as  has  been  inflicted  by  the  weather 
and  the  wandering  tribes  around.     Mosul,    Niniveh's 

»  U.8. 

■  Isaiah  xl. — Ixvi  (Expositor's  Bible),  pp.  197  ff. 


Nahuin  ii.,  iii.]     THE  SIEGE  AND  FALL   OF  NINIVEH      105 

representative  to-day,  is  not  built  upon  it,  and  is  but 
a  provincial  town.  The  district  was  never  meant  for 
anything  else. 

The  swift  decay  of  these  ancient  empires  from  the 
climax  of  their  commercial  glory  is  often  employed  as 
a  warning  to  ourselves.  But  the  parallel,  as  the  previous 
paragraphs  suggest,  is  very  far  from  exact.  If  we 
can  lay  aside  for  the  moment  the  greatest  difference 
of  all,  in  religion  and  morals,  there  remain  others 
almost  of  cardinal  importance.  Assyria  and  Babylonia 
were  not  filled,  like  Great  Britain,  with  reproductive 
races,  able  to  colonise  distant  lands,  and  carry  every- 
where the  spirit  which  had  made  them  strong  at  home. 
Still  more,  they  did  not  continue  at  home  to  be  homo- 
geneous. Their  native  forces  were  exhausted  by  long 
and  unceasing  wars.  Their  populations,  especially  in 
their  capitals,  were  very  largely  alien  and  distraught, 
with  nothing  to  hold  them  together  save  their  com- 
mercial interests.  They  were  bound  to  break  up  at 
the  first  disaster.  It  is  true  that  we  are  not  without 
some  risks  of  their  peril.  No  patriot  among  us  can 
observe  without  misgiving  the  large  and  growing  pro- 
portion of  foreigners  in  that  department  of  our  life  from 
which  the  strength  of  our  defence  is  largely  drawn — 
our  merchant  navy.  But  such  a  fact  is  very  far  from 
bringing  our  empire  and  its  chief  cities  into  the  fatal 
condition  of  Niniveh  and  Babylon.  Our  capitals,  our 
commerce,  our  life  as  a  whole  are  still  British  to 
the  core.  If  we  only  be  true  to  our  ideals  of  right- 
eousness and  religion,  if  our  patriotism  continue  moral 
and  sincere,  we  shall  have  the  power  to  absorb  the 
foreign  elements  that  throng  to  us  in  commerce,  and 
stamp  them  with  our  own  spirit. 

We   are    now  ready  to    follow   Nahum's  two    great 


io6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

poems  delivered  on  the  eve  of  the  Fall  of  Niniveh. 
Probably,  as  we  have  said,  the  first  of  them  has  lost 
its  original  opening.  It  wants  some  notice  at  the 
outset  of  the  object  to  which  it  is  addressed :  this  is 
indicated  only  by  the  second  personal  pronoun.  Other 
needful  comments  will  be  given  in  footnotes. 

I. 

•  •  •  •  • 

The  Hammer^  is  come  up  to  thy  face  I 

Hold  the  rampart !     ^  Keep  ivatch  on  the  way  I 

Brace  the  loins  !  ^     Pull  thyself  firmly  together  1* 

The  shields^  of  his  heroes  are  red, 

The  warriors  are  in  scarlet;  ^ 

Like '  fire  are  the  .  .  .  ^  of  the  chariots  in  the  day 

of  his  muster, 
And  the  horsemen  ®  are  prancing. 

'  Read  ^S^'  with  Wellhausen  (cf.  Siegfried-Stade's  Woitet-btich, 
sub  l^'IS)  for  X^^^i  Breaker  in  pieces.  In  Jer.  li.  20  Babylon  is  also 
called  by  Jehovah  His  }'|3P,  Hammer  or  Maul. 

*  Keep  watch,  Wellhausen. 

'  This  may  be  a  military  call  to  attention,  the  converse  of  "  Stand 
at  ease ! " 

*  Heb.  literally:  brace  up  thy  power  exceedingly . 

*  Heb.  singular. 

•  Rev.  ix.  17.  Purple  or  red  was  the  favourite  colour  of  the  Medes. 
The  Assyrians  also  loved  red.  '  Read  K'^{D  for  L"K3. 

•  nn^S,  the  word  omitted,  is  doubtful ;  it  does  not  occur  elsewhere. 
LXX,  rivlai;  Vulg.  habenoe.  Some  have  thought  that  it  means  scy/A^'S 
— cf.  the  Arabic  falad,  "to  cut" — but  the  earliest  notice  of  chariots 
armed  with  scythes  is  at  the  battle  of  Cunaxa,  and  in  Jewish  literature 
they  do  not  appear  before  2  Mace.  xiii.  2.  Cf.  Jeremias,  op.  cit.,  p.  97, 
where  Billerbeck  suggests  that  the  words  of  Nahum  are  applicable  to 
the  covered  siege-engines,  pictured  on  the  Assyrian  monuments,  from 
which  the  besiegers  flung  torches  on  the  walls  :  cf.  ibid.,  p.  167,  n.  ***. 
But  from  the  paraMelism  of  the  verse  it  is  more  probable  that 
ordinary  chariots  are  meant.  The  leading  chariots  were  covered 
with  plates  of  metal  (Billerbeck,  p.   167). 

•  So  LXX.,  reading  D^'JHQ    for  WZ^I  of  Heb.  text,  that  means 


Nahumii.,iii.]    THE  SIEGE  AND  FALL   OF  NINIVEH      107 

Through  the  markets  rage  chariots^ 

They  tear  across  the  squares;  * 

The  look  of  them  is  like  torches, 

Like  lightnings  they  dart  to  and  fro} 

He  musters  his  nobles.  .  .  .' 

They  rush  to  the  wall  and  the  mantlet^  is  fixed  f 

The  river-gates  ^  burst  open,  the  palace  dissolves* 

And  Hussab''  is  stripped,  is  brought  forth^ 

With  her  maids  sobbing  like  doves^ 

Beating  their  breasts. 

fir-trees.  If  the  latter  be  correct,  then  we  should  need  to  suppose 
with  Billerbeck  that  either  the  long  lances  of  the  Aryan  Medes  were 
meant,  or  the  great,  heavy  spears  which  were  thrust  against  the  walls 
by  engines.  We  are  not,  however,  among  these  yet ;  it  appears  to  be 
the  cavalry  and  chariots  in  the  open  that  are  here  described. 
'  Or  broad  places  or  suburbs.     See  above,  pp.  loof. 

*  See  above,  p.  io6,  end  of  n.  8. 

*  Heb.  They  stunible  in  their  goings.  Davidson  holds  this  is  more 
probably  of  the  defenders.  Wellhausen  takes  the  verse  as  of  the 
besiegers.     See  next  note. 

*  ^JDDn.  Partic.  of  the  verb  to  cover,  hence  covering  thing:  whether 
mantlet  (on  the  side  of  the  besiegers)  or  bulwark  (on  the  side  of  the 
besieged :  cf.  '>]p9>  ^^^-  xxii.  8)  is  uncertain.  Billerbeck  says,  if  it  be 
an  article  of  defence,  we  can  read  ver.  5  as  illustrating  the  vanity  01 
the  hurried  defence,  when  the  elements  themselves  break  in  vv.  6 
and  7  (p.  loi  :  cf.  p.  176,  n.  *). 

*  Sluices  (Jeremias)  or  bridge-gates  (Wellhausen)  ? 

*  Or  breaks  into  motion,  i.e.  flight. 

'  ^-Vn,  if  a  Hebrew  word,  might  be  Hophal  of  3V3  and  has  been 
taken  to  mean  it  is  determined,  she  (Niniveh)  is  taken  captive. 
Volck  (in  Herzog),  Kleinert,  Orelli  :  it  is  settled.  LXX.  {nrdaraais  = 
2)^2.  Vulg.  miles  (as  if  some  form  of  X2V  ?).  Hitzig  points  it 
^-'ifilj  the  lizard,  Wellhausen  the  toad.  But  this  noun  is  masculine 
(Lev.  xi.  29)  and  the  verbs  feminine.  Davidson  suggests  the  other 
3-'itn^  fem.,  the  litter  or  palanquin  (Isa.  Ixvi.  20)  :  "  in  lieu  of  any- 
thing better  one  might  be  tempted  to  think  that  the  litter  might 
mean  the  woman  or  lady,  just  as  in  Arab,  dha'inah  means  a  woman's 
litter  and  then  a  woman."  One  is  also  tempted  to  think  of  '^VC, 
the  beauty.     The  Targ.   has  ^;^2??J,    the  queen.     From   as  early   as 


io8  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

And  Nmivehl  she  was  like  a  reservoir  of  waters, 

Her  waters  .  .  } 

And  now  they  flee.     "  Stand,  stand  I "  but  there  is 

none  to  rally. 
Plunder  silver,  plunder  gold! 
Infinite  treasures,  mass  of  all  precious  things! 
Void  and  devoid  ajtd  desolate  ^  is  she. 
Melting  hearts  and  shaking  knees. 
And  anguish  in  all  loins. 
And  nothing  but  faces  full  of  black  fear? 

Where  is  the  Lion^s  den, 
And  the  young  lions'  feeding  ground  *  ? 
Whither  the  Lion  retreated,^ 
The  whelps  of  the  Lion,  with  none  to  affray  f 
The  Lion,  who  tore  enough  for  his  whelps^ 
And  strangled  for  his  lionesses. 


at  least  1527  {Latina  Interpretatio  Xantis  Pagnini  Lucensis  revised 
and  edited  for  the  Plantin  Bible,  16 15)  the  word  has  been  taken 
by  a  series  of  scholars  as  a  proper  name,  Hussab.  So  Ewald  and 
others.  It  may  be  an  Assyrian  word,  like  some  others  in  Nahum. 
Perhaps,  again,  the  text  is  corrupt. 

Mr.  Paul  Ruben  {^Academy,  March  7th,  1896)  has  proposed  instead 
of  nnVyri,  «  brought  forth,  to  read  PlPnun,  and  to  translate  it  by 
analogy  of  the  Assyrian  "  etellu,"  fem.  "  etellitu  "  =  great  or  exalted, 
The  Lady.  The  line  would  then  run  Hussab,  the  lady,  is  stripped. 
(With  n?nyn  Cheyne,  Academy,  June  2lst,  1896,  compares  nvHl^, 
which,  he  suggests,  is  "  Yahwe  is  great"  or  "is  lord.") 

>  Heb.  K^n  'P"'0  for  NN"I  1L*\S*  "•»"'0,  from  days  she  was.  A.V.  is  oj 
old.  R.V.  hath  been  of  old,  and  Marg.  from  the  days  that  she  hath  been. 
LXX.  her  waters,  nV?''P.     On  waters  fleeing,  cf.  Ps.  civ.  7. 

*  Bukah,  umebukah,  umebullakah.  Ewald  :  desert  and  desolation 
and  devastation.     The  adj.  are  feminine. 

•  Literally:  and  the  faces  of  all  them  gather  lividness, 

*  For  nnO  Wellhausen  reads  HiyO,  cave  or  hold. 

•  LXX.,  reading  Nn"?  for  N'-a'?. 


Nahumii.,iii.]    THE  SIEGE  AND  FALL  OF  NINIVEH      109 

And  he  filled  his  pits  with  prey, 
And  his  dens  with  rapine. 

Lo,  I  am  at  thee  {oracle  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts): 

I  will  put  up  thy  .  .  .^  in  fames, 

The  sword  shall  devour  thy  young  lions; 

I  will  cut  off  from  the  earth  thy  rapine, 

And  the  noise  of  thine  envoys  shall  no  more  be  heard. 

2. 

Woe  to  the  City  of  Blood, 

All  of  her  guile,  robbery-full,  ceaseless  rapine  i 

Hark  the  whip, 

And  the  rumbling  of  the  wheel. 

And  horses  galloping. 

And  the  rattling  dance  of  the  chariot  I* 

Cavalry  at  the  charge^  and  flash  of  sabres^ 

And  lightning  of  lances, 

Mass  oj  slain  and  weight  of  corpses, 

Endless  dead  bodies — 

They  stumble  on  their  dead  I 

— For  the  manifold  harlotries  of  the  Harlot^ 

The  well-favoured,  mistress  of  charms, 

She  who  sold  nations  with  her  harlotries 

And  races  by  her  witchcrafts  I 

Lo,  I  am  at  thee  {oracle  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts)  •• 
/  will  uncover  thy  skirts  to  thy  face  ;  * 

*  Heb.  her  chariots.     LXX.  and  Syr.  suggest  thy  mass  or  multitude, 
^^3^.     Davidson  suggests  thy  lair,  n3X31. 

*  Literally  and  the  chariot  dancing,  but  the  word,  merakedah,  has 
a  rattle  in  it. 

*  Doubtful,  n.^^.     LXX.  iiva^alvovroi. 

*  Jeremias  (104)  shows   how   the   Assyrians  did    this   to   female 
captives. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


Give  nations  to  look  on  thy  nakedness, 
And  kingdoms  upon  thy  shame; 
Will  have  thee  pelted  with  filth,  and  disgrace  thee, 
And  set  thee  for  a  gazingstock  ; 
So  that  every  one  seeing  thee  shall  shrink  from  thee 
and  say, 

"Shattered  is  Niniveh — who  will  pity  her? 
Whence  shall  I  seek  for  comforters  to  thee  ?  " 

Shalt  thou  be  better  than  No-Amon^ 

Which  sat  upon  the   Nile  streams^ — waters   were 

round  her — 
Whose  rampart  was  the  sea,^  and  waters  her  waJl  "  * 
Kush  was  her  strength  and  Misraim  without  end; 
Phut  and  the  Lybians  were  there  to  assist  her.^ 
Even  she  was  for  exile,  she  went  to  captivity : 
Even    her  children    were  dashed   on    every  st>'eei 

corner ; 
For  her  nobles  they  cast  lots. 
And  all  her  great  men  were  fastened  ivith  fetters. 

Thou  too  shalt  stagger^  shall  grow  faint; 
Thou  too  shalt  seek  help  from''  the  foe  I 

•  Jer.  xlvi.  25:  /  will  pwiish  Anton  at  No.  Ezek.  xxx.  14-16 
.  .  .  judgments  in  No.  .  .  .  I  will  cut  off  No-Anion  (Heb.  and  A.\ 
multitude  of  No,  reading  jIDH  ;  so  also  LXX.  rb  w'Kifios  for  |1wN)  .  . 
and  No  shall  be  broken  up.  It  is  Thebes,  the  Eg3'ptian  name  of  whicl 
was  Nu-Amen.  The  god  Amen  had  his  temple  there  :  Herod.  I.  182 
II.  42.  Nahum  refers  to  Assurbanipal's  account  of  the  fall  of  Thebes 
See  above,  p.  11. 

•  DnS'-n.     PI.  of  the  word  for  Nile. 

•  Arabs  still  call  the  Nile  the  sea. 

•  So  LXX.,  reading  D^O  for  Heb.  DJ9. 

•  So  LXX. ;  Heb.  thee. 

•  Heb.  be  drunken. 

•  Le.  against,  because  of. 


Nahum  ii.,  iii.]     THE  SIEGE   AND  FALL   OF  NINIVEH      iil 

All  thy  fortresses  are  fig-trees  with  figs  early-ripe: 
Be  they  shaken  they  fall  on  the  mouth  of  the  eater. 
Lo,  thy  folk  are  but  women  in  thy  midst :  ^ 
To  thy  foes  the  gates  of  thy  land  fly  open; 
Fire  has  devoured  thy  bars. 

Draw  thee  water  for  siege,  strengthen  thy  forts  I 
Get  thee  down  to  the  mud,  and  tramp  in  the  clay  ! 
Grip  fast  the  brick-mould  I 
There  fire  consumes  thee,  the  sword  cuts  thee  off} 
Make  thyself  many  as  a  locust  swarm, 
Many  as  grasshoppers, 

Multiply  thy  traders  more  than  heaverCs  stars, 
— The  locusts  break  off^  and  fly  away. 
Thy  ...  *  are  as  locusts  and  thy  .  .  .  as  grass- 
hoppers, 
That  hive  in  the  hedges  in  the  cold  of  the  day :  * 
The  sun  is  risen,  they  are  fled, 
And  one  knows  not  the  place  where  they  be. 

'  Jer.  1.  37,  li.  30. 

*  Heb.  and  LXX.  add  devour  thee  like  the  locust,  probably  a  gloss. 

*  Cf.  Jer.  ix.  33.  Some  take  it  of  the  locusts  stripping  the  skin 
which  confines  their  wings  :   Davidson. 

*  "yW^I^.  A.V.  thy  croivned  ones;  but  perhaps  like  its  neighbour 
an  Assyrian  word,  meaning  we  know  not  what.  Wellhausen  reads 
"]''"ltDD,  LXX.  6  avix/j.iKT6i  <rod  (applied  in  Deut.  xxiii.  3  and  Zech.  ix.  6 
to  the  offspring  of  a  mixed  marriage  between  an  Israelite  and  a 
Gentile),  deine  Mischlinge  :  a  term  of  contempt  for  the  floating  foreign 
or  semi-foreign  population  which  filled  Niniveh  and  was  ready  to  fly 
at  sight  of  danger.  Similarly  Wellhausen  takes  the  second  term, 
1D2t3.  This,  which  occurs  also  in  Jer.  li.  27,  appears  to  be  some 
kind  ot  official.  In  Assyrian  diipsar  is  scribe,  which  may,  like 
Heb.  "ItD'ii',  have  been  applied  to  any  high  official.  See  Schrader, 
K.A.T.,  Eng.  Tr.,  I.  141,  II.  u8.  See  also  Fried.  Delitzsch,  Wo  lag 
Parad.,  p.  142.  The  name  and  office  were  ancient.  Such  Babylonian 
officials  are  mentioned  in  the  Tell  el  Amarna  letters  as  present  at  the 
Egyptian  court.  *  Heb.  day  of  cold. 


112  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Asleep  are  thy  shepherds,  O  king  of  Assyria, 

Thy  nobles  do  slumber;  ^ 

Thy  people  are  strewn  on  the  mountains. 

Without  any  to  gather. 

There  is  no  healing  of  thy  wreck, 

Fatal  thy  wound  1 

All  who  hear  the  bruit  of  thee  shall  clap  the  hand  at 

thee. 
For  upon  whom  hath  not  thy  cruelty  passed  without 

ceasing  ? 

'  liDty^  dwell,  is  the  Heb.  reading.    But  LXX.  13tf  \  iKolfu^ev.    Sleep 
must  be  taken  in  the  sense  of  death :  c&  Jer.  11.  39,  57  ;  Isa.  xiv.  18. 


HABAKKUK 


VOL.  ir.  113 


UpOH  tny  watch-tower  will  I  stand, 
And  take  up  my  post  on  the  rampart, 
I  will  watch  to  see  what  He  will  say  to  mat 
And  what  answer  I  get  back  to  my  plea. 

The  righteous  shall  live  ty  his  faithfulness. 


**  The  beginning  of  speculation  in  Israel." 


"4 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE  BOOK  OF  HABAKKUK 

AS  it  has  reached  us,  the  Book  of  Habakkuk,  under 
the  title  The  Oracle  which  Habakkuk  the  prophet 
received  by  vision^  consists  of  three  chapters,  which  fall 
into  three  sections.  First:  chap.  i.  2 — ii.  4  (or  8),  a 
piece  in  dramatic  form ;  the  prophet  lifts  his  voice  to 
God  against  the  wrong  and  violence  of  which  his  whole 
horizon  is  full,  and  God  sends  him  answer.  Second: 
chap.  ii.  5  (or  9) — 20,  a  taunt-song  in  a  series  of  Woes 
upon  the  wrong-doer.  Third:  chap,  iii.,  part  psalm, 
part  prayer,  descriptive  of  a  Theophany  and  expressive 
of  Israel's  faith  in  their  God.  Of  these  three  sections 
no  one  doubts  the  authenticity  of  the  ^rs^;  opinion  is 
divided  about  the  second;  about  the  third  there  is 
a  growing  agreement  that  it  is  not  a  genuine  work  of 
Habakkuk,  but  a  poem  from  a  period  after  the  Exile. 

I.  Chap.  I.  2 — II.  4  (or  8). 

Yet  it  is  the  first  piece  which  raises  the  most  difficult 
questions.  All  ^  admit  that  it  is  to  be  dated  somewhere 
along  the  line  of  Jeremiah's  long  career,  c.  62J — 586. 
There  is  no  doubt  about  the  general  trend  of  the 
argument :  it  is  a  plaint  to  God  on   the  sufferings   of 

'  Except  one  or  two  critics  who  place  it  in  Manasseh's  reign. 
See  below. 

"5 


ii6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  righteous  under  tyranny,  with  God's  answer.  But 
the  order  and  connection  of  the  paragraphs  of  the 
argument  are  not  clear.  There  is  also  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  who  the  tyrant  is — native,  Assyrian  or 
Chaldee ;  and  this  leads  to  a  difference,  of  course, 
about  the  date,  which  ranges  from  the  early  years  of 
Josiah  to  the  end  of  Jehoiakim's  reign,  or  from  about 
630  to  597. 

As  the  verses  He,  their  argument  is  this.  In  chap.  i. 
2-4  Habakkuk  asks  the  Lord  how  long  the  wicked  are 
to  oppress  the  righteous,  to  the  paralysing  of  the  Torah, 
or  Revelation  of  His  Law,  and  the  making  futile  of 
judgment.  For  answer  the  Lord  tells  him,  vv.  S-Il, 
to  look  round  among  the  heathen  :  He  is  about  to 
raise  up  the  Chaldees  to  do  His  work,  a  people 
swift,  self-reliant,  irresistible.  Upon  which  Habakkuk 
resumes  his  question,  vv.  12-17,  how  long  will  God 
suffer  a  tyrant  who  sweeps  up  the  peoples  into  his 
net  like  fish  ?  Is  he  to  go  on  with  this  for  ever  ?  In 
ii.  I  Habakkuk  prepares  for  an  answer,  which  comes  in 
ii.  2,  3,  4:  let  the  prophet  wait  for  the  vision  though 
it  tarries ;  the  proud  oppressor  cannot  last,  but  the 
righteous  shall  live  by  his  constancy,  or  faithfulness. 

The  difficulties  are  these.  Who  are  the  wicked 
oppressors  in  chap.  i.  2-4?  Are  they  Jews,  or  some 
heathen  nation  ?  And  what  is  the  connection  between 
vv.  1-4  and  vv.  5-II?  Are  the  Chaldees,  who  are 
described  in  the  latter,  raised  up  to  punish  the  tyrant 
complained  against  in  the  former  ?  To  these  questions 
three  different  sets  of  answers  have  been  given. 

First:  the  great  majority  of  critics  take  the  wrong 
complained  of  in  vv.  2-4  to  be  wrong  done  by  unjust 
and  cruel  Jews  to  their  countrymen,  that  is,  civic 
disorder   and    violence,   and  believe  that   in    vv.  5-n 


THE  BOOK  OF  HABAKKUK  117 

Jehovah  is  represented  as  raising  up  the  Chaldees  to 
punish  the  sin  of  Judah — a  message  which  is  pretty  much 
the  same  as  Jeremiah's.  But  Habakicuk  goes  further  : 
the  Chaldees  themselves  with  their  cruelties  aggravate 
his  problem,  how  God  can  suffer  wrong,  and  he  appeals 
again  to  God,  vv.  12-17.  Are  the  Chaldees  to  be  allowed 
to  devastate  for  ever  ?  The  answer  is  given,  as  above, 
in  chap.  ii.  1-4.  Such  is  practically  the  view  of  Pusey, 
Delitzsch,  Kleinert,  Kuenen,  Sinker,^  Driver,  Orelli, 
Kirkpatrick,  Wildeboer  and  Davidson,  a  formidable 
league,  and  Davidson  says  "  this  is  the  most  natural 
sense  of  the  verses  and  of  the  words  used  in  them." 
But  these  scholars  differ  as  to  the  date.  Pusey, 
Delitzsch  and  Volck  take  the  whole  passage  from  i.  5 
as  prediction,  and  date  it  from  before  the  rise  of  the 
Chaldee  power  in  625,  attributing  the  internal  wrongs 
of  Judah  described  in  vv.  2-4  to  Manasseh's  reign  or 
the  early  years  of  Josiah.^  But  the  rest,  on  the 
grounds  that  the  prophet  shows  some  experience  of 
the  Chaldean  methods  of  warfare,  and  that  the  account 
of  the  internal  disorder  in  Judah  does  not  suit  Josiah's 
reign,  bring  the  passage  down  to  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim, 
608 — 598,  or  of  Jehoiachin,   597.     Kleinert  and  Von 

•  See  next  note. 

*  So  Pusey.  Delitzsch  in  his  commentary  on  Habakkuk,  1843, 
preferred  Josiahs  reign,  but  in  his  O.  T.  Hist,  of  Redemption,  188 1, 
p.  226,  Manasseh's.  Volck  (in  Herzog,  Real  Encyc.,'^  art.  "  Habakkuk," 
1879),  assuming  that  Habakkuk  is  quoted  both  by  Zephaniah  (see 
above,  p.  39,  n.)  and  Jeremiah,  places  him  before  these.  Sinker  {The 
Psalm  of  Habakkuk :  see  below,  p.  127,  n.  2)  deems  "the  prophecy, 
taken  as  a  whole,"  to  bring  "  before  us  the  threat  of  the  Chaldean 
invasion,  the  horrors  that  follow  in  its  train,"  etc.,  with  a  vision  of  tlie 
day  "when  the  Chaldean  host  itself,  its  work  done,  falls  beneath 
a  mightier  foe."  He  fixes  the  date  either  in  the  concluding  years 
of  Manasseh's  reign,  or  the  opening  years  of  that  of  Josiah 
(Preface,   1-4). 


n8  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Orelli  date  it  before  the  battle  of  Carchemish,  506, 
in  which  the  Chaldean  Nebuchadrezzar  wrested  from 
Egypt  the  Empire  of  the  Western  Asia,  on  the  ground 
that  after  that  Habakkuk  could  not  have  called  a  Chal- 
dean invasion  of  Judah  incredible  (i.  5).  But  Kuenen, 
Driver,  Kirkpatrick,  Wildeboer  and  Davidson  date  it 
after  Carchemish,  To  Driver  it  must  be  immediately 
after,  and  before  Judah  became  alarmed  at  the  conse- 
quences to  herself.  To  Davidson  the  description  of  the 
Chaldeans  "is  scarcely  conceivable  before  the  battle," 
"  hardly  one  would  think  before  the  deportation  of  the 
people  under  Jehoiachin."  ^  This  also  is  Kuenen's 
view,  who  thinks  that  Judah  must  have  suffered  at 
least  the  first  Chaldean  raids,  and  he  explains  the  use 
of  an  undoubted  future  in  chap.  i.  5,  Zo,  I  am  about  to 
raise  up  the  Chaldeans,  as  due  to  the  prophet's  pre- 
dilection for  a  dramatic  style.  "  He  sets  himself  in  the 
past,  and  represents  the  already  experienced  chastise- 
ment [of  Judah]  as  having  been  then  announced  by 
Jehovah.  His  contemporaries  could  not  have  mistaken 
his  meaning." 

Second :  others,  however,  deny  that  chap.  i.  2-4  refers 
to  the  internal  disorder  of  Judah,  except  as  the  effect 
of  foreign  tyranny.  The  righteous  mentioned  there 
are  Israel  as  a  whole,  the  wicked  their  heathen  oppres- 
sors. So  Hitzig,  Ewald,  Konig  and  practically  Smend. 
Ewald  is  so  clear  that  Habakkuk  ascribes  no  sin  to 
Judah,  that  he  says  we  might  be  led  by  this  to  assign 
the  prophecy  to  the  reign  of  the  righteous  Josiah  ;  but 
he  prefers,  because  of  the  vivid  sense  which  the  prophet 
betrays  of  actual  experience  of  the  Chaldees,  to  date  the 


'  Pages   53,    49.       Kirkpatrick    (Smith's    Diet,    of  the   Bible^   art. 
"Habakkuk,"  1S93)  puts  it  not  later  than  the  sixth  year  of  Jchoiakim. 


THE  BOOK  OF  HABAKKUK  119 

passage  from  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim,  and  to  explain 
Habakkuk's  silence  about  his  people's  sinfulness  as  due 
to  his  overwhelming  impression  of  Chaldean  cruelty. 
KOnig^  takes  vv.  2-4  as  a  general  complaint  of  the 
violence  that  fills  the  prophet's  day,  and  vv.  5-1 1  as 
a  detailed  description  of  the  Chaldeans,  the  instru- 
ments of  this  violence.  Vv.  5-II,  therefore,  give  not 
the  judgment  upon  the  wrongs  described  in  vv.  2-4, 
but  the  explanation  of  them.  Lebanon  is  already 
wasted  by  the  Chaldeans  (ii.  17)  ;  therefore  the  whole 
prophecy  must  be  assigned  to  the  days  of  Jehoiakim. 
Giesebrecht  ^  and  Wellhausen  adhere  to  the  view  that 
no  sins  of  Judah  are  mentioned,  but  that  the  righteous 
and  wicked  of  chap.  i.  4  are  the  same  as  in  ver.  13, 
viz.  Israel  and  a  heathen  tyrant.  But  this  leads  them 
to  dispute  that  the  present  order  of  the  paragraphs  of 
the  prophecy  is  the  right  one.  In  chap.  i.  5  the 
Chaldeans  are  represented  as  about  to  be  raised  up 
for  the  first  time,  although  their  violence  has  already 
been  described  in  vv.  1-4,  and  in  vv.  12-17  these  are 
already  in  full  career.  Moreover  ver.  12  follows  on 
naturally  to  ver.  4.  Accordingly  these  critics  would 
remove  the  section  vv.  5-11.  Giesebrecht  prefixes  it 
to  ver.  I,  and  dates  the  whole  passage  from  the  Exile. 
Wellhausen  calls  5-1 1  an  older  passage  than  the  rest 
of  the  prophecy,  and  removes  it  altogether  as  not 
Habakkuk's.  To  the  latter  he  assigns  what  remains, 
i.  1-4,  12-17,  "•  1-5  >  ^"d  dates  it  from  the  reign  of 
Jehoiakim.' 

Third:  from  each  of  these  groups  of  critics  Budde  of 
Strasburg  borrows  something,  but  so  as  to  construct  an 


•  Eitil.  in  das  A.  T.  *  Beilrage  zur  Jesaiakritik,  1890,  pp.  197  C 

•  See  Further  Note  on  p.  128. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


arrangement  of  the  verses,  and  to  reach  a  date,  for  the 
whole,  from  which  both  differ.^  With  Hitzig,  Ewald, 
Konig,  Smend,  Giesebrecht  and  Wellhausen  he  agrees 
that  the  violence  complained  of  in  i.  2-4  is  that  in- 
flicted by  a  heathen  oppressor,  the  wicked^  on  the  Jewish 
nation,  the  righteous.  But  with  Kuenen  and  others 
he  holds  that  the  Chaldeans  are  raised  up,  according 
to  i.  5-1 1,  to  punish  the  violence  complained  of  in  i.  2-4 
and  again  in  i,  12-17.  In  these  verses  it  is  the 
ravages  of  another  heathen  power  than  the  Chaldeans 
which  Budde  descries.  The  Chaldeans  are  still  to 
come,  and  cannot  be  the  same  as  the  devastator  whose 
long  continued  tyranny  is  described  in  i.  12-17.  They 
are  rather  the  power  which  is  to  punish  him.  He  can 
only  be  the  Assyrian.  But  if  that  be  so,  the  proper 
place  for  the  passage,  i.  5-1 1,  which  describes  the  rise 
of  the  Chaldeans  must  be  after  the  description  of  the 
Assyrian  ravages  in  i.  12-17,  ^^^  i"  *^he  body  of  God's 
answer  to  the  prophet  which  we  find  in  ii.  2  ff.  Budde, 
therefore,  places  i.  5-1 1  after  ii.  2-4.  But  if  the 
Chaldeans  are  still  to  come,  and  Budde  thinks  that 
they  are  described  vaguely  and  with  a  good  deal  of 
imagination,  the  prophecy  thus  arranged  must  fall 
somewhere  between  625,  when  Nabopolassar  the 
Chaldean  made  himself  independent  of  Assyria  and 
King  of  Babylon,  and  607,  when  Assyria  fell.  That 
the  prophet  calls  Judah  righteous  is  proof  that  he  wrote 
after  the  great  Reform  of  621  ;  hence,  too,  his  reference 
to  Torah  and  Mishpat  (i.  4),  and  his  complaint  of  the 
obstacles  which  Assyrian  supremacy  presented  to  their 
free  course.  As  the  Assyrian  yoke  appears  not  to 
have  been  felt  anywhere  in  Judah  by  608,  Budde  would 


'  Siiidien  u.  Kritiken  for  1 893. 


THE  BOOK  OF  HABAKKUK 


fix  the  exact  date  of  Habakkuk's  prophecy  about  615. 
To  these  conclusions  of  Budde  Cornill,  who  in  1891 
had  very  confidently  assigned  the  prophecy  of  Habakkuk 
to  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim,  gave  his  adherence  in  1896.^ 
Budde's  very  able  and  ingenious  argument  has  been 
subjected  to  a  searching  criticism  by  Professor  David- 
son, who  emphasises  first  the  difficulty  of  accounting 
for  the  transposition  of  chap.  i.  5-1 1  from  what  Budde 
alleges  to  have  been  its  original  place  after  ii.  4  to  its 
present  position  in  chap,  i.*  He  points  out  that  if 
chap.  i.  2-4  and  12-17  and  ii.  5  ff.  refer  to  the  Assyrian, 
it  is  strange  the  latter  is  not  once  mentioned.  Again, 
by  615  we  may  infer  (though  we  know  little  of 
Assyrian  history  at  this  time)  that  the  Assyrian's  hold 
on  Judah  was  already  too  relaxed  for  the  prophet  to 
impute  to  him  power  to  hinder  the  Law,  especially  as 
Josiah  had  begun  to  carry  his  reforms  into  the  northern 
kingdom ;  and  the  knowledge  of  the  Chaldeans  dis- 
played in  i.  5-1 1  is  too  fresh  and  detailed'  to  suit  so 
early  a  date  :  it  was  possible  only  after  the  battle  of 
Carchemish.  And  again,  it  is  improbable  that  we  have 
two  different  nations,  as  Budde  thinks,  described  by  the 


•  Cf.  the  opening  of  §  30  in  the  first  edition  of  his  Einleitttng  with 
that  of  §  34  in  the  third  and  fourth  editions. 

•  Budde's  explanation  of  this  is,  that  to  the  later  editors  of  the 
book,  long  after  the  Babylonian  destruction  of  Jews,  it  was 
incredible  that  the  Chaldean  should  be  represented  as  the  deliverer 
of  Israel,  and  so  the  account  of  him  was  placed  where,  while  his  call 
to  punish  Israel  for  her  sins  was  not  emphasised,  he  should  be  pictured 
as  destined  to  doom;  and  so  the  prophecy  originally  referring  to  the 
Assyrian  was  read  of  him.  "This  is  possible,"  says  Davidson,  "if 
it  be  true  criticism  is  not  without  its  romance." 

•  This  in  opposition  to  Budde's  statement  that  the  description 
of  the  Chaldeans  in  i.  5- 1 1  "ist  eine  phantastische  Schilderung" 
(P-  387)- 


122  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

very  similar  phrases  in  i.  ii,  his  own  power  becomes 
his  god,  and  in  i.  i6,  he  sacrifices  to  his  net.  Again, 
chap.  i.  5-1 1  would  not  read  quite  naturally  after 
chap.  ii.  4.  And  in  the  woes  pronounced  on  the 
oppressor  it  is  not  one  nation,  the  Chaldeans,  which 
are  to  spoil  him,  but  all  the  remnant  of  the  peoples 

(ii.  7,  8)-     .     . 

These  objections  are  not  inconsiderable.  But  are 
they  conclusive  ?  And  if  not,  is  any  of  the  other 
theories  of  the  prophecy  less  beset  with  difficulties  ? 

The  objections  are  scarcely  conclusive.  We  have  no 
proof  that  the  power  of  Assyria  was  altogether  removed 
from  Judah  by  615  ;  on  the  contrary,  even  in  608 
Assyria  was  still  the  power  with  which  Egypt  went 
forth  to  contend  for  the  empire  of  the  world.  Seven 
years  earlier  her  hand  may  well  have  been  strong  upon 
Palestine.  Again,  by  615  the  Chaldeans,  a  people 
famous  in  Western  Asia  for  a  long  time,  had  been  ten 
years  independent :  men  in  Palestine  may  have  been 
familiar  with  their  methods  of  warfare ;  at  least  it  is 
impossible  to  say  they  were  not.^  There  is  more 
weight  in  the  objection  drawn  from  the  absence  of  the 
name  of  Assyria  from  all  of  the  passages  which  Budde 
alleges  describe  it ;  nor  do  we  get  over  all  difficulties 
of  text  by  inserting  i.  5-1 1  between  ii.  4  and  5.  Besides, 
how  does  Budde  explain  i.  12b  on  the  theory  that  it 
means  Assyria  ?  Is  the  clause  not  premature  at  that 
point  ?  Does  he  propose  to  elide  it,  like  Wellhausen  ? 
And  in  any  case   an    erroneous   transposition  of  the 


'  It  is,  however,  a  serious  question  whether  it  would  be  possible 
in  615  to  describe  the  Chaldeans  as  a  nation  that  traversed  the  breadth 
of  the  earth  to  occupy  dwelling-places  that  were  not  his  own  (i.  6),  This 
suits  better  after  the  battle  of  Carchcmish. 


THE  BOOK  OF  HA  BAKE  UK  123 


0-iginal  is  impossible  to  prove  and  difficult  to  account 

But  have  not  the  other  theories  of  the  Book  of 
Habakkuk  equally  great  difficulties  ?  Surely,  we  can- 
not say  that  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  in  i.  4  mean 
something  different  from  what  they  do  in  i.  13?  But 
if  this  is  impossible  the  construction  of  the  book 
supported  by  the  great  majority  of  critics*  falls  to  the 
ground.  Professor  Davidson  justly  says  that  it  has 
"  something  artificial  in  it  "  and  "  puts  a  strain  on  the 
natural  sense."  ^  How  can  the  Chaldeans  be  described 
in  i.  5  as  j'tisi  about  to  be  raised  up,  and  in  14-17  as 
already  for  a  long  time  the  devastators  of  earth  ? 
Ewald's,  Hitzig's  and  Konig's  views*  are  equally  beset 
by  these  difficulties ;  Konig's  exposition  also  "  strains 
the  natural  sense."  Everything,  in  fact,  points  to  i.  5-1 1 
being  out  of  its  proper  place ;  it  is  no  wonder  that 
Giesebrecht,  Wellhausen  and  Budde  independently 
arrived  at  this  conclusion.*  Whether  Budde  be  right 
in  inserting  i.  5-1 1  after  ii.  4,  there  can  be  little  doubt 
of  the  correctness  of  his  views  that  i.  12-17  describe 
a  heathen  oppressor  who  is  not  the  Chaldeans.  Budde 
says  this  oppressor  is  Assyria.  Can  he  be  any  one 
else?  From  608  to  605  Judah  was  sorely  beset  by 
Egypt,  who  had  overrun  all  Syria  up  to  the  Euphrates. 
The  Egyptians  killed  Josiah,  deposed  his  successor,  and 
put  their  own  vassal  under  a  very  heavy  tribute  ;  gold 
and  silver  were  exacted  of  the  people  of  the  land :  the 
picture   of  distress  in  i.   1-4  might  easily  be   that    of 

'  See  above,  p.  121,  n.  2.  •  Pages  49  and  50. 

•  See  above,  pp.  114  ff.  *  See  above,  pp.  118  i. 

•  Wellhausen  in  1873  (see  p.  661);  Giesebrecht  in  1890 ;  Budde 
in  1892,  before  he  had  seen  the  opinions  of  either  of  the  others  (see 
Stud,  und  Krit.,  1893,  p.  386,  n.  2). 


124  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Judah  in  these  three  terrible  years.  And  if  we  assigned 
the  prophecy  to  them,  we  should  certainly  give  it  a 
date  at  which  the  knowledge  of  the  Chaldeans  ex- 
pressed in  i.  5-1 1  was  more  probable  than  at  Budde's 
date  of  615.  But  then  does  the  description  in  chap, 
i.  14-17  suit  Egypt  so  well  as  it  does  Assyria?  We 
can  hardly  affirm  this,  until  we  know  more  of  what 
Egypt  did  in  those  days,  but  it  is  very  probable. 

Therefore,  the  theory  supported  by  the  majority 
of  critics  being  unnatural,  we  are,  with  our  present 
meagre  knowledge  of  the  time,  flung  back  upon  Budde's 
interpretation  that  the  prophet  in  i.  2 — ii.  4  appeals 
from  oppression  by  a  heathen  power,  which  is  not  the 
Chaldean,  but  upon  which  the  Chaldean  shall  bring 
the  just  vengeance  of  God.  The  tyrant  is  either 
Assyria  up  to  about  615  or  Egypt  from  608  to  605, 
and  there  is  not  a  little  to  be  said  for  the  latter  date. 

In  arriving  at  so  uncertain  a  conclusion  about  i. — ii. 
4,  we  have  but  these  consolations,  that  no  other  is 
possible  in  our  present  knowledge,  and  that  the  un- 
certainty will  not  hamper  us  much  in  our  appreciation 
of  Habakkuk's  spiritual  attitude  and  poetic  gifts.^ 

2.  Chap.  II.  5-20. 

The  dramatic  piece  i.  2 — ii.  4  is  succeeded  by  a  series 
of  fine  taunt-songs,  starting  after  an  introduction  from 
6b,  then  9,  11,  15  and  (18)  19,  and  each  opening  with 

'  Cornill  quotes  a  rearrangement  of  chaps,  i.,  ii.,  by  Rothstein, 
who  takes  i.  2-4,  12  a,  13,  ii.  1-3,  4,  5  a,  i.  6-10,  14,  15  a,  ii.  6  b, 
7,  9,  10  a  6)3,  II,  15,  16,  19,  18,  as  an  oracle  against  Jehoiakim  and 
the  godless  in  Israel  about  605,  which  during  the  Exile  was  worked 
up  into  the  present  oracle  against  Babylon.  Cornill  esteems  it 
'*  too  complicated."  Budde  {Expositor,  1895,  pp.  372  ff.)  and  Nowack 
hold  it  untenable. 


THE  BOOK  OF  HABAKKUK  125 

IVoe  !  Their  subject  is,  if  we  take  Budde's  interpreta- 
tion of  the  dramatic  piece,  the  Assyrian  and  not  the 
Chaldean  ^  tyrant.  The  text,  as  we  shall  see  when  we 
come  to  it,  is  corrupt.  Some  words  are  manifestly 
wrong,  and  the  rhythm  must  have  suffered  beyond 
restoration.  In  all  probability  these  fine  lyric  Woes, 
or  at  least  as  many  of  them  as  are  authentic — for  there 
is  doubt  about  one  or  two — were  of  equal  length. 
Whether  they  all  originally  had  the  refrain  now 
attached  to  two  is  more  doubtful. 

Hitzig  suspected  the  authenticity  of  some  parts  of 
this  series  of  songs.  Stade  ^  and  Kuenen  have  gone 
further  and  denied  the  genuineness  of  vv.  9-20.  But 
this  is  with  little  reason.  As  Budde  says,  a  series 
of  Woes  was  to  be  expected  here  by  a  prophet  who 
follows  so  much  the  example  of  Isaiah.'  In  spite  of 
Kuenen's  objection,  vv.  9- 11  would  not  be  strange 
of  the  Chaldean,  but  they  suit  the  Assyrian  better. 
Vv.  12-14  ^re  doubtful:  12  recalls  Micah  iii.  10 ; 
13  is  a  repetition  of  Jer.  h.  58;  14  is  a  variant  of 
Isa.  xi.  9.  Very  likely  Jer.  li.  58,  a  late  passage,  is 
borrowed  from  this  passage ;  yet  the  addition  used 
here,  Are  not  these  things  *  from  the  Lord  of  Hosts  ? 
looks  as  if  it  noted  a  citation.  Vv.  15-17  are  very 
suitable  to  the  Assyrian  ;  there  is  no  reason  to  take 
them  from  Habakkuk.*  The  final  song,  vv.  18  and  19, 
has  its  Woe  at  the  beginning  of  its  second  verse, 
and  closely  resembles  the  language  of  later  prophets.'' 

'  As  of  course  was  universally  supposed  according  to  either  of  the 
other  two  interpretations  given  above. 

*  Z.A.T.IV.,  1S84,  p.  154. 

•  Cf.  Isa.  V.  8  ff.  (x.  1-4),  etc. 

*  So  LXX, 

»  Cf.  Davidson,  p.  56,  and  Budde,  p.  391,  who  allows  9-II  and  15-17. 

•  E.g.  Isa.   xl.   18  ff.,  xliv.   9  ff.,  xlvi.    5  ff.,  etc.      On    this   ground 


■26  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Moreover  the  refrain  forms  a  suitable  close  at  the  end 
of  ver.  17.  Ver.  20  is  a  quotation  from  Zephaniah/ 
perhaps  another  sign  of  the  composite  character  of  the 
end  of  this  chapter.  Some  take  it  to  have  been  inserted 
as  an  introduction  to  the  theophany  in  chap.  iii. 

Smend  has  drawn  up  a  defence  ^  of  the  whole  passage, 
ii.  9-20,  which  he  deems  not  only  to  stand  in  a  natural 
relation  to  vv.  4-8,  but  to  be  indispensable  to  them. 
That  the  passage  quotes  from  other  prophets,  he  holds 
to  be  no  proof  against  its  authenticity.  If  we  break  off 
with  ver.  8,  he  thinks  that  we  must  impute  to  Habakkuk 
the  opinion  that  the  wrongs  of  the  world  are  chiefly 
avenged  by  human  means — a  conclusion  which  is  not 
to  be  expected  after  chap.  i. — ii.  i  ff. 

3.  Chap.  III. 

The  third  chapter,  an  Ode  or  Rhapsody,  is  ascribed  to 
Habakkuk  by  its  title.  This,  however,  does  not  prove 
its  authenticity  :  the  title  is  too  like  those  assigned  to 
the  Psalms  in  the  period  of  the  Second  Temple.'  On 
the  contrary,  the  title  itself,  the  occurrence  of  the 
musical  sign  Selah  in  the  contents,  and  the  colophon 
suggest  for  the  chapter  a  liturgical  origin  after  the 
Exile.*     That  this  is  more  probable  than  the  alternative 


it  is  condemned  by  Stade,  Kuenen  and  Budde.     Davidson  finds  this 
not  a  serious  difficulty,   for,  lie   points   out,  Habakkuk   anticipates 
several  later  lines  of  thought. 
'  See  above,  p.  39,  n. 

*  A.  T.  Religionsgeschichte,  p.  229,  n.  2. 

*  Cf.  the  ascription  by  the  LXX,  of  Psalms  cxlvi. — cl.  to  the  prophets 
Haggai  and  Zechariah. 

*  C£  Kuenen,  who  conceives  it  to  have  been  taken  from  a  post-exilic 
collection  of  Psalms.  See  also  Chej-ne,  The  Origin  of  the  Psalter: 
"  exilic  or  more  probablj' post-oxilic  "  (p.    125).     "The  most  natural 


THE  BOOK   OF  HABAKKUK  127 

opinion,  that,  being  a  genuine  work  of  Habakkuk,  the 
chapter  was  afterwards  arranged  as  a  Psalm  for  public 
worship,  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  no  other  work  of 
the  prophets  has  been  treated  in  the  same  way.  Nor 
do  the  contents  support  the  authorship  by  Habakkuk. 
They  reflect  no  definite  historical  situation  like  the  pre- 
ceding chapters.  The  style  and  temper  are  different. 
While  in  them  the  prophet  speaks  for  himself,  here  it 
is  the  nation  or  congregation  of  Israel  that  addresses 
God.  The  language  is  not,  as  some  have  maintained, 
late ;  ^  but  the  designation  of  the  people  as  Thine  anointed, 
a  term  which  before  the  Exile  was  apphed  to  the  king, 
undoubtedly  points  to  a  post-exilic  date.  The  figures, 
the  theophany  itself,  are  not  necessarily  archaic,  but 
are  more  probably  moulded  on  archaic  models.  There 
are  many  affinities  with  Psalms  of  a  late  date. 

At  the  same  time  a  number  of  critics  ^  maintain  the 
genuineness  of  the  chapter,  and  they  have  some  grounds 
for  this.  Habakkuk  was,  as  we  can  see  from  chaps,  i. 
and  ii.,  a  real  poet.  There  was  no  need  why  a  man  of 
his  temper  should  be  bound  down  to  reflecting  only 

position  for  it  is  in  the  Persian  period.  It  was  doubtless  appended 
to  Habakkuk,  for  the  same  reason  for  which  Isa.  Ixiii.  7 — Ixiv.  was 
attached  to  the  great  prophecy  of  Restoration,  viz.  that  the  earlier 
national  troubles  seemed  to  the  Jewish  Church  to  be  tj'pical  of  its  own 
sore  troubles  after  the  Return.  .  .  .  The  lovely  closing  verses  of  Hab.  iii. 
are  also  in  a  tone  congenial  to  the  later  religion  "  (p.  156).  Much  less 
certain  is  the  assertion  that  the  language  is  imitative  and  artificial 
(ibid,');  while  the  statement  that  in  ver.  3 — cf.  with  Deut.  xxxiii.  2 — 
we  have  an  instance  of  the  effort  to  avoid  the  personal  name  of  the 
Deity  (p.  287)  is  disproved  by  the  use  of  the  latter  in  ver.  2  and 
other  verses. 

'  nX  yiy,  ver.  13,  cannot  be  taken  as  a  proof  of  lateness;  read 
probably  HN  V^U^tn. 

*  Pusey,  Ewald,  Konig,  Sinker  (The  Psalm  of  Habakkuk,  Cambridge, 
1S90),  Kirkpatrick  (Smith's  Bible  Diet.,  art.  "Habakkuk  "),  Von  Orelli 


128  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

his  own  day.  If  so  practical  a  prophet  as  Hosea, 
and  one  who  has  so  closely  identified  himself  with  his 
times,  was  wont  to  escape  from  them  to  a  retrospect  of 
the  dealings  of  God  with  Israel  from  of  old,  why  should 
not  the  same  be  natural  for  a  prophet  who  was  much 
less  practical  and  more  literary  and  artistic  ?  There 
are  also  many  phrases  in  the  Psalm  which  may  be  inter- 
preted as  reflecting  the  same  situation  as  chaps,  i.,  ii. 
All  this,  however,  only  proves  possibility. 

The  Psalm  has  been  adapted  in  Psalm  Ixxvii.  17-20. 


Further  Note  on  Chap.  I. — II.  4. 

Since  this  chapter  was  in  print  Novvack's  Die  Kleinen  Propheten 
in  the  "  Handkommentar  z.  A.  T."  has  been  published.  He  recog- 
nises emphatically  that  the  disputed  passage  about  the  Chaldeans, 
chap.  i.  5-1 1,  is  out  of  place  where  it  lies  (this  against  Kuenen  and 
the  other  authorities  cited  above,  p.  1 17),  and  admits  that  it  follows 
on,  with  a  natural  connection,  to  chap.  ii.  4,  to  which  Budde  pro- 
poses to  attach  it.  Nevertheless,  for  other  reasons,  which  he  does 
not  state,  he  regards  Budde's  proposal  as  untenable  ;  and  reckons  the 
disputed  passage  to  be  by  another  hand  than  Habakkuk's,  and  in- 
truded into  the  latter's  argument.  Habakkuk's  argument  he  assigns 
to  after  605  ;  perhaps  590.  The  tyrant  complained  against  would 
therefore  be  the  Chaldean. — Driver  in  the  6th  ed.  of  his  Introduction 
(1897)  deems  Budde's  argument  "too  ingenious,"  and  holds  by  the 
older  and  most  numerously  supported  argument  (above,  pp.  Ii6fif.). — 
On  a  review  of  the  case  in  the  light  of  these  two  discussions,  the 
present  writer  holds  to  his  opinion  that  Budde's  rearrangement,  which 
he  has  adopted,  offers  the  fewest  difiSculties. 


CHAPTER    X 

THE  PROPHET  AS   SCEPTIC 
Habakkuk  i. — ii.  4 

OF  the  prophet  Habakkuk  we  know  nothing  that 
is  personal  save  his  name — to  our  ears  his  some- 
what odd  name.  It  is  the  intensive  form  of  a  root  which 
means  to  caress  or  embrace.  More  probably  it  was 
given  to  him  as  a  child,  than  afterwards  assumed  as  a 
symbol  of  his  clinging  to  God.^ 

Tradition  says  that  Habakkuk  was  a  priest,  the  son 
of  Joshua,  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  but  this  is  only  an 
inference  from  the  late  liturgical  notes  to  the  Psalm 
which  has  been  appended  to  his  prophecy.'  All  that 
we  know  for  certain  is  that  he  was  a  contemporary 

'  P"1p5Q  (the  Greek  'A/ijSa/cou/A,  LXX.  version  of  the  title  of  this 
book,  and  again  the  inscription  to  Bel  atid  the  Dragon,  suggests 
the  pointing  p-lpBn  •  Epiph.,  De  Vitis  Proph. — see  next  note — spells  it 
' A^^aKovfji),  from  p3n,  to  embrace.  Jerome:  "He  is  called  'embrace' 
either  because  of  his  love  to  the  Lord,  or  because  he  wrestles  with 
God."  Luther  :  "  Habakkuk  means  one  who  comforts  and  holds  up 
his  people  as  one  embraces  a  weeping  person." 

*  See  above,  pp.  126  ff.  The  title  to  the  Greek  version  of  Bel  and  the 
Dragon  bears  that  the  latter  was  taken  from  the  prophecy  of  Ham- 
bakoum,  son  of  Jesus,  of  the  tribe  of  Levi.  Further  details  are  offered 
in  the  De  Vitts  Prophetarum  of  (Pseud-)  Epiphanius,  Epiph.  Opera, 
ed.  Paris,  1622,  Vol.  II.,  p.  147,  according  to  which  Habakkuk  be- 
longed to  Bedtoxvp,  which  is  probably  BeOiuxapia^  of  I  Mace.  vi.  32, 
the  modern  Beit-Zakaryeh,  a  little  to  the  north  of  Hebron,  and  placed 
by  this  notice,  as  Nahum's  Elkosh  is  placed,  in  the  tribe  of  Simeon. 
His  grave  was  shown  in  the  neighbouring  Keilah.  The  notice  further 
VOL.   II.  129  9 


I30  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  Jeremiah,  with  a  sensitiveness  under  wrong  and 
impulses  to  question  God  which  remind  us  of  Jeremiah; 
but  with  a  hterary  power  which  is  quite  his  own.  We 
may  emphasise  the  latter,  even  though  we  recognise 
upon  his  writing  the  influence  of  Isaiah's. 

Habakkuk's  originality,  however,  is  deeper  than 
style.  He  is  the  earliest  who  is  known  to  us  of  a  new 
school  of  religion  in  Israel.  He  is  called  prophet, 
but  at  first  he  does  not  adopt  the  attitude  which  is 
characteristic  of  the  prophets.  His  face  is  set  in 
an  opposite  direction  to  theirs.  They  address  the 
nation  Israel,  on  behalf  of  God :  he  rather  speaks 
to  God  on  behalf  of  Israel.  Their  task  was  Israel's 
sin,  the  proclamation  of  God's  doom  and  the  offer 
of  His  grace  to  their  penitence.  Habakkuk's  task 
is  God  Himself,  the  effort  to  find  out  what  He 
means  by  permitting  tyranny  and  wrong.  They 
attack  the  sins,  he  is  the  first  to  state  the  problems, 
of  life.  To  him  the  prophetic  revelation,  the  Torah,  is 
complete :  it  has  been  codified  in  Deuteronomy  and 
enforced  by  Josiah.  Habakkuk's  business  is  not  to 
add  to  it  but  to  ask  why  it  does  not  work.  Why 
does  God  suffer  wrong  to  triumph,  so  that  the  Torah  is 
paralysed,  and  Mishpat,  the  prophetic  justice  or  judg- 
r.ientf  comes  to  nought?  The  prophets  travailed  for 
Israel's  character — to  get  the  people  to  love  justice  till 
justice  prevailed  among  them  :  Habakkuk  feels  justice 
cannot  prevail  in  Israel,  because  of  the  great  disorder 

alleges  that  when  Nebuchadrezzar  came  up  to  Jerusalem  Habakkuk 
fled  to  Ostracine,  where  he  travelled  in  the  country  of  the  Jshmaelites  ; 
but  he  returned  after  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  and  died  in  538,  two  years 
before  the  return  of  the  exiles.  Bel  and  the  Dragon  tells  an  extra- 
ordinary story  of  his  miraculous  carriage  of  food  to  Daniel  in  the  lions' 
den  soon  after  Cyrus  had  taken  Babyh  n. 


Hab.i.-ii.4]  THE  PROPHET  AS  SCEPTIC  131 


which  God  permits  to  fill  the  world.  It  is  true  that 
he  arrives  at  a  prophetic  attitude,  and  before  the  end 
authoritatively  declares  God's  will;  but  he  begins  by 
searching  for  the  latter,  with  an  appreciation  of  the 
great  obscurity  cast  over  it  by  the  facts  of  life.  He 
complains  to  God,  asks  questions  and  expostulates. 
This  is  the  beginning  of  speculation  in  Israel.  It 
does  not  go  far  :  it  is  satisfied  with  stating  questions 
to  God ;  it  does  not,  directly  at  least,  state  questions 
against  Him.  But  Habakkuk  at  least  feels  that  revela- 
tion is  baffled  by  experience,  that  the  facts  of  life 
bewilder  a  man  who  believes  in  the  God  whom  the 
prophets  have  declared  to  Israel.  As  in  Zephaniah 
prophecy  begins  to  exhibit  traces  of  apocalypse,  so  in 
Habakkuk  we  find  it  developing  the  first  impulses  of 
speculation. 

We  have  seen  that  the  course  of  events  which 
troubles  Habakkuk  and  renders  the  Torah  ineffectual 
is  somewhat  obscure.  On  one  interpretation  of  these 
two  chapters,  that  which  takes  the  present  order  of 
their  verses  as  the  original,  Habakkuk  asks  why  God 
is  silent  in  face  of  the  injustice  which  fills  the  whole 
horizon  (chap.  i.  1-4),  is  told  to  look  round  among  the 
heathen  and  see  how  God  is  raising  up  the  Chaldeans 
(i.  5-1 1),  presumably  to  punish  this  injustice  (if  it  be 
Israel's  own)  or  to  overthrow  it  (if  vv.  1-4  mean 
that  it  is  inflicted  on  Israel  by  a  foreign  power).  But 
the  Chaldeans  only  aggravate  the  prophet's  problem ; 
they  themselves  are  a  wicked  and  oppressive  people : 
how  can  God  suffer  them?  (i.  12-17).  Then  come  the 
prophet's  waiting  for  an  answer  (ii.  i)  and  the  answer 
itself  (ii.  2  ff.).  Another  interpretation  takes  the 
passage  about  the  Chaldeans  (i.  5-1 1)  to  be  out  of 
place  where  it  now  lies,  removes  it  to  after  chap.  ii.  4 


13a  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

as  a  part  of  God's  answer  to  the  prophet's  problem, 
and  leaves  the  remainder  of  chap.  i.  as  the  description 
of  the  Assyrian  oppression  of  Israel,  baffling  the  Torah 
and  perplexing  the  prophet's  faith  in  a  Holy  and  Just 
God.*  Of  these  two  views  the  former  is,  we  have 
seen,  somewhat  artificial,  and  though  the  latter  is  by 
no  means  proved,  the  arguments  for  it  are  sufficient 
to  justify  us  in  re-arranging  the  verses  chap.  i. — ii.  4  in 
accordance  with  its  proposals. 

The  Oracle  which  Habakkuk  the  Prophet 
Received  by  Vision} 

How  long,  O  Jehovah,  have  I  called  and  Thou  hearest 

not? 
I  cry  to  Thee,  Wrong  I  and  Thou  sendest  no  help. 
Why  make  me  look  upon  sorrow, 
And  fill  mine  eyes  with  trouble  ? 
Violence  and  wrong  are  before  me, 
Strife  comes  and  quarrel  arises} 
So  the  Law  is  benumbed,  and  judgment  never  gets 

forth :  * 
For  the  wicked  beleaguers  the  righteous. 
So  judgment  comes  forth  perverted. 

•  •  •  •  • 

Art  not   Thou  oj  old,  Jehovah,  my  God,  my  Holy 
One?  .  .  ^ 

'  See  above,  pp.  119  flF.  *  Heb.  saw. 

'  Text  uncertain.     Perhaps  we  should  read,  Why  make  me   look 
upon  sorrow  and  trouble  ?  why  fill  mine  eyes  with  violence  and  wrong 
Strife  is  come  before  me,  and  quarrel  arises. 

*  Never  gets  away,  to  use  a  colloquial  expression. 

*  Here  vv.  5-1 1  come  in  the  original. 

*  Ver.  12b:  We  shall  not  die  (many  Jewish  authorities  read  Thou 
shall  not  die),  O  Jehovah,  for  judgment  hast  Thou  set  him,  and,  Omy 
Rock,  for  punishment  hast  Thou  appointed  him. 


Hab.i.-ii.4l  TUi^   PROPHET  AS  SCEPTIC  133 

Purer  of  eyes  than  to  behold  evil, 

And  that  canst  not  gaze  upon  trouble  I 

Why  gasest  Thou  upon  traitors,'^ 

Art  dumb  when  the  wicked  swallows  him   that  is 

more  righteous  than  he?^ 
Thou  hast  let  men  be  made '  like  fish  of  tlie  sea, 
Like  worms  that  have  no  ruler  I  * 
He  lifts  the  whole  of  it  with  his  angle; 
Draws  it  in  with  his  net,  sweeps  it  in  his  drag-net  : 
So  rejoices  and  exults. 
So  he  sacrifices  to  his  net,  and  offers  incense  to  hij 

drag-net; 
For  by  them  is  his  portion  fat,  and  his  food  rich. 
Shall  he  for  ever  draw  his  sword,  * 
And  ceaselessly,  ruthlessly  massacre  nations?* 

Upon  my  watch-tower  I  will  stand. 
And  take  my  post  on  the  rampart? 
I  will  watch  to  see  what  He  ivill  say  to  me^ 
And  what  answer  I^  get  back  to  my  plea. 

And  fckovah  ansivered  me  and  said: 

Write  the  vision,  and  make  it  plain  upon  tablets, 

That  he  may  run  who  reads  it. 

'  Wellhavisen  :  on  the  robbery  of  robbers. 

*  LXX.  devonreth  the  righteous. 

*  Literally  Thou  hast  made  men. 

*  Wfcllhausen  :  cf.  Jer.  xviii.  i,  xix.  I. 

'  So  Giesebrecht  (see  above,  p.  1 19,  n.  2),  reading  13"in  p**!*  D^Wn 
tor  IDin    pn*    p"*?!;!"!,  shall  he  therefore  empty  his  net? 

*  Wellhausen,  reading  JiriM'or  y\TV>  :  should  lie  thertf ore  be  emptying 
his  net  continually,  and  slaughtering  the  nations  iviihoiit  pity  ? 

'  11XD.      But   Wellhausen  takes  it    as  from   "l^'3   and  =  ward  or 
ivatch-tower.     So  Nowack. 

*  So  Heb.  and  LXX.  ;  but  Syr.  ht :  so  Wellhausen,  what  answer 
He  returns  to  nty  plea. 


134  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

For^  the  vision  is  for  a  time  yet  to  be  fixed. 
Yet  it  hurries^  to  the  end,  and  shall  not  fail: 
Though  it  linger,  wait  thou  for  it; 
Coming  it  shall  come,  and  shall  not  be  behind} 
Lo  !  swollen,*'  not  level  is  his^  soul  within  him; 
But  the  righteous  shall  live  by  his  faithfulness.* 
•  •  •  •  « 

Look  ^  round  among  the  heathen,  and  look  well, 

Shudder  and  be  sJwcked;  * 

For  I  am  ^  about  to  do  a  work  in  your  days, 

Ye  shall  not  believe  it  when  told. 

For,  lo,  I  am  about  to  raise  up  the  Kasdim^* 

A  people  the  tnost  bitter  and  the  most  hasty, 

That  traverse  the  breadths  of  the  earth. 

To  possess  dwelling-places  not  their  own. 

Awful  and  terrible  are  they; 

From  themselves  "  start  their  purpose  and  rising. 


•  Bredenkamp  {Stud.  u.  Krit.,  1889,  pp.  161  flf.)  suggests  that  the 
writing  on  the  tablets  begins  here  and  goes  on  to  ver.  5a.  Budde 
{Z.A.T.W.,  1889,  pp.  155  f.)  takes  the  '''2  which  opens  it  as  simply 
equivalent  to  the  Greek  Srt,  introducing,  like  our  marks  of  quotation, 
the  writing  itself. 

'  riB"'! :  cf  Psalm  xxvii.  12.     Bredenkamp  emends  to  rTIQ^.I. 

•  Not  be  late,  or  past  its  fixed  time. 

•  So  literally  the  Heb.  n*7£iy,  i.e.  arrogant,  false :  cf.  the  colloquial 
expression  swollen-head  =  conceit,  as  opposed  to  level-headed. 
Bredenkamp,  S/W.  M. /Tr/if. ,  1SS9,  121,  reads  5]pion  for  TD^'J  nan. 
Wellhausen  suggests  ?U'n  njil,  Lo,  the  sinner,  in  contrast  to  p^TV 
of  next  clause.     Nowack  prefers  this. 

•  LXX.  wrongly  my. 

•  LXX.  iriffTis,  faith,  and  so  in  N.  T. 

•  Chap.  i.  5-1 1. 

•  So  to  bring  out  the  assonance,  reading  ^HOn-l   •inpniOnn, 
»  So  LXX. 

'•  Or  Chaldeans ;  on  the  name  and  people  see  above,  p.  19. 
"  Heb.  singular. 


Hab.i.-ii.4]  THE  PROPHET  AS  SCEPTIC  13S 

Fleeter  than  leopards  their  steeds. 
Swifter  than  night-wolves. 
Their  horsemen  leap  ^  from  afar ; 
They  swoop  like  the  eagle  a-haste  to  devour. 
All  for  wrong  do  they"^  come  ; 
The  set  of  their  faces  is  forward,^ 
And  they  sweep  up  captives  like  sand. 
They — at  kings  do  they  scoff, 
And  princes  are  sport  to  them. 
They — they  laugh  at  each  fortress, 
Heap  dust  up  and  take  it  ! 
Then  the  wind  shifts,'^  and  they  pass  t 
But  doomed  are  those  whose  own  strength  is  their 
god!^ 

The  difficulty  of  deciding  between  the  various  arrange- 
ments of  the  two  chapters  of  Habakkuk  does  not, 
fortunately,  prevent  us  from  appreciating  his  argument. 
What  he  feels  throughout  (this  is  obvious,  however 
you   arrange   his   verses)   is   the   tyranny  of  a  great 


*  Omit  VB^IDI  (evidently  a  dittography)  and  the  lame  1N3*  which 
is  omitted  by  LXX.  and  was  probably  inserted  to  aflford  a  verb  for  the 
second  VK^IQ. 

*  Heb.  sing.,  and  so  in  all  the  clauses  here  except  the  next. 

*  A  problematical  rendering.  HDiD  is  found  only  here,  and  probably 
means  direction.  Hitzig  translates  desire,  effort,  striving.  HOnp,  to- 
wards the  front  or  forward ;  but  elsewhere  it  means  only  eastward : 
Dnp,  the  east  wind.  Cf.  Judg.  v.  21,  jltJ'^p  !?n:  D^DHp  ^HJ,  a  river  of 
spates  or  rushes  is  the  river  Kishon  QHist.  Geog.,  p.  395).  Perhaps 
we  should  change  D''n''JQ  to  a  singular  sufifix,  as  in  the  clauses  before 
and  after,  and  this  would  leave  D  to  form  with  HDHp  a  participle 
from  D"'npn  (cf.  Amos  ix.  10). 

*  Or  their  spirit  changes,  or  they  change  like  the  wind  (Wellhausen 
suggests  ni~l3).     Gratz   reads  n3  and  ^vQ^    he  renews  his  strength, 

*  Von  Orelli.     For  DD'N  Wellhausen  proposes  D^^l    and  sets. 


136  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

heathen  power/  be  it  Assyrian,  Egyptian  or  Chaldean. 
The  prophet's  horizon  is  filled  with  wrong :  *  Israel 
thrown  into  disorder,  revelation  paralysed,  justice  per- 
verted.' But,  like  Nahum,  Habakkuk  feels  not  for 
Israel  alone.  The  Tyrant  has  outraged  humanity.*  He 
siveeps  peoples  into  his  net,  and  as  soon  as  he  empties 
this,  he  fills  it  again  ceaselessly,  as  if  there  were  no  just 
God  above.  He  exults  in  his  vast  cruelty,  and  has 
success  so  unbroken  that  he  worships  the  very  means 
of  it.  In  itself  such  impiety  is  gross  enough,  but  to 
a  heart  that  believes  in  God  it  is  a  problem  of  exquisite 
pain.  Habakkuk's  is  the  burden  of  the  finest  faith. 
He  illustrates  the  great  commonplace  of  religious 
doubt,  that  problems  arise  and  become  rigorous  in 
proportion  to  the  purity  and  tenderness  of  a  man's 
conception  of  God.  It  is  not  the  coarsest  but  the  finest 
temperaments  which  are  exposed  to  scepticism.  Every 
advance  in  assurance  of  God  or  in  appreciation  of 
His  character  develops  new  perplexities  in  face  of  the 
facts  of  experience,  and  faith  becomes  her  own  most 
cruel  troubler.  Habakkuk's  questions  are  not  due  to 
any  cooling  of  the  religious  temper  in  Israel,  but 
are  begotten  of  the  very  heat  and  ardour  of  prophecy 
in  its  encounter  with  experience.  His  tremulousness^ 
for  instance,  is  impossible  without  the  high  knowledge 
of  God's  purity  and  faithfulness,  which  older  prophets 
had  achieved  in  Israel  : — 

Art  not  Thou  of  old,  O  LORD,  my  God,  my  Holy 
One, 


'  The  wicked  of  chap.  i.  4  must,  as  we  have  seen,  be  the  same  as 
tht  wicked  of  chap.  i.  13 — a  heathen  oppressor  of  the  righteous,  i.t.  the 
people  of  God. 

*  i.  3.  M.  4.  *  i.  13-17. 


Hab.i.-ii.4]  THE  PROPHET  AS  SCEPTIC  137 

Purer  of  eyes  than  to  behold  evil, 
And  incapable  of  looking  upon  wrong  ? 

His  despair  is  that  which  comes  only  from  eager  and 
persevering  habits  of  prayer : — 

How  long,  O  LORD,  have  I  called  and  Thou  hearest 

not  I 
I  cry  to  Thee  of  wrong  and  Thou  givest  no  help  I 

His  questions,  too,  are  bold  with  that  sense  of  God's 
absolute  power,  which  flashed  so  bright  in  Israel  as  to 
blind  men's  eyes  to  all  secondary  and  intermediate 
causes.     Thou,  he  says, — 

Thou  hast  made  men  like  fishes  of  the  sea, 
Like  worms  that  have  no  ruler, 

boldly  charging  the  Almighty,  in  almost  the  temper  of 
Job  himself,  with  being  the  cause  of  the  cruelty  inflicted 
by  the  unchecked  tyrant  upon  the  nations;  for  shall 
evil  happen,  and  Jehovah  not  have  done  it  ?  ^  Thus  all 
through  we  perceive  that  Habakkuk's  trouble  springs 
from  the  central  founts  of  prophecy.  This  scepticism — 
if  we  may  venture  to  give  the  name  to  the  first  motions 
in  Israel's  mind  of  that  temper  which  undoubtedly 
became  scepticism — this  scepticism  was  the  inevitable 
heritage  of  prophecy :  the  stress  and  pain  to  which 
prophecy  was  forced  by  its  own  strong  convictions  in 
face  of  the  facts  of  experience.  Habakkuk,  the  prophet, 
as  b^  is  called,  stood  in  the  direct  line  of  his  order, 
but  just  because  of  that  he  was  the  father  also  of 
Israel's  religious  doubt. 

But  a  discontent  springing    from    sources    so   pure 

*  Amos  iii.  6.     See  Vol.  T.,  p.  90. 


138  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

was  surely  the  preparation  of  its  own  healing.  In 
a  verse  of  exquisite  beauty  the  prophet  describes  the 
temper  in  which  he  trusted  for  an  answer  to  all  his 
doubts : — 

On  my  watch-tower  will  I  stand, 
And  take  up  my  post  on  the  rampart; 
I  will  watch  to  see  what  He  says  to  me, 
And  what  answer  I  get  back  to  my  plea. 

This  verse  is  not  to  be  passed  over,  as  if  its  meta- 
phors were  merely  of  literary  effect.  They  express 
rather  the  moral  temper  in  which  the  prophet  carries 
his  doubt,  or,  to  use  New  Testament  language,  the  good 
conscience,  which  some  having  put  away,  concerning  faith 
have  made  shipwreck.  Nor  is  this  temper  patience  only 
and  a  certain  elevation  of  mind,  nor  only  a  fixed 
attention  and  sincere  willingness  to  be  answered. 
Through  the  chosen  words  there  breathes  a  noble 
sense  of  responsibility.  The  prophet  feels  he  has  a 
post  to  hold,  a  rampart  to  guard.  He  knows  the 
heritage  of  truth,  won  by  the  great  minds  of  the  past ; 
and  in  a  world  seething  with  disorder,  he  will  take  his 
stand  upon  that  and  see  what  more  his  God  will  send 
him.  At  the  very  least,  he  will  not  indolently  drift, 
but  feel  that  he  has  a  standpoint,  however  narrow,  and 
bravely  hold  it.  Such  has  ever  been  the  attitude  of 
the  greatest  sceptics — not  only,  let  us  repeat,  earnest- 
ness and  sincerity,  but  the  recognition  of  duty  towards 
the  truth  :  the  conviction  that  even  the  most  tossed  and 
troubled  minds  have  somewhere  a  irov  arS  appointed  of 
God,  and  upon  it  interests  human  and  divine  to  defend. 
Without  such  a  conscience,  scepticism,  however  in- 
tellectually gifted,  will  avail  nothing.  Men  who  drift 
never   discover,   never   grasp  aught.     They   are   only 


Hab.L-ii4]  THE  PROPHET  AS  SCEPTIC  139 

dazzled  by  shifting  gleams  of  the  truth,  only   fretted 
and  broken  by  experience. 

Taking  then  his  stand  within  the  patient  temper,  but 
especially  upon  the  conscience  of  his  great  order,  the 
prophet  waits  for  his  answer  and  the  healing  of  his 
trouble.  The  answer  comes  to  him  in  the  promise  of 
a  Vision,  which,  though  it  seem  to  linger,  will  not  be 
later  than  the  time  fixed  by  God.  A  Vision  is  something 
realised,  experienced — something  that  will  be  as  actual 
and  present  to  the  waiting  prophet  as  the  cruelty  which 
now  fills  his  sight.  Obviously  some  series  of  historical 
events  is  meant,  by  which,  in  the  course  of  time,  the 
unjust  oppressor  of  the  nations  shall  be  overthrown 
and  the  righteous  vindicated.  Upon  the  re-arrangement 
of  the  text  proposed  by  Budde,^  this  series  of  events 
is  the  rise  of  the  Chaldeans,  and  it  is  an  argument 
in  favour  of  his  proposal  that  the  promise  of  a  Vision 
requires  some  such  historical  picture  to  follow  it  as  we 
find  in  the  description  of  the  Chaldeans— chap.  i.  5-II. 
This,  too,  is  explicitly  introduced  by  terms  of  vision  : 
See  among  the  nations  and  look  round.  .  .  .  Yea,  behold 
I  am  about  to  raise  up  the  Kasdim.  But  before  this 
Vision  is  given,*  and  for  the  uncertain  interval  of 
waiting  ere  the  facts  come  to  pass,  the  Lord  enforces 
upon  His  watching  servant  the  great  moral  principle 
that  arrogance  and  tyranny  cannot,  from  the  nature 
of  them,  last,  and  that  if  the  righteous  be  only  patient 
he  will  survive  them  : — 

Lo,  swollen,  not  level,  is  his  soul  within  him ; 
But  the  righteous  shall  live  by  his  faithfulness. 


'  See  above,  pp.  119  fif. 

^  Its  proper  place  in  Budde's  rc-arrangement  is  after  chap.  ii.  4. 


140  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

We  have  already  seen  ^  that  the  text  of  the  first  line 
of  this  couplet  is  uncertain.  Yet  the  meaning  is 
obvious,  partly  in  the  words  themselves,  and  partly 
by  their  implied  contrast  with  the  second  line.  The 
soul  of  the  wicked  is  a  radically  morbid  thing  :  inflated, 
swollen  (unless  we  should  read  perverted,  which  more 
plainly  means  the  same  thing  ^),  not  level,  not  natural 
and  normal.  In  the  nature  of  things  it  cannot  endure. 
But  the  righteous  shall  live  by  his  faithfulness.  This 
word,  wrongly  translated  faith  by  the  Greek  and 
other  versions,  is  concentrated  by  Paul  in  his  repeated 
quotation  from  the  Greek '  upon  that  single  act  of 
faith  by  which  the  sinner  secures  forgiveness  and 
justification.  With  Habakkuk  it  is  a  wider  term. 
^Emunah,^  from  a  verb  meaning  originally  to  be  firm, 
is  used  in  the  Old  Testament  in  the  physical  sense  of 
steadfastness.  So  it  is  applied  to  the  arms  of  Moses 
held  up  by  Aaron  and  Hur.over  the  battle  with  Amalek  : 
they  were  steadiness  till  tiic  going  down  of  the  sun}  It 
is  also  used  of  the  faichful  discharge  of  public  office,* 
and  of  fidelity  as  between  man  and  wife.'^  It  is 
also  faithful  testimony,*  equity  in  judgment,*  truth  in 
speech,^"  and  sincerity  or  honest  dealing."  Of  course 
it  has  faith  in  God  as  its  secret — the  verb  from  which 
it  is  derived  is  the  regular  Hebrew  term  to  believe — 
but  it  is  rather  the  temper  which  faith  produces  of 
endurance,  steadfastness,  integrity.  Let  the  righteous, 
however  baffled  his  faith  be  by  experience,  hold  on  in 


*  Above,  p.  134^,  n.  4.  *  Hosea  ii.  22  (Heb.). 

*  Ti^yAJ  instead  of    Vb^V,  *  Prov.  xiv,  5. 

*  Rom.  i.  17  ;  Gal.  iii.  11'.  •  Isa.  xi.  5. 

*  rij-IDX.  ••  Prov.  xii,  17:  cf.  Jer  ix.  2. 

*  Exod.  xvii.  12.  "  Prov.  xii.  22,  xxviii.  30. 
8  Chron.  xix.  9. 


Hab.i.-ii.4]  THE  PROPHET  AS  SCEPTIC  141 

loyalty  to  God  and  duty,  and  he  shall  live.  Though 
St.  Paul,  as  we  have  said,  used  the  Greek  rendering 
of  faith  for  the  enforcement  of  trust  in  God's  mercy 
through  Jesus  Christ  as  the  secret  of  forgiveness  and 
life,  it  is  rather  to  Habakkuk's  wider  intention  of 
patience  and  fidelity  that  the  author  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  returns  in  his  fuller  quotation  of  the 
verse  :  For  yet  a  little  while  and  He  that  shall  come 
will  come  and  will  not  tarry ;  now  the  just  shall  live  by 
faith,  but  if  he  draw  back  My  soul  shall  have  no  pleasure 
in  him} 

Such  then  is  the  tenor  of  the  passage.  In  face  of 
experience  that  baffles  faith,  the  duty  of  Israel  is 
patience  in  loyalty  to  God.  In  this  the  nascent 
scepticism  of  Israel  received  its  first  great  command- 
ment, and  this  it  never  forsook.  Intellectual  questions 
arose,  of  which  Habakkuk's  were  but  the  faintest 
foreboding — questions  concerning  not  only  the  mission 
and  destiny  of  the  nation,  but  the  very  foundation  of 
justice  and  the  character  of  God  Himself.  Yet  did  no 
sceptic,  however  bold  and  however  provoked,  forsake 
his  faithfulness.  Even  Job,  when  most  audaciously 
arraigning  the  God  of  his  experience,  turned  from  Him 
to  God  as  in  his  heart  of  hearts  he  believed  He  must 
be,  experience  notwithstanding.  Even  the  Preacher, 
amid  the  aimless  flux  and  drift  which  he  finds  in  the 
universe,  holds  to  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter 
in  a  command,  which  better  than  any  other  defines  the 
contents  of  the  Jaithfulness  enforced  by  Habakkuk  : 
Fear  God  and  keep  His  commandments,  for  this  is  the 
whole  of  man.    It  has  been  the  same  with  the  great  mass 


'  Heb.  X.  37,  38. 


142  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  the  race.  Repeatedly  disappointed  of  their  hopes, 
and  crushed  for  ages  beneath  an  intolerable  tyranny, 
have  they  not  exhibited  the  same  heroic  temper  with 
which  their  first  great  questioner  was  endowed  ?  En- 
durance— this  above  all  others  has  been  the  quality 
of  Israel :  though  He  slay  nte,  yet  will  I  trust  Him. 
And,  therefore,  as  Paul's  adaptation,  The  just  shall  live 
by  faithy  has  become  the  motto  of  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity, so  we  may  say  that  Habakkuk's  original  of  it 
has  been  the  motto  and  the  fame  of  Judaism :  The 
righteous  shall  live  by  his  faithfulness. 


CHAPTER    XI 

TYRANNY  IS  SUICIDE 
Habakkuk  ii.  5~20 

IN  the  style  of  his  master  Isaiah,  Habakkuk  follows 
up  his  Vision  with  a  series  of  lyrics  on  the  same 
subject :  chap.  ii.  5~20.  They  are  taunt-songs,  the  most 
of  them  beginning  with  Woe  unto,  addressed  to  the 
heathen  oppressor.  Perhaps  they  were  all  at  first  of 
equal  length,  and  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  strik- 
ing refrain  in  which  two  of  them  close — 

For  men's  blood,  and  earth's  waste. 
Cities  and  their  inhabitants — 

was  once  attached  to  each  of  the  others  as  well.  But 
the  text  has  been  too  much  altered,  besides  suffering 
several  interpolations,^  to  permit  of  its  restoration, 
and  we  can  only  reproduce  these  taunts  as  they  now 
run  in  the  Hebrew  text.  There  are  several  quotations 
(not  necessarily  an  argument  against  Habakkuk's 
authorship);  but,  as  a  whole,  the  expression  is  original, 
and  there  are  some  lines  of  especial  force  and  fresh- 
ness. Verses  5 -6a  are  properly  an  introduction,  the 
first  Woe  commencing  with  6b. 

The  belief  which  inspires  these  songs  is  very  simple. 


'  See  above,  pp.  125  i. 
143 


144  1'^^   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Tyranny  is  intolerable.  In  the  nature  of  things  it 
cannot  endure,  but.  works  out  its  own  penalties.  By 
oppressing  so  many  nations,  the  tyrant  is  preparing 
the  instruments  of  his  own  destruction.  As  he  treats 
them,  so  in  time  shall  they  treat  him.  He  is  like  a 
debtor  who  increases  the  number  of  his  creditors. 
Some  day  they  shall  rise  up  and  exact  from  him  the 
last  penny.  So  that  in  cutting  off  others  he  is  bid 
forfeiting  his  own  life.  The  very  violence  done  to 
nature,  the  deforesting  of  Lebanon  for  instance,  and 
the  vast  hunting  of  wild  beasts,  shall  recoil  on  him. 
This  line  of  thought  is  exceedingly  interesting.  We 
have  already  seen  in  prophecy,  and  especially  in  Isaiah, 
the  beginnings  of  Hebrew  Wisdom— the  attempt  to 
uncover  the  moral  processes  of  life  and  express  a 
philosophy  of  history.  But  hardly  anywhere  have  we 
found  so  complete  an  absence  of  all  reference  to  the 
direct  interference  of  God  Himself  in  the  punishment 
of  the  tyrant;  for  the  cup  of  JehovaKs  right  hand  in 
ver.  1 6  is  simply  the  survival  of  an  ancient  metaphor. 
These  proverbs  or  taunt-songs,  in  conformity  with  the 
proverbs  of  the  later  Wisdom,  dwell  only  upon  the 
inherent  tendency  to  decay  of  all  injustice.  Tyranny, 
they  assert,  and  history  ever  since  has  affirmed  their 
truthfulness — tyranny  is  suicide. 

The  last  of  the  taunt-songs,  which  treats  of  the 
different  subject  of  idolatry,  is  probably,  as  we  have 
seen,  not  from  Habakkuk's  hand,  but  of  a  later  date.^ 

'  See  above,  pp.  125  f.  Nowack  (1897)  agrees  that  Cornill's  and 
others'  conclusion  that  vv.  9-20  are  not  Habakkuk's  is  too  sweeping. 
He  takes  the  first,  second  and  fourth  of  the  taunt-songs  as  authentic, 
but  assigns  the  third  (vv.  12-14)  and  the  fifth  (18-20)  to  another 
hand.  He  deems  the  refrain,  86  and  17Z1,  to  be  a  gloss,  and  puts  19 
before  18.  Driver,  Introd.,  6lh  ed.,  holds  to  the  authenticity  of  all  the 
verses. 


Hab.ii.  S-20]  TYRANNY  IS  SUICIDE  14S 

Introduction  to  the  Taunt-Songs  (ii.  5-6a). 

•  •  •  • 

For  ...  *  treacherous, 

An  arrogant  f el lotv,  and  is  not .  .  .  • 

Who  opens  his  desire  wide  as  Sheol; 

He  is  like  death,  unsatisfied  ; 

And  hath  swept  to  himself  all  the  nations, 

And  gathered  to  him  all  peoples. 

Shall  not  these,  all  of  them,  take  up  a  proverb  upon 

him, 
And  a  taunt-song  against  him  ?  and  say  : — 

First  Taunt-Song  (ii.  66-8). 

Woe  unto  him  who  multiplies  what  is  not  his  own, 

— How  long? — 

And  loads  him  with  debts  !  ' 

Shall  not  thy  creditors  *  rise  up, 

And  thy  troublers  awake, 

'  The  text  reads,  For  also  wine  is  treacherous,  under  which  we 
might  be  tempted  to  suspect  some  such  original  as,  As  iviite  is 
treacherous,  so  (next  line)  the  proud  fellow,  etc.  (or,  as  Davidson 
suggests,  Like  wine  is  the  treacherous  dealer'),  were  it  not  that  the 
word  wine  appears  neither  in  the  Greek  nor  in  the  Syrian  version. 
Wellhausen  suggests  that  J'^SH,  wine,  is  a  corruption  of  MH,  with 
which  the  verse,  like  vv.  6b,  9,  12,  15,  19,  may  have  originally- 
begun,  but  according  to  6a  the  taunt-songs,  opening  with  *in,  start 
first  in  66.      Bredenkamp  proposes  pX3  D5NI1. 

*  The  text  is  ni3\  a  verb  not  elsewhere  found  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and  conjectured  by  our  translators  to  mean  keepeth  at  home,  because 
the  noun  allied  to  it  means  homestead  or  resting-place.  The  Sjniac 
gives  is  not  satisfied,  and  Wellhausen  proposes  to  read  nil*  with 
that  sense.     See  Davidson's  note  on  the  verse. 

'  A.V.  thick  clay,  which  is  reached  by  breaking  up  the  word  13*1331?, 
pledge  or  debt,  into  31?,  tliick  cloud,  and  t3*t3,  rlay. 

*  l.i'erally  thy  bifcrs,  T'DK'3,  but  IK'3,  biting,  is  interest  or  usury,  and 
the  Hiphil  of  ~^^'i  is  to  exact  interest. 

VOL,  II.  10 


s 


146  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

And  thou  be  for  spoil  ^  to  them  ? 
Because  thou  hast  spoiled  many  nations, 
All  the  rest  of  the  peoples  shall  spoil  thee. 
For  merCs  blood,  and  eartUs  waste^ 
Cities  and  all  their  inhabitants* 

Second  Taunt-Song  (ii.  9-1 1). 

IVoe  unto  him  that  gains  evil  gain  for  his  house,^ 
To  set  high  his  nest,  to  save  hint  from  the  grasp 

of  calamity  ! 
Thou  hast  planned  shame  for  thy  house  ; 
Thou  hast  cut  off^  many  people, 
While  forfeiting  thine  oiini  life} 
For  the  stone  shall  cry  out  from  the  wall, 
And  the  lath  '  from  the  timber  answer  it. 

Third  Taunt-Song  (ii.    12-14). 

IVoe  unto  him  that  builds  a  city  in  blood^ 

And stablishes  a  town  in  iniquity!^ 

Lo,  is  it  not  from  Jehovah  of  hosts. 

That  the  nations  shall  toil  for  smoke* 

And  the  peoples  wear  themselves  out  for  nought? 

But  earth  shall  be  filled  ivith  the  knowledge  of  the 

glory  of  Jehovah  ^^ 
Like  the  waters  that  cover  the  sea. 

«  LXX.  sing.,  Heb.  pi. 

*  These  words  occur  again  in  ver.  1 7.  Wellhausen  tliinks  they 
suit  neither  here  nor  there.  But  they  suit  all  the  taunt-songs,  and 
some  suppose  that  they  formed  the  refrain  to  each  of  these. 

»  Dynasty  or  people  ?  *  So  LXX.  ;  Heb.  cutting  off. 

*  The  grammatical  construction  is  obscure,  if  the  text  be  correct. 
There  is  no  mistaking  the  meaning. 

°  D''D3,  not  elsewhere  found  in  the  O.T.,  is  in  Rabbinic  Hebrew 
both  cross-beam  and  lath. 

'  Micah  iii.  lo.  •  Literally ^r*. 

*  Jer.  xxii.  13.  '•  Jer.  Ii.  58 :  which  original  ? 


H*'b.ii.5-ao]  TYRANNY  IS  SUICIDE  147 

Fourth  Taunt-Song  (ii.   IS-I?)* 
Woe  unto  him  that  gives  his  neighbour  to  drink, 
From  the  cup  of  his  wrath  ^  till  he  be  drunken, 
That  he  may  gloat  on  his  "  nakedness  I 
Thou  art  sated  with  shame — not  with  glory; 
Drink  also  thou,  and  stagger.^ 
Comes  round  to  thee  the  cup  of  Jehovah's  right  hand. 
And  foul  shame  *  on  thy  glory. 
For  the  violence  to  Lebanon  shall  cover  thee. 
The  destruction  of  the  beasts  shall  affray  thee} 
For  men's  blood,  and  earth's  waste, 
Cities  and  all  their  inhabitants.* 

Fifth  Taunt-Song  (ii.   18-20). 

What  boots  an  image,  when  its  artist  has  graven  it, 
A  cast-image  and  lie-oracle,   that  its  moulder  has 

trusted  upon  it, 
Making  dumb  idols  ? 
Woe  to  him  that  saith  to  a  block,  Awake  t 
To  a  dumb  stone,  Arise  I 

'  After   Wellhausen's   suggestion  to   read  inDPI    »1D0  instead   of 
the  text  "jnon  riDDO,  adding,  or  mixing,  thy  wrath. 
'  So  LXX.  Q. ;  Heb.  their. 

*  Read  hv'\n  (cf.  Nahum  ii.  4;  Zech.  xii.  2).  The  text  is  ^IVT],  not 
found  elsewhere,  which  has  been  conjectured  to  mean  uncover  the 
foreskin.  And  there  is  some  ground  for  this,  as  parallel  to  his  naked- 
ness in  the  previous  clause.  Wellhausen  also  removes  the  first  clause 
to  the  end  of  the  verse:  Drink  also  thou  and  reel ;  there  comes  to  thee 
the  cup  in  Jehovah's  right  hand,  and  thou  wilt  glut  thyself  with  shame 
instead  of  honour. 

*  So  R.V.  for  \b\>''^,  which  A.V.  has  taken  as  two  words — *p,  for 
which  c£  Jer.  xxv.  27,  where  however  the  text  is  probably  corrupt, 
and  p?p.     With  this  confusion  cf.  above,  ver.  6,  D^ID3U. 

»  Read  with  LXX.  IDn"  for  jn'^n''  of  the  text. 

*  See  above,  ver.  8. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


Can  it  teach  ? 

Lo,  it  .  .  }  with  gold  and  silver; 
There  is  no  breath  at  all  in  the  heart  of  it. 
But  Jehovah  is  in  His  Holy  Temple: 
Silence  before  Him,  all  the  earth  ! 


I  B>!|BJj|p 


CHAPTER    XU 

•IN  THE  MIDST  OF  THE   YEARS' 
HABAKKtnc  iiL 

WE  have  seen  the  impossibUity  of  deciding  the 
age  of  the  ode  which  is  attributed  to  Habakkuk 
in  the  third  chapter  of  his  book.  But  this  is  only 
one  oi  the  many  problems  raised  by  that  brilliant 
poem.  Much  of  its  text  is  corrupt,  and  the  meaning 
of  many  single  words  is  uncertain.  As  in  most 
Hebrew  poems  of  description,  the  tenses  of  the  verbs 
puzzle  us ;  we  cannot  always  determine  whether  the 
poet  is  singing  of  that  which  is  past  or  present  or 
future,  and  this  difficulty  is  increased  by  his  subject, 
a  revelation  of  God  in  nature  for  the  deliverance  of 
Israel.  Is  this  the  deliverance  from  Egypt,  with  the 
terrible  tempests  which  accompanied  it  ?  Or  have  the 
features  of  the  Exodus  been  borrowed  to  describe 
some  other  deliverance,  or  to  sum  up  the  constant 
manifestation  of  Jehovah  for  His  people's  help  ? 

The  introduction,  in  ver.  2,  is  clear.  The  singer 
has  heard  what  is  to  be  heard  of  Jehovah,  and  His 
great  deeds  in  the  past.  He  prays  for  a  revival  of 
these  in  the  midst  of  the  years.  The  times  are  full  of 
trouble  and  turmoil.  Would  that  God,  in  the  present 
confusion  of  baffled  hopes  and   broken  issues,  made 

*  Above,  pp.  126  ff. 
149 


ISO  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Himself  manifest  by  power  and  brilliance,  as  of  old ! 
In  turmoil  remember  mercy !  To  render  turmoil  by 
wrath,  as  if  it  were  God's  anger  against  which  the 
singer's  heart  appealed,  is  not  true  to  the  original  word 
itself/  affords  no  parallel  to  the  midst  of  the  years,  and 
misses  the  situation.  Israel  cries  from  a  state  of  life 
in  which  the  obscure  years  are  huddled  together  and 
full  of  turmoil.  We  need  not  wish  to  fix  the  date 
more  precisely  than  the  writer  himself  does,  but  may 
leave  it  with  him  in  the  midst  of  the  years. 

There  follows  the  description  of  the  Great  Theophany, 
of  which,  in  his  own  poor  times,  the  singer  has  heard. 
It  is  probable  that  he  has  in  his  memory  the  events 
of  the  Exodus  and  Sinai.  On  this  point  his  few 
geographical  allusions  agree  with  his  descriptions  of 
nature.  He  draws  all  the  latter  from  the  desert,  or 
Arabian,  side  of  Israel's  history.  He  introduces  none 
of  the  sea-monsters,  or  imputations  of  arrogance  and 
rebellion  to  the  sea  itself,  which  the  influence  of 
Babylonian  mythology  so  thickly  scattered  through 
the  later  sea-poetry  of  the  Hebrews.  The  Theophany 
takes  place  in  a  violent  tempest  of  thunder  and  rain, 
the  only  process  of  nature  upon  which  the  desert 
poets  of  Arabia  dwell  with  any  detail.  In  harmony 
with  this,  God  appears  from  the  southern  desert,  from 
Teman  and  Paran,  as  in  the  theophanies  in  Deutero- 
nomy xxxiii.    and   in   the    Song    of  Deborah;*  a  few 


'  T3T  nowhere  in  the  Old  Testament  means  wrath,  but  either  roar 
and  noise  of  thunder  (Job  xxxvii.  2)  and  of  horsehoofs  (xxxix.  24), 
or  the  raging  of  the  wicked  (iii.  17)  or  the  commotion  of  fea.'  Cm,  26; 
Isa.  xiv.  3). 

'  Jehovah  from  Sinai  hath  come, 
And  risen  front  Seir  upon  them  T 
He  shone  front  Mount  Paran, 


Hab.ui.]        "IN  THE   MIDST  OF  THE    YEARS"  151 

lines  recall  the  Song  of  the  Exodus,*  and  there  are 
many  resemblances  to  the  phraseology  of  the  Sixty- 
Eighth  Psalm.  The  poet  sees  under  trouble  the  tents 
of  Kushan  and  of  Midian,  tribes  of  Sinai.  And  though 
the  Theophany  is  with  floods  of  rain  and  lightning, 
and  foaming  of  great  waters,  it  is  not  with  hills,  rivers 
or  sea  that  God  is  angry,  but  with  the  nations,  the 
oppressors  of  His  poor  people,  and  in  order  that  He 
may  deliver  the  latter.  All  this,  taken  with  the  fact 
that  no  mention  is  made  of  Egypt,  proves  that,  while 
the  singer  draws  chiefly  upon  the  marvellous  events 
of  the  Exodus  and  Sinai  for  his  description,  he  cele- 
brates not  them  alone  but  all  the  ancient  triumphs 
of  God  over  the  heathen  oppressors  of  Israel.  Com- 
pare  the  obscure  line — these  be  His  goings  of  old. 

The  report  of  it  all  fills  the  poet  with  trembling 
(ver.  16  returns  upon  ver.  26),  and  although  his 
language  is  too  obscure  to  permit  us  to  follow  with 
certainty  the  course  of  his  feeling,  he  appears  to  await 
in  confidence  the  issue  of  Israel's  present  troubles. 
His  argument  seems  to  be,  that  such  a  God  may  be 
trusted  still,  in  face  of  approaching  invasion  (ver.  16). 

And  broke  from  Meribah  of  Kadesh  : 
From  ilte  South  fire  .  ,  .  to  them. 

Deut.  xxxiii.  2,  slightly  altered  after  the  LXX.  South  :  some  form 
of  pD*  must  be  read  to  bring  the  line  into  parallel  with  the  others; 
}0^n,  Teman,  is  from  the  same  root. 

Jehovah,  in  Thy  going  forth  from  SiVf 
In  Thy  marciiing  frotn  Edom's  field, 
Earth  shook,  yea,  heaven  dropped, 
Yea,  the  clouds  dropped  water. 
Mountains  flowed  down  before  Jehovah, 
Yon  Sinai  at  the  face  of  the  God  of  Israel. 

Judges  ▼,  4,  5. 
«  Exod.  XT, 


iSa  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

The  next  verse,  however,  does  not  express  the  ex- 
perience of  trouble  from  human  foes ;  but  figuring 
the  extreme  affliction  of  drought,  barrenness  and 
poverty,  the  poet  speaking  in  the  name  of  Israel 
declares  that,  in  spite  of  them,  he  will  still  rejoice  in 
the  God  of  their  salvation  (ver,  17).  So  sudden  is 
this  change  from  human  foes  to  natural  plagues,  that 
some  scholars  have  here  felt  a  passage  to  another 
poem  describing  a  different  situation.  But  the  last 
lines  with  their  confidence  in  the  God  of  salvation,  a 
term  always  used  of  deliverance  from  enemies,  and 
the  boast,  borrowed  from  the  Eighteenth  Psalm,  He 
maketh  my  feet  like  to  hinds^  feet,  and  gives  me  to  march 
on  my  heights,  reflect  the  same  circumstances  as  the 
bulk  of  the  Psalm,  and  offer  no  grounds  to  doubt  the 
unity  of  the  whole.^ 

Psalm  ^  of  Habakkuk  the  Prophet. 

LORD,  I  have  heard  the  report  of  Thee; 

I  stand  in  awe  I ' 

LORD,  revive  Thy  work  in  the  midst  of  the  years, 

In  the  midst  of  the  years  make  Thee  known  •  * 

In  turtnoil  ^  remember  mercy  I 


'  In  this  case  ver.  17  would  be  the  only  one  that  oflFered  any 
reason  for  suspicion  that  it  was  an  intrusion. 

*  n^an,  llt.  Prayer,  but  used  for  Psalm  :  cf.  Psalm  cii.  I. 

'  Sinker  takes  with  this  the  first  two  words  of  next  line  :  /  have 
irembled,  O  LORD,  at  Thy  work. 

*  yiin,  Imp.  Niph.,  after  LXX.  yvu<T0-^<Tji.  The  Hebrew  has 
y'llfl,  Hi.,  Make  known.  The  LXX.  had  a  text  of  these  verses  which 
reduplicated  them,  and  it  has  translated  them  very  badly. 

*  n\  turmoil,  noise,  as  in  Job  :  a  meaning  that  offers  a  better 
parallel  to  in  the  midst  of  the  years  than  wrath,  which  the  word  also 
means.  Davidson,  however,  thinks  it  more  natural  to  understand  the 
tvrath  manifest  at  the  coming  of  Jehovah  to  judgment.     So  Sinker. 


Hab.iii.]        "/iV   THE  MIDST  OF  THE    YEARS''  X53 

God  comes  from  Teman^ 

The  Holy  from  Mount  Paran} 

He  covers  the  heavens  with  His  glory^ 

And  filled  with  His  praise  is  the  earth. 

The  flash  is  like  lightning; 

He  has  rays  from  each  hojid  of  Him, 

Therein '  is  the  ambush  of  His  might. 

Pestilence  travels  before  Him^ 

The  plague-fire  breaks  forth  at  His  feet. 

He  stands  and  earth  shakes,*' 

He  looks  and  drives  nations  asunder; 

And  the  ancient  moimtains  are  cloven, 

The  hills  everlasting  sink  down. 

These  be  His  ways  from  of  old. ^ 

Under  trouble  I  see  the  tents  of  Kushan* 

'  Vulg.  ab  Atistro,  from  the  South. 

*  LXX.  adds  KaraaKiov  5aacos,  which  seems  the  translation  of  a 
clause,  perhaps  a  gloss,  containing  the  name  of  Mount  Se'ir,  as  in  the 
parallel  descriptions  of  a  theophany,  Deut.  xxiii.  2,  Judg.  v.  4.  See 
Sinker,  p.  45. 

*  Wellhausen,  reading  D'J'  for  DK',  translates  He  made  them,  etc. 

*  So  LXX.     Heb.  aitci  measures  the  earth. 

*  This  is  the  only  way  of  rendering  the  verse  so  as  not  to  make 
it  seem  superfluous  :  so  rendered  it  sums  up  and  clenches  the 
theophany  from  ver.  3  onwards ;  and  a  new  strophe  now  begins. 
There  is  therefore  no  need  to  omit  the  verse,  as  Wellhausen  does. 

*  LXX.  'AidiOTres  ;  but  these  are  Kush,  and  the  parallelism  requiies 
a  tribe  in  Arabia.  Calvin  rejects  the  meaning  Ethiopian  on  the  same 
ground,  but  takes  the  reference  as  to  King  Kushan  in  Judg.  iii.  8,  10, 
on  account  of  the  parallelism  with  Midian.  The  I\Iidianite  wife 
whom  Moses  married  is  called  the  Kushite  (Num.  xii.  l).  Homme! 
(Anc. Hebrew  Tradition  as  ilhtstrutedby  the  Motiunienis,  p.  315  and  n.  i) 
appears  to  take  Zerah  the  Kushite  of  2  Chron.  xiv.  9  ff.  as  a  prince 
of  Kush  in  Central  Arabia.  But  the  narrative  which  makes  him 
deliver  his  invasion  of  Judah  at  Miueshah  surely  confirms  the  usual 
opinion  that  he  and  his  host  wire  Ethiopians  coming  up  from  Egypt. 


154  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

The  curtains  of  Midlands  land  are  quivering. 

Is  it  with  hills  ^Jehovah  is  wroth  ? 

Is  Thine  anger  with  rivers  ? 

Or  against  the  sea  is  Thy  wrath, 

That  Thou  ridest  it  with  horses^ 

Thy  chariots  of  victory  ? 

Thy  bow  is  stripped  bare  ; ' 

Thou  gluttest  (?)  Thy  shafts.* 

Into  rivers  Thou  cleavest  the  earth ;^ 

Mountains  see  Thee  and  writhe; 

The  rainstoi'm  sweeps  on :  ^ 

The  Deep  utters  his  voice, 


'  For  D''in33n,  is  it  ivith  streams,  read  W^'^T[1T\,  is  it  with  hills  : 
because  hills  have  already'  been  mentioned,  and  rivers  occur  in  the 
next  clause,  and  are  separated  by  the  same  disjunctive  particle,  DN, 
which  separates  the  sea  in  the  third  clause  from  them.  The  whole 
phrase  might  be  rendered,  Is  it  ivifh  hills  Thou  art  angry,  O  Jehovah  ? 

^  Questionable :  the  verb  "IWri,  Ni.  of  a  supposed  "1-11?  does  not 
elsewhere  occur,  and  is  c^nly  conjectured  from  the  noun  ni"lj?,  naked- 
ness, and  nny,  stripping.  LXX.  has  ivTeLvwv  ivireivas,  and  Well- 
hausen  reads,  after  2  Sam.  xxiii.  18,  "l"}.U'ri  "1"|W  Thou  bringest 
into  action  Thy  bow. 

'  10K  mt3!D  niyilkJ'  llterally  sworn  are  staves  or  rods  0}  speech. 
A.V.  :  according  to  the  oaths  of  the  tribes,  even  Thy  ivord.  LXX. 
(omitting  mi^QV'-'  and  adding  niiT')  iirl  (7KrjnTpa,\^€i  Kvpios.  These 
words  "  form  a  riddle  which  all  the  ingenuity  of  scholars  has  not 
been  able  to  solve.  Delitzsch  calculates  that  a  hundred  translations 
of  them  have  been  offered "  (Davidson).  In  parallel  to  previous 
clause  about  a  bow,  we  ought  to  expect  mt30,  staves,  though  it  is  not 
elsewhere  used  for  shafts  or  arrows.  r\)V2'y  may  have  been  ny^^i'. 
Thou  satesi.  The  Cod.  Baib.  reads:  ixopraaas  ^oXUas  rqs  (papiTp-i)s 
avTov,  Thou  hast  satiated  the  shafts  of  his  quiver.  Sinker :  sworn 
are  the  punishments  of  the  solemn  decree,  and  relevantly  compares 
Isa.  xi.  4,  the  rod  of  His  mouth  ;  xxx.  32,  rod  of  doom.  Ewald  : 
sevenfold  shafts  of  war.     But  cf.  Psalm  cxviii.  12, 

*  Uncertain,  but  a  more  natural  result  of  cleaving  than  the  rivers 
Thou  cleavest  into  dry  land  (Davidson  and  Wellhausen), 

•  But  Ewald  takes  this  as  of  the  Red  Sea  floods  sweeping  on  the 
Egyptians, 


Hab.iiL]       **IN  THE  MIDST  OF  THE   YEARS"  I55 

He  lifts  up  his  roar  upon  high} 

Sun  and  moon  stand  still  in  their  dwellings 

At  the  flash  of  Thy  shafts  as  they  speed, 

At  the  sheen  of  the  lightning,  Thy  lance. 

In  wrath  Thou  stridest  the  earth, 

In  anger  Tho'u  threshest  the  nations  ! 

Thou  art  forth  to  the  help  of  Thy  people. 

To  save  Thine  anointed} 

Thou  hast  shattered  the  head  from  the  house  of  the 

wicked, 
Laying  bare  from  .  .  .*  to  the  neck. 
Thou  hast  pierced  with  Thy  spears  the  head  of  his 

princes.* 
They  stormed  forth  to  crush  me; 
Their  triumph  was  as  to  devour  the  poor  in  secret.^ 
Thou  hast  marched  on  the  sea  with  Thy  horses; 
Foafned^  the  great  waters. 

I  have  heard,  and  my  heart  ^  shakes; 

«  XiJ'J  inn*  Dn  =  he  Ufts  up  his  hands  on  high.  But  the  LXX.  read 
irmO,  (pavraalai  avTr]S,  and  took  ^^t^'3  with  the  next  verse.  The 
reading  innO  (for  in*N"IO)  is  indeed  nonsense,  but  suggests  an 
emendation  to    liTlTD,   his  shout  or  wail :  cf.  Amos  vi.  7,  Jer.  xvi.   5. 

'  Reading  for  V'^y'  r^'J'in,  required  by  the  ace.  following.  Thine 
anointed,  lit.  Thy  Messiah,  according  to  Isa.  xl.  ff.  the  whole  people. 

*  Heb.  1)D\  foundation.  LXX.  bonds.  Some  suggest  laying  bare 
from  the  foundation  to  the  neck,  but  this  is  mixed  unless  neck  happened 
to  be  a  technical  name  for  a  part  of  a  building :  cf.  Isa.  viii.  8,  xxx.  28. 

*  Heb.  his  spears  or  staves ;  his  owyi  (Von  Orelli).  LXX.  iv  iKcrrdffec : 
see  Sinker,  pp.  56  ff.  Princes :  1T1S  only  here.  Hitzig :  his  bravt 
ones.  Ewald,  Wellhausen,  Davidson  :  his  princes.  Delitzsch  :  his  hosts. 
LXX.  KecpaXas  dwaaruv. 

*  So  Heb.  literally,  A  very  difHcult  line.  On  LXX.  see  Sinker, 
pp.  60  f. 

*  For  "ion,  heap  (so  A.V.),  read  some  part  of  "lOn,  to  foam.  LXX. 
Tapdffffovrai :  cf.  Psalm  xlvi,  4. 

'  So  LXX.  X  (some  codd.),  softening  the  original  belly. 


156  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

At  the  sound  my  lips  tremble^ 
Rottenness  enters  my  bones^ 
My  steps  shake  under  me? 
I  will .  .  .*  for  the  day  of  trouble 
That  pours  in  on  the  people} 

Though  the  fig-tree  do  not  blossom* 
And  no  fruit  be  on  the  vines. 
Fail  the  produce  of  the  olive, 
And  the  fields  yield  no  meat, 
Cut  off  ''  be  the  flock  from  the  fold, 
And  no  cattle  in  the  stalls. 
Yet  in  the  LORD  will  I  exult, 
I  will  rejoice  in  the  God  of  my  salvation. 
Jehovah,  the  Lord,  is  my  might; 
He  hath  made  my  feet  like  the  hinds\ 
And  on  my  heights  He  gives  me  to  march. 

This  Psalm,  whose  musical  signs  prove  it  to  have 
been  employed  in  the  liturgy  of  the  Jewish  Temple, 
has  also  largely  entered  into  the  use  of  the  Christian 

*  Or  my  lips  quiver  aloud — ?1p?,  vocally  (Von  Orelli). 

*  By  the  Hebrew  the  bones  were  felt,  as  a  modern  man  feels  his 
nerves:  Psalms  xxxii.,  li. ;  Job. 

■  For  "IK'X,  for  which  LXX.  gives  •^  ?ftj  /iov,  read  HK'N,  my  steps ; 
and  for  TaiS,  LXX.  hapixOrj,  1T3n\ 

*  ^•13^<.  LXX.  i.vaTravcro/J.at,  I  will  rest.  A.W.:  that  I  might  rest  in  the 
day  of  trouble.  Others  :  /  will  wait  for.  Wellhausen  suggests  DHSX 
(Isa.  1.  24),  /  will  take  comfort.  Sinker  takes  IC'N  as  the  simple 
relative :  /  who  will  wait  patiently  for  the  day  of  doom.  Von  Orelli 
takes  it  as  the  conjunction  because. 

*  '13*13^,  it  invades,  brings  up  troops  on  them,  only  in  Gen.  xlix.  19 
and  here.  Wellhausen:  which  invades  us.  Sinker :  _/br  the  coming 
up  against  the  people  of  him  who  shall  assail  it. 

*  men  ;  but  LXX.  msn,  ov  KapTocpop-i'jcei.,  bear  no  fruit. 
»  For  ^ti  Vl'ellhausen  reads  ItJl     LXX.  i^eXiirey. 


Hab.  ii.]        "/iV  THE  MIDST  OF  THE    YEARS"  IS7 

Church.  The  vivid  style,  the  sweep  of  vision,  the 
exultation  in  the  extreme  of  adversity  with  which  it 
closes,  have  made  it  a  frequent  theme  of  preachers  and 
of  poets.  St.  Augustine's  exposition  of  the  Septuagint 
version  spiritualises  almost  every  clause  into  a  de- 
scription of  the  first  and  second  advents  of  Christ.^ 
Calvin's  more  sober  and  accurate  learning  inter- 
preted it  of  God's  guidance  of  Israel  from  the  time 
of  the  Egyptian  plagues  to  the  days  of  Joshua  and 
Gideon,  and  made  it  enforce  the  lesson  that  He  who 
so  wonderfully  delivered  His  people  in  their  youth 
will  not  forsake  them  in  the  midway  of  their  career.^ 
The  closing  verses  have  been  torn  from  the  rest  to 
form  the  essence  of  a  large  number  of  hymns  in  many 
languages. 

For  ourselves  it  is  perhaps  most  useful  to  fasten 
upon  the  poet's  description  of  his  own  position  in  the 
midst  of  the  years,  and  like  him  to  take  heart,  amid 
our  very  similar  circumstances,  from  the  glorious  story 
of  God's  ancient  revelation,  in  the  faith  that  He  is  still 
the  same  in  might  and  in  purpose  of  grace  to  His  people. 
We,  too,  live  among  the  nameless  years.  We  feel  them 
about  us,  undistinguished  by  the  manifest  workings  of 
God,  slow  and  petty,  or,  at  the  most,  full  of  inarticu- 
late turmoil.  At  this  very  moment  we  suffer  from  the 
frustration  of  a  great  cause,  on  which  believing  men 
had  set  their  hearts  as  God's  cause ;  Christendom  has 
received  from  the  infidel  no  greater  reverse  since  the 
days  of  the  Crusades.  Or,  lifting  our  eyes  to  a  larger 
horizon,  we  are  tempted  to  see  about  us  a  wide, 
flat  waste  of  years.     It  is   nearly  nineteen  centuries 


•  £>*  Civitate  Dei,  XVIII.  32. 

-  So  he  paraplirases  in  the  midst  of  the  years. 


158  THE   TIVELVE  PROPHETS 

since  the  great  revelation  of  God  in  Christ,  the  redemp- 
tion of  mankind,  and  all  the  wonders  of  the  Early 
Church.  We  are  far,  far  away  from  that,  and  unstirred 
by  the  expectation  of  any  crisis  in  the  near  future. 
We  stand  in  the  midst  of  the  years,  equally  distant  from 
beginning  and  from  end.  It  is  the  situation  which 
Jesus  Himself  likened  to  the  long  double  watch  in  the 
middle  of  the  night — if  he  come  in  the  second  watch 
or  in  the  third  watch — against  whose  dulness  He 
warned  His  disciples.  How  much  need  is  there  at 
such  a  time  to  recall,  like  this  poet,  what  God  has  done 
— how  often  He  has  shaken  the  world  and  overturned 
the  nations,  for  the  sake  of  His  people  and  the  Divine 
causes  they  represent.  His  ways  are  everlasting.  As 
He  then  worked,  so  He  will  work  now  for  the  same 
ends  of  redemption.  Our  prayer  for  a  revival  of  His 
ivork  will  be  answered  before  it  is  spoken. 

It  is  probable  that  much  of  our  sense  of  the  stale- 
ness  of  the  years  comes  from  their  prosperity.  The  dull 
feeling  that  time  is  mere  routine  is  fastened  upon  our 
hearts  by  nothing  more  firmly  than  by  the  constant 
round  of  fruitful  seasons — that  fortification  of  comfort, 
that  regularity  of  material  supplies,  which  modern  life 
assures  to  so  many.  Adversity  would  brace  us  to  a 
new  expectation  of  the  near  and  strong  action  of  out- 
God.  This  is  perhaps  the  meaning  of  the  sudden 
mention  of  natural  plagues  in  the  seventeenth  verse 
of  our  Psalm.  Not  in  spite  of  the  extremes  of  mis- 
fortune, but  just  because  of  them,  should  we  exult  in 
!he  God  of  our  salvation ;  and  realise  that  it  is  by 
discipline  He  makes  His  Church  to  feel  that  she  is  not 
marching  over  the  dreary  levels  of  nameless  3'ears,  but 
on  our  high  places  He  makes  us  to  march. 

"  Grant,  Almighty  God,  as  the  dulness  and  hardness 


Hab.iii.]        "IN   THE  MIDST  OF  THE    YEARS"  IS9 

of  our  flesh  is  so  great  that  it  is  needful  for  us  to  be 
in  various  ways  afflicted — oh  grant  that  we  patiently 
bear  Thy  chastisement,  and  under  a  deep  feeling  of 
sorrow  flee  to  Thy  mercy  displayed  to  us  in  Christ,  so 
that  we  depend  not  on  the  earthly  blessings  of  this 
perishable  life,  but  relying  on  Thy  word  go  forward 
in  the  course  of  our  calling,  until  at  length  we  be 
gathered  to  that  blessed  rest  which  is  laid  up  for  us 
in  heaven,  through  Christ   our  Lord.     Amen."* 


'  From  the  prayer  with  which  Calvin  concludes  his  exposition  of 
Habakkuk. 


OBADIAH 


vol..  n.  «6i  II 


And  Saviours  shall  come  up  on  Mount  Zion  to  judgt  Mount  Esau, 
tmd  ths  kingdom  shall  beJthovah'M. 


\6* 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  BOOK  OF  OBADIAH 

THE  Book  of  Obadiah  is  the  smallest  among  the 
prophets,  and  the  smallest  in  all  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. Yet  there  is  none  which  better  illustrates  many 
of  the  main  problems  of  Old  Testament  criticism.  It 
raises,  indeed,  no  doctrinal  issue  nor  any  question 
of  historical  accuracy.  All  that  it  claims  to  be  is 
The  Vision  of  Obadiah  ;  *  and  this  vague  name,  with  no 
date  or  dwelling-place  to  challenge  comparison  with 
the  contents  of  the  book,  introduces  us  without  preju- 
dice to  the  criticism  of  the  latter.  Nor  is  the  book 
involved  in  the  central  controversy  of  Old  Testament 
scholarship,  the  date  of  the  Law.  It  has  no  reference 
to  the  Law.  Nor  is  it  made  use  of  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. The  more  freely,  therefore,  may  we  study 
the   literary    and   historical   questions   started  by   the 


'  n^"!?y,  'Obadyah,  the  later  form  of  •in^'IQyj  'Obadyahu  (a  name 
occurring  thrice  before  the  Exile:  Ahab's  steward  who  hid  the 
prophets  of  the  Lord,  i  Kings  xviii.  3-7,  16 ;  of  a  man  in  David's 
house,  I  Chron.  xxvii.  19  ;  a  Levite  in  Josiah's  reign,  2  Chron.  xxxiv. 
12),  is  the  name  of  several  of  the  Jews  who  returned  from  exile : 
Ezra  viii.  9,  the  son  of  Jehi'el  (in  i  Esdras  viii.  'A/3a5tas)  ;  Neh.  x,  6, 
a  priest,  probably  the  same  as  the  Obadiah  in  xii.  25,  a  porter,  and 
the  N'5?y,  the  singer,  in  xi.  17,  who  is  called  nn^y  in  I  Chron. 
ix.  16.  Another  'Obadyah  is  given  in  the  eleventh  generation  from 
Saul,  I  Chron.  viii.  38,  ix.  44 ;  another  in  the  royal  line  in  the  time 
of  the  Exile,  iii.  21  ;  a  man  of  Isfachar,  vii.  3;  a  Gadite  under  David, 
xii.  9  ;  a  prince  ui  der  Jehoshaphat  sent  io  teach  in  the  cities  of  Judah, 

163 


l64  THE  TIVELVE  PROPHETS 

twenty-one  verses  which  compose  the  book.  Their 
brief  course  is  broken  by  differences  of  style,  and  by 
sudden  changes  of  outlook  from  the  past  to  the  future. 
Some  of  them  present  a  close  parallel  to  another 
passage  of  prophecy,  a  feature  which  when  present 
offers  a  difficult  problem  to  the  critic.  Hardly  any 
of  the  historical  allusions  are  free  from  ambiguity, 
for  although  the  book  refers  throughout  to  a  single 
nation — and  so  vividly  that  even  if  Edom  were  not 
named  we  might  still  discern  the  character  and  crimes 
of  that  bitter  brother  of  Israel — yet  the  conflict  of 
Israel  and  Edom  was  so  prolonged  and  so  monotonous 
in  its  cruelties,  that  there  are  few  of  its  many  centuries 
to  which  some  scholar  has  not  felt  himself  able  to 
assign,  in  part  or  whole,  Obadiah's  indignant  oration. 
The  little  book  has  been  tossed  out  of  one  century  into 
another  by  successive  critics,  till  there  exists  in  their 
estimates  of  its  date  a  difference  of  nearly  six  hundred 
years.*  Such  a  fact  seems,  at  first  sight,  to  convict 
criticism  either  of  arbitrariness  or  helplessness ;  *  yet  a 
little  consideration  of  details  is  enough  to  lead  us  to 
an  appreciation  of  the  reasonable  methods  of  Old 
Testament   criticism,  and  of  its  indubitable   progress 

2  Chron.  xvii.  7.  With  the  Massoretic  points  njlDJ?  means  worshipper 
of  Jehovah  :  cl.  Obed-Edom,  and  so  in  the  Greek  form,  'O/SSeiou,  of  Cod. 
B.  But  other  Codd.,  A,  6  and  j^,  give  'A^Biov  or  'A/SSetou,  and  this, 
with  the  alternative  Hebrew  form  N'^3X  of  Neh.  xi.  17,  suggests 
rather  H*  "IS??  servant  of  Jehovah.  The  name  as  given  in  the  title 
is  probably  intended  to  be  that  of  an  historical  individual,  as  in 
the  titles  of  all  the  other  books ;  but  which,  or  if  any,  of  the  above 
mentioned  it  is  impossible  to  say.  Note,  however,  that  it  is  the  later 
post-exilic  form  of  the  name  that  is  used,  in  spite  of  the  book  occurring 
among  the  pre-exilic  prophets.  Some,  less  probably,  take  the  name 
Obadyah  to  be  symbolic  of  the  prophetic  character  of  the  writer. 
'  889  B.C.  Hofmann,  Keil,  etc.;  and  soon  after  312,  Hitzig. 
*  Cf.  the  extraordinary  tirade  of  Pusey  in  his  Introd.  to  Obadiah. 


THE  BOOK  OF  OBADIAH  165 

towards  certainty,  in  spite  of  our  ignorance  of  large 
stretches  of  the  history  of  Israel.  To  the  student  of  the 
Old  Testament  nothing  could  be  more  profitable  than 
to  master  the  historical  and  literary  questions  raised 
by  the  Book  of  Obadiah,  before  following  them  out 
among  the  more  complicated  problems  which  are 
started  by  other  prophetical  books  in  their  relation  to 
the  Law  of  Israel,  or  to  their  own  titles,  or  to  claims 
made  for  them  in  the  New  Testament 

The  Book  of  Obadiah  contains  a  number  of  verbal 
parallels  to  another  prophecy  against  Edom  which 
appears  in  Jeremiah  xlix.  7-22.  Most  critics  have 
regarded  this  prophecy  of  Jeremiah  as  genuine,  and 
have  assigned  it  to  the  year  604  B.C.  The  question 
is  whether  Obadiah  or  Jeremiah  is  the  earlier. 
Hitzig  and  Vatke  ^  answered  in  favour  of  Jeremiah ; 
and  as  the  Book  of  Obadiah  also  contains  a  description 
of  Edom's  conduct  in  the  day  of  Jerusalem's  over- 
throw by  Nebuchadrezzar,  in  586,  they  brought  the 
whole  book  down  to  post-exilic  times.  Very  forcible 
arguments,  however,  have  been  offered  for  Obadiah's 
priority.'  Upon  this  priority,  as  well  as  on  the 
facts  that   Joel,   whom   they  take  to   be  early,  quotes 

'  The  first   in   his  Commentary  on  Die  Zwblf  Kleine  Prophtten ', 

the  other  in  his  Einleihmg. 

*  Caspari  {Der  Proph.  Ob.  ausgelegt  1842),  Ewald,  Graf,  Pusey, 
Driver,  Giesebrecht,  Wildeboer  and  KOnig.  Cf.  Jer.  xlix.  9  with 
Ob.  5 ;  Jer.  xlix.  14  fi".  with  Ob.  1-4.  The  opening  of  Ob.  I  S".  is  held  to 
be  more  in  its  place  than  where  it  occurs  in  the  middle  of  Jeremiah's 
passage.  The  language  of  Obadiah  is  "  terser  and  more  forcible. 
Jeremiah  seems  to  expand  Obadiah,  and  parts  of  Jeremiah  which 
have  DO  parallel  in  Obadiah  are  like  Obadiah's  own  style  "  (Driver). 
This  strong  argument  is  enforced  in  detail  by  Pusey:  "Out  of  the 
sixteen  verses  of  which  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah  against  Edom 
consists,  four  are  identical  with  those  of  Obadiah;  a  fifth  embodies 


l66  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

from  Obadiah,  and  that  Obadiah's  book  occurs  among 
the  first  six — presumably  the  pre-exilic  members — of 
the  Twelve,  a  number  of  scholars  have  assigned  all 
of  it  to  an  early  period  in  Israel's  history.  Some 
fix  upon  the  reign  of  Jehoshaphat,  when  Judah  was 
invaded  by  Edom  and  his  allies  Moab  and  Ammon, 
but  saved  from  disaster  through  Moab  and  Ammon 
turning  upon  the  Edomites  and  slaughtering  them.^ 
To  this  they  refer  the  phrase  in  Obadiah  9,  the  men 
of  thy  covenant  have  betrayed  thee.  Others  place  the 
whole  book  in  the  reign  of  Joram  of  Judah  (849 — 
842  B.C.),  when,  according  to  the  Chronicles,'  Judah 
was  invaded  and  Jerusalem  partly  sacked  by  Philistines 
and  Arabs.'  But  in  the  story  of  this  invasion  there 
is  no  mention  of  Edomites,  and  the  argument  which 
is  drawn  from  Joel's  quotation  of  Obadiah  fails  if  Joel, 
as  we  shall  see,  be  of  late  date.  With  greater  prudence 
Pusey  declines  to  fix  a  period. 

The  supporters  of  a  pre-exilic  origin  for  the  whole 
Book  of  Obadiah  have  to  explain  vv.  1 1- 1 4,  which 
appear    to    reflect    Edom's    conduct    at    the    sack   of 

a  verse  of  Obadiah's ;  of  the  eleven  which  remain  ten  have  some 
turns  of  expression  or  idioms,  more  or  fewer,  which  occur  in  Jeremiah, 
either  in  these  prophecies  against  foreign  nations,  or  in  his  pro- 
phecies generally.  Now  it  would  be  wholly  improbable  that  a 
prophet,  selecting  verses  out  of  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah,  should 
have  selected  precisely  those  which  contain  none  of  Jeremiah's 
characteristic  expressions ;  whereas  it  perfectly  fits  in  with  the 
supposition  that  Jeremiah  interwove  verses  of  Obadiah  with  his  own 
prophecy,  that  in  verses  so  interwoven  there  is  not  one  expression 
which  occurs  elsewhere  in  Jeremiah."  Similarly  Nowack,  Comm.,  1897. 

'  2  Chron.  xx.  *  2  Chron.  xxi.  14-17. 

•  So  Delitzscb,  Keil,  Volck  in  Herzog's  Real.  Ency.  II.,  Orelli  and 
Kirkpatrick.  Delitzsch  indeed  suggests  that  the  prophet  may  have 
been  Obadiah  the  prince  appointed  by  Jehoshaphat  to  teach  in  the 
cities  of  Jtidah.     See  above,  p.  163,  n.  I. 


THE  BOOK  OF  OBADIAH  167 

Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadrezzar  in  586,  and  they  do 
so  in  two  ways.  Pusey  takes  the  verses  as  predictive 
of  Nebuchadrezzar's  siege.  Orelli  and  others  believe 
that  they  suit  better  the  conquest  and  plunder  of  the 
city  in  the  time  of  Jehoram.  But,  as  Calvin  has 
said,  "they  seem  to  be  mistaken  who  think  that 
Obadiah    lived    before    the  time  of  Isaiah." 

The  question,  however,  very  early  arose,  whether 
it  was  possible  to  take  Obadiah  as  a  unity.  Vv.  1-9 
are  more  vigorous  and  firm  than  vv.  10-21,  In  vv.  1-9 
Edom  is  destroyed  by  nations  who  are  its  allies;  in 
w.  102 1  it  is  still  to  fall  along  with  other  Gentiles 
in  the  general  judgment  of  the  Lord.*  Vv.  10-21 
admittedly  describe  the  conduct  of  the  Edomites  at 
the  overthrow  of  Jerusalem  in  586;  but  vv.  1-9  pro- 
bably reflect  earlier  events ;  and  it  is  significant  that 
in  them  alone  occur  the  parallels  to  Jeremiah's  pro- 
phecy against  Edom  in  604.  On  some  of  these  grounds 
Ewald  regarded  the  little  book  as  consisting  of  two 
pieces,  both  of  which  refer  to  Edom,  but  the  first  of 
which  was  written  before  Jeremiah,  and  the  second 
is  post-exilic.  As  Jeremiah's  prophecy  has  some 
features  more  original  than  Obadiah's,^  he  traced  both 
prophecies  to  an  original  oracle  against  Edom,  of  which 
Obadiah  on  the  whole  renders  an  exact  version.  He 
fixed  the  date  of  this  oracle  in  the  earlier  days  of 
Isaiah,  when  Rezin  of  Syria  enabled  Edom  to  assert 
again  its  independence  of  Judah,  and  Edom  won  back 
Elath,  which  Uzziah  had  taken.'     Driver,  Wildeboer 

•  Driver,  Introd. 

*  Jer.  xlix.  9  and  16  appear  to  be  more  original  than  Ob.  3  and 
2*.  Notice  the  presence  in  Jer.  xlix.  16  of  "jnVT'Dn,  which  Obadiah 
omits. 

'  2  Kings  xiv.  22 ;  xvi.  6,  Revised  Version  margin. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


and  CornilP  adopt  this  theory,  with  the  exception  of 
the  period  to  which  Ewald  refers  the  original  oracle. 
According  to  them,  the  Book  of  Obadiah  consists 
of  two  pieces,  vv.  I-9  pre-exilic,  and  vv.  1021  post- 
exilic  and  descriptive  in  II-14  of  Nebuchadrezzar's 
sack  of  Jerusalem. 

This  latter  point  need  not  be  contested.'  But  is  it 
clear  that  1-9  are  so  different  from  10-21  that  they 
must  be  assigned  to  another  period  ?  Are  they 
necessarily  pre-exilic  ?  Wellhausen  thinks  not,  and 
has  constructed  still  another  theory  of  the  origin  of 
the  book,  which,  like  Vatke's,  brings  it  all  down  to 
the  period  after  the  Exile. 

There  is  no  mention  in  the  book  either  of  Assyria 
or  of  Babylonia.'  The  allies  who  have  betrayed  Edom 
(ver.  7)  are  therefore  probably  those  Arabian  tribes 
who  surrounded  it  and  were  its  frequent  confederates.* 
They  are  described  as  sending  Edom  to  the  border  {ib.\ 
Wellhausen  thinks  that  this  can  only  refer  to  the  great 
northward  movement  of  Arabs  which  began  to  press 
upon  the  fertile  lands  to  the  south-east  of  Israel  during 
the  time  of  the  Captivity.  EzekieP  prophesies  that 
Ammon  and  Moab  will  disappear  before  the  Arabs,  and 
we  know  that  by  the  year  312  the  latter  were  firmly 

'  Einl?  pp.  185  f. :  "  In  any  case  Obadiah  1-9  are  older  than  the 
fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim." 

*  "That  the  verses  Obadiah  10  ff.  refer  to  this  event  [the  sack  ot 
Jerusalem]  will  always  remain  the  most  natural  supposition,  for  the 
description  which  they  give  so  completely  suits  that  time  that  it  is 
not  possible  to  take  any  other  explanation  into  consideration." 

'  Edom  paid    tribute   to  Sennacherib  in  701,  and    to  Asarhaddon 
(681 — 669).     According   to   2   Kings  xxiv.    2   Nebuchadrezzar  sent 
^  Ammonites,  Moabites    and    Edomites   [for  mX    read    DIX]    against 
Jehoiakim,  who  had  broken  his  oath  to  Babylonia. 

*  For  Edom's  alliances  with  Arab  tribes  cf.  Gen.  xxv.  13  with 
xxxvi.  3,  12,  etc.  *  Ezek.  xxv.  4,  5,  lo. 


THE  BOOK  OF  OBADIAH  169 

settled  in  the  territories  of  Edom.*  Shortly  before  this 
the  Hagarenes  appear  in  Chronicles,  and  Se'ir  is  called 
by  the  Arabic  name  Gebal/  while  as  early  as  the  fifth 
century  "  Malachi "  ^  records  the  desolation  of  Edom's 
territory  by  the  jackals  of  the  wilderness,  and  the 
expulsion  01  the  Edomites,  who  will  not  return.  The 
Edomites  were  pushed  up  into  the  Negeb  of  Israel, 
and  occupied  the  territory  round,  and  to  the  south  of, 
Hebron  till  their  conquest  by  John  Hyrcanus  about 
130;  even  after  that  it  was  called  Idumaea.*  Well- 
hausen  would  assign  Obadiah  1-7  to  the  same  stage 
of  this  movement  as  is  reflected  in  "  Malachi "  i.  1-5  ; 
and,  apart  from  certain  parentheses,  would  therefore  take 
the  whole  of  Obadiah  as  a  unity  from  the  end  of  the 
fifth  century  before  Christ.  In  that  case  Giesebrecht 
argues  that  the  parallel  prophecy,  Jeremiah  xlix.  7-22, 
must  be  reckoned  as  one  of  the  passages  of  the 
Book  of  Jeremiah  in  which  post-exilic  additions  have 
been  inserted.^ 

Our  criticism  ot  this  theory  may  start  from  the 
seventh  verse  of  Obadiah  :  To  the  border  they  have  sent 
thee,  all  the  men  of  thy  covenant  have  betrayed  thee,  they 
have  overpowered  thee,  the  men  of  thy  peace.  On  our 
present  knowledge  of  the  history  of  Edom  it  is  im- 
possible to  assign  the  first  of  these  clauses  to  any 
period  before  the  Exile.  No  doubt  in  earlier  days 
Edom  was  more  than  once  subjected  to  Arab  razzias. 
But  up  to  the  Jewish  Exile  the  Edomites  were  still  in 

'  Diod.  Sic.  XIX.  94.  A  little  earlier  they  are  described  as  in 
possession  of  Iturea,  on  the  south-cast  slopes  of  Anti-Lebanon 
(Arrian  il.  20,  4). 

'^  Psalm  Ixxxiii.  8.  *  i.  I-5. 

*  E.g.  in  the  New  Testament :  Mark  iii.  8. 

'  So  too  Nowack,  1897. 


I70  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

possession  of  their  own  land.  So  the  Deuteronomist  ^ 
implies,  and  so  EzekieP  and  perhaps  the  author  of 
Lamentations.'  Wi^llhausen's  claim,  therefore,  that 
the  seventh  verse  of  Obadiah  refers  to  the  expulsion 
of  Edomites  by  Arabs  in  the  sixth  or  fifth  century  B.C. 
may  be  granted.*  But  does  this  mean  that  verses  i-6 
belong,  as  he  maintains,  to  the  same  period  ?  A 
negative  answer  seems  required  by  the  following  facts. 
To  begin  with,  the  seventh  verse  is  not  found  in  the 
parallel  prophecy  in  Jeremiah.  There  is  no  reason 
why  it  should  not  have  been  used  there,  if  that 
prophecy  had  been  compiled  at  a  time  when  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Edomites  was  already  an  accomplished 
fact.  But  both  by  this  omission  and  by  all  its  other 
features,  that  prophecy  suits  the  time  of  Jeremiah, 
and  we  may  leave  it,  therefore,  where  it  was  left  till 
the  appearance  of  Wellhausen's  theory — namely,  with 
Jeremiah  himself.^  Moreover  Jeremiah  xlix.  9  seems 
to  have  been  adapted  in  Obadiah  5  in  order  to  suit 
verse  6.  But  again,  Obadiah  1-6,  which  contains  so 
many  parallels  to  Jeremiah's  prophecy,  also  seems  to 
imply  that  the  Edomites  are  still  in  possession  of  their 
land.  The  nations  (we  may  understand  by  this  the 
Arab  tribes)  are  risen  against  Edom,  and  Edom  is 
already  despicable  in  face  of  them  (vv.  i,  2);  but  he 
has  not  yet  fallen,  any  more  than,  to  the  writer  of  Isaiah 

■  Deut.  ii.  5,  8,  12.  '  Ezek.  xxxv.,  esp.  2  and  15. 

•  iv.  21  :  yet  Ue  fails  in  LXX.,  and  some  take  ]^"IN  to  refer  to  the 
Holy  Land  itself.     Buhl,  Gesch.  der  Edomiter,  73. 

*  It  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  Edom's  treacherous  allies  were 
Assyrians  or  Babylonians,  for  even  if  the  phrase  "  men  of  thy  covenant " 
could  be  applied  to  those  to  whom  Edom  was  tributary,  the  Assyrian 
or  Babylonian  method  of  dealing  with  conquered  peoples  is  described 
by  saying  that  they  took  them  off  into  captivity,  not  that  they  ttnt 
them  to  tht  border.  *  So  even  Corn  ill,  Einl* 


THE  BOOK  OF  OBADIAH  171 


xlv. — xlvii.,  who  uses  analogous  language,  Babylon  is 
already  fallen.  Edom  is  weak  and  cannot  resist  the 
Arab  razzias.  But  he  still  makes  his  eyrie  on  high  and 
says  :  Who  will  bring  me  down  ?  To  which  challenge 
Jehovah  replies,  not  '  I  have  brought  thee  down/  but 
/.  will  bring  thee  down.  The  post-exilic  portion  of 
Obadiah,  then,  I  take  to  begin  with  verse  7  ;  and  the 
author  of  this  prophecy  has  begun  by  incorporating 
in  vv.  1-6  a  pre-exilic  prophecy  against  Edom,  which 
liad  been  already,  and  with  more  freedom,  used  by 
Jeremiah.  Verses  8-9  form  a  difficulty.  They  return 
to  the  future  tense,  as  if  the  Edomites  were  still  to 
be  cut  off  from  Mount  Esau.  But  verse  10,  as 
Wellhausen  points  out,  follows  on  naturally  to  verse  7, 
and,  with  its  successors,  clearly  points  to  a  period  sub- 
sequent to  Nebuchadrezzar's  overthrow  of  Jerusalem. 
The  change  from  the  past  tense  in  vv.  lO-ii  to  the 
imperatives  of  12-14  need  cause,  in  spite  of  what  Pusey 
says,  no  difficulty,  but  may  be  accounted  for  by  the 
excited  feelings  of  the  prophet.  The  suggestion  has 
been  made,  and  it  is  plausible,  that  Obadiah  speaks  as 
an  eye-witness  of  that  awful  time.  Certainly  there 
is  nothing  in  the  rest  of  the  prophecy  (w.  15-21) 
to  lead  us  to  bring  it  further  down  than  the  years 
following  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  Everything 
points  to  the  Jews  being  still  in  exile.  The  verbs 
which  describe  the  inviolateness  of  Jerusalem  (l7)»  and 
the  reinstatement  of  Israel  in  their  heritage  (17,  19), 
and  their  conquest  of  Edom  (18),  are  all  in  the  future. 
The  prophet  himselt  appears  to  write  in  exile  (20). 
The  captivity  of  Jerusalem  is  in  Sepharad  (ib.^  and  the 
saviours  have  to  come  up  to  Mount  Zion ;  that  is  to 
say,  they  are  still  beyond  the  Holy  Land  (21).^ 

'  This  in  answer  to  Wellhausen  on  the  verse. 


172  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

The  one  difificulty  in  assigning  this  date  to  the  pro- 
phecy is  that  nothing  is  said  in  the  Hebrew  of  ver.  19 
about  the  re-occupation  of  the  hill-country  of  Judaea 
itself,  but  here  the  Greek  may  help  us.^  Certainly 
every  other  feature  suits  the  early  days  of  the 
Exile. 

The  result  of  our  inquiry  is  that  the  Book  of 
Obadiah  was  written  at  that  time  by  a  prophet  in  exile, 
who  was  filled  by  the  same  hatred  of  Edom  as  filled 
another  exile,  who  in  Babylon  wrote  Psalm  cxxxvii.  ; 
and  that,  like  so  many  of  the  exilic  writers,  he  started 
from  an  earlier  prophecy  against  Edom,  already  used 
by  Jeremiah.*  [Nowack  (Comtn.,  1897)  takes  w.  I-14 
(with  additions  in  vv.  i,  5,  6,  8  f.  and  12)  to  be  from 
a  date  not  long  after  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem,  alluded 
to  in  vv.  11-14;  and  w.  15-21  to  belong  to  a  later 
period,  which  it  is  impossible  to  fix  exactly.] 

There  is  nothing  in  the  language  of  the  book  to 
disturb  this  conclusion.  The  Hebrew  of  Obadiah  is 
pure ;  unlike  its  neighbour,  the  Book  of  Jonah,  it 
contains  neither  Aramaisms  nor  other  symptoms  of 
decadence.  The  text  is  very  sound.  The  Septuagint 
Version  enables  us  to  correct  w.  7  and  17,  offers  the 
true  division  between  vv.  9  and  lO,  but  makes  an 
omission  which  leaves  no  sense  in  ver.  17.^  It  will 
be  best  to  give  all  the  twenty-one  verses  together 
before  commenting  on  their  spirit. 


•  See  below,  p.  175,  n.  6. 

•  Calvin,  while  refusing  in  his  introduction  to  Obadiah  to  fix  a 
date  (except  in  so  far  as  he  thinks  it  impossible  for  the  book  to  be 
earlier  than  Isaiah),  implies  throughout  his  commentary  on  the  book 
that  it  was  addressed  to  Edom  while  the  Jews  were  in  exile. 
See  his  remarks  on  vv.   18-20. 

•  There  is  a  mistranslation  in  ver.  18 :  T'lB'  is  rendered  by  ■mpd^opof 


THE  BOOK  OF  OBADIAH  173 


The  Vision  of  Obadiah. 

Thus  hath  the  Lord  Jehovah  spoken  concerning  Edotn} 
"A  report  have  we  heard  from  Jehovah,  and  a  mes- 
senger has  been  sent  through  the  nations,  '  Up  and  let  us 
rise  against  her  to  battle.*  Lo,  I  have  made  thee  small 
among  the  nations,  thou  art  very  despised  1  The  arro- 
gance of  thy  heart  hath  misled  thee,  dweller  in  clefts  of  the 
Rock^ ;  the  height  is  his  dwelling,  that  saith  in  his  heart 
'  Who  shall  bring  me  down  to  earth  I '  Though  thou 
build  high  as  the  eagle,  though  between  the  stars  thou  set 
thy  nest,  thence  will  I  bring  thee  down  — oracle  of  Jehovah. 
IJ  thieves  had  come  into  thee  by  night  (how  art  thou 
humbled ! ),^  would  they  not  steal  just  what  they  wanted? 
If  vine-croppers  had  come  into  thee,  would  they  not  leave 
some  gleanings  ?  {How  searched  out  is  Esau,  hoiv  rifled  his 
treasures  !  )  "  But  now  to  thy  very  border  have  they  sent 
thee,  all  the  men  of  thy  covenant  *  have  betrayed  thee,  the 
men  of  thy  peace  have  overpowered  thee^ ;  they  kept  setting 
traps  for  thee — there  is  no  understanding  in  him  /  "  •  Shall 

*  This  is  no  doubt  from  the  later  writer,  who  before  he  gives  the 
new  word  of  Jehovah  with  regard  to  Edom,  quotes  the  earher  pro- 
phecy, marked  above  by  quotation  marks.  In  no  other  way  can  we 
explain  the  immediate  following  of  the  words  "Thus  hath  the  Lord 
spoken  "  with  "  We  have  heard  a  report,"  etc. 

'  '  Sela,'  the  name  of  the  Edomite  capital,  Petra. 

*  The  parenthesis  is  not  in  Jei.  xlix.  9 ;  Nowack  omits  it.  1/ 
spoilers  occurs  in  Heb.  before  by  night:  delete. 

*  Antithetic  to  thieves  and  spoilers  by  night,  as  the  sending  of  the 
people  to  their  border  is  antithetic  to  the  thieves  taking  only  what 
they  wanted. 

*  non?,  thy  bread,  which  here  follows,  is  not  found  in  the  LXX., 
and  is  probably  an  error  due  to  a  mechanical  repttition  of  the  letters 
of  the  previous  word. 

*  Again  perhaps  a  quotation  from  an  earlier  prophecy :  Nowack 
counts  it  from  another  hand.     Mark  the  sudden  change  to  the  future. 


174  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

it  not  be  in  that  day — oracle  of  Jehovah — that  I  will  cause 
the  wise  men  to  pensh  from  Edom,  and  understanding 
from  Mount  Esau  ?  And  thy  heroes,  O  Teman,  shall  be 
dismayed,  till^  every  man  he  cut  off  from  Mount  Esau" 
For  the  slaughter,^  for  the  outraging  of  thy  brother  Jacob, 
shame  doth  cover  thee,  and  thou  art  cut  off  for  ever.  In 
the  day  of  thy  standing  aloof ^  in  the  day  when  strangers 
took  captive  his  substance,  and  aliens  came  into  his  gates,* 
and  they  cast  lots  on  Jerusalem,  even  thou  wert  as  one 
of  them  !  Ah,  gloat  not  ^  upon  the  day  of  thy  brother,^ 
the  day  of  his  misfortune  '' ;  exult  not  over  the  sons  of 
Judah  in  the  day  of  their  destruction,  and  make  not  thy 
mouth  large^  in  the  day  of  distress.  Come  not  up  into  the 
gate  of  My  people  in  the  day  of  their  disaster.  Gloat  not 
thou,  yea  thou,  upon  his  ills,  in  the  day  of  his  disaster, 
nor  put  forth  thy  hand  to  his  substance  in  the  day  of  his 
disaster,  nor  stand  at  the  parting^  of  the  ways  (?)  to  cut 
off  his  fugitives;  nor  arrest  his  escaped  ones  in  the  day 
of  distress. 

For  near  is  the  day  of  Jehovah,  upon  all  the  nations — 

'  Heb.  so  that. 

•  With  LXX.  transfer  this  expression  from  the  end  of  the  ninth  to 
the  beginning  of  the  tenth  verse. 

•  "  When  thou  didst  stand  on  the  opposite  side." — Calvin. 
«  Plural ;  LXX.  and  Qeri. 

'  Sudden  change  to  imperative.  The  English  versions  render,  Thou 
shouldest  not  have  looked  on,  etc. 

•  Cf.  Ps.  cxxxvii.  7,  the  day  of  Jerusalem. 

'  The  day  of  his  strangeness  =  aliena  fortuna. 

•  With  laughter.  Wellhausen  and  Nowack  suspect  ver.  13  as  an 
intrusion. 

•  p"1B  does  not  elsewhere  occur.  It  means  cleaving,  and  the 
LXX.  render  it  by  SuK^okii,  i.e.  pass  between  mountains.  The 
Arabic  forms  from  the  same  root  suggest  the  sense  of  a  band  of  men 
standing  apart  from  the  main  body  on  the  watch  for  stragglers 
(cf.  ^3^,  in  ver.  11).  Calvin,  "  the  going  forth  ";  Gratz  }^"13,  breach,  but 
see  Nowack. 


THE  BOOK  OF  OBADIAH  175 

as  thou  hast  done,  so  shall  it  be  done  to  thee  :  thy  deed 
shall  come  back  on  thine  own  head} 

For  as  ye '  have  drunk  on  my  holy  mounts  all  the 
nations  shall  drink  continuously,  drink  and  reel,  and  be 
as  though  they  had  not  been}  But  on  Mount  Zion  shall 
be  refuge^  and  it  shall  be  inviolate,  and  the  house  of  Jacob 
shall  inherit  those  who  have  disinherited  them}  For  the 
house  of  Jacob  shall  be  fire,  and  the  house  of  Joseph  a 
flame,  but  the  house  of  Esau  shall  become  stubble,  and 
they  shall  kindle  upon  them  and  devour  them,  and  there 
shall  not  one  escape  of  the  house  of  Esau — for  Jehovah 
hath  spoken. 

And  the  Negeb  shall  possess  Mount  Esau,  and  the 
Shephelah  the  Philistines,^  and  the  Mountain^  shall 
possess  Ephraim  and  the  field  of  Samaria^  and 
Benjamin  shall  possess  Gilead.  And  the  exiles  of  this 
host  *    of  the    children   of  Israel  shall  possess  (?)    the 


'  Wellhausen  proposes  to  put  the  last  two  clauses  immediately 
after  ver.  14. 

'  The  prophet  seems  here  to  turn  to  address  his  own  countrymen : 
the  drinking  will  therefore  take  the  meaning  of  suflFering  God's 
chastising  wrath.  Others,  like  Calvin,  take  it  in  the  opposite  sense, 
and  apply  it  to  Edom  :  "as  ye  have  exulted,"  etc. 

'  Reel — for  ^ih  we  ought  (with  Wellhausen)  probably  to  read 
•lyj  :  of.  Lam.  iv.  2.  Some  codd.  of  LXX.  omit  all  the  naiions  .  .  . 
continuously,  drink  and  reel.  But  N  •.•  A  and  Q  have  all  the  nations 
shall  drink  wine. 

•  So  LXX.     Heb.  their  heritages. 

'  That  is  the  reverse  of  the  conditions  after  the  Jews  went  into 
exile,  for  then  the  Edomites  came  up  on  the  Negeb  and  the  Philistines 
on  the  Shephelah. 

•  /.*.  of  Judah,  the  rest  of  the  country  outside  the  Negeb  and 
Shephelah.     The  reading  is  after  the  LXX. 

'  Whereas  the  pagan  inhabitants  of  these  places  came  upon  the 
hill-country  of  Judgea  during  the  Exile. 

•  An  unusual  form  of  the  word.  Ewald  would  read  coast.  The 
verse  is  obscure. 


176  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

land^  of  the  Canaanites  unto  Sarephath,  and  the  exiles  oj 
Jerusalem  who  are  in  Sepharad^  shall  inherit  the  cities 
of  the  Negeb.  And  saviours  shall  come  up  on  Mount 
Zion  to  judge  Mount  Esau,  and  the  kingdom  shall  be 
Jehovah's. 

'  So  LXX. 

^  The  Jews  themselves  thought  this  to  be  Spain  :  so  Onkelos,  who 
translates  n"lSD  by  N^DQpN  =•  Hispania.  Hence  the  origin  of  the 
name  Sephardim  Jews.  The  supposition  that  it  is  Sparta  need 
hardly  be  noticed.  Our  decision  must  lie  between  two  other  regions 
— the  one  in  Asia  Minor,  the  other  in  S.W.  Media.  First,  in  the 
ancient  Persian  inscriptions  there  thrice  occurs  (great  Behistun  in- 
scription, I.  15;  inscription  of  Darius,  11.  12,  13;  and  inscription  of 
Darius  from  Naksh-i-Rustam)  (^parda.  It  is  connected  with  Janua  or 
Ionia  and  Katapatuka  or  Cappadocia  (Schrader,  Cun.  Inscr.  and  O.  T., 
Germ,  ed.,  p.  446;  Eng.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  145) ;  and  Sayce  shows  that,  called 
Shaparda  on  a  late  cuneiform  inscription  of  275  B.C.,  it  must  have 
lain  in  Bithynia  or  Galatia  {Higher  Criticism  atui  Monuments,  p.  483). 
Darius  made  it  a  satrapy.  It  is  clear,  as  Chcyne  says  {Founders  oJ 
O.  T.  Criticism,  p.  312),  that  those  who  on  other  grounds  are  convinced 
of  the  post-exilic  origin  of  this  part  of  Obadiah,  of  its  origin  in  the 
Persian  period,  will  identify  Sepharad  with  this  (^parda,  which  both 
he  and  Sayce  do.  But  to  those  of  us  who  hold  that  this  part  of 
Obadiah  is  from  the  time  of  the  Babylonian  exile,  as  we  have  sought 
to  prove  above  on  pp.  171  f.,  then  Sepharad  cannot  be  Cparda,  for 
Nebuchadrezzar  did  not  subdue  Asia  Minor  and  cannot  have  trans- 
ported Jews  there.  Are  we  then  forced  to  give  up  our  theory  of  the 
date  of  Obadiah  10-21  in  the  Babj'lonian  exile  ?  By  no  means.  For, 
second,  the  inscriptions  of  Sargon,  king  of  Assyria  (721 — 705  B.C.), 
mention  a  Shaparda,  in  S.W.  Media  towards  Babylonia,  a  name 
phonetically  correspondent  to  T1DD  (Schrader,  I.e.),  and  the  identifi- 
cation of  the  two  is  regarded  as  "  exceedingly  probable  "  by  Fried. 
Delitzsch  {Wo  lag  das  Paradies  ?  p.  249).  But  even  if  this  should  be 
shown  to  be  impossible,  and  if  the  identification  Sepharad  =■  Cparda 
be  proved,  that  would  not  oblige  us  to  alter  our  opinion  as  to  the 
date  of  the  whole  of  Obadiah  10-21,  for  it  is  possible  that  later 
additions,  including  Sepharad,  have  been  made  to  the  passage. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

EDOM  AND  ISRAEL 
Obadiah   I-2I 

I  the  Book  of  Obadiah  presents  us  with  some  of 
the  most  difficult  questions  of  criticism,  it  raises 
besides  one  of  the  hardest  ethical  problems  in  all  the 
vexed  history  of  Israel. 

Israel's  fate  has  been  to  work  out  their  calling  in 
the  world  through  antipathies  rather  than  by  sym- 
pathies, but  of  all  the  antipathies  which  the  nation 
experienced  none  was  more  bitter  and  more  constant 
than  that  towards  Edom.  The  rest  of  Israel's  enemies 
rose  and  fell  like  waves :  Canaanites  were  succeeded 
byFPhiUstines,  Philistines  by  Syrians,  Syrians  by 
Greeks.  Tyrant  rehnquished  his  grasp  of  God's 
people  to  tyrant :  Egyptian,  Assyrian,  Babylonian, 
Persian ;  the  Seleucids,  the  Ptolemies.  But  Edom 
was  always  there,  and  fretted  his  anger  for  ever} 
From  that  far  back  day  when  their  ancestors  wrestled 
in  the  womb  of  Rebekah  to  the  very  eve  of  the 
Christian  era,  when  a  Jewish  king  ^  dragged  the 
Idumeans  beneath  the  yoke  of  the  Law,  the  two 
peoples  scorned,  hated  and  scourged  each  other,  with 
a  relentlessness  that  finds  no  analogy,  between  kindred 

*  Amos  i.  II.     See  Vol.  I.,  p.  129. 

•  John  Hyrcanus,  about  130  b.c. 

VOT..  IT  ,  177  '* 


178  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

and  neighbour  nations,  anywhere  else  in  history 
About  1030  David,  about  130  the  Hasmoneans,  were 
equally  at  war  with  Edom  ;  and  few  are  the  prophets 
between  those  distant  dates  who  do  not  cry  for 
vengeance  against  him  or  exult  in  his  overthrow. 
The  Book  of  Obadiah  is  singular  in  this,  that  it  con- 
tains nothing  else  than  such  feelings  and  such  cries. 
It  brings  no  spiritual  message.  It  speaks  no  word 
of  sin,  or  of  righteousness,  or  of  mercy,  but  only  doom 
upon  Edom  in  bitter  resentment  at  his  cruelties,  and 
in  exultation  that,  as  he  has  helped  to  disinherit  Israel, 
Israel  shall  disinherit  him.  Such  a  book  among  the 
prophets  surprises  us.  It  seems  but  a  dark  surge 
staining  the  stream  of  revelation,  as  if  to  exhibit 
through  what  a  muddy  channel  these  sacred  waters 
have  been  poured  upon  the  world.  Is  the  book  only 
an  outbreak  of  Israel's  selfish  patriotism  ?  This  is  the 
question  we  have  to  discuss  in  the  present  chapter. 

Reasons  for  the  hostility  of  Edom  and  Israel  are  not 
far  to  seek.  The  two  nations  were  neighbours  with 
bitter  memories  and  rival  interests.  Each  of  them  was 
possessed  by  a  strong  sense  of  distinction  from  the 
rest  of  mankind,  which  goes  far  to  justify  the  story 
of  their  common  descent.  But  while  in  Israel  this 
pride  was  chiefly  due  to  the  consciousness  of  a  peculiar 
destiny  not  yet  realised — a  pride  painful  and  hungry 
— in  Edom  it  took  the  complacent  form  of  satisfaction 
in  a  territory  of  remarkable  isolation  and  self-sufficiency, 
in  large  stores  of  wealth,  and  in  a  reputation  for  worldly 
wisdom — a  fulness  that  recked  little  of  the  future,  and 
felt  no  need  of  the  Divine. 

The  purple  mountains,  into  which  the  wild  sons  of 
Esau  clambered,  run  out  from  Syria  upon  the  desert, 
some  hundred   miles   by  twenty  of  porphyry  and  red 


Obad.  I-2I]  EDOM  AND  ISRAEL  179 

sandstone.  They  are  said  to  be  the  finest  rock  scenery 
in  the  world.  "  Salvator  Rosa  never  conceived  so 
savage  and  so  suitable  a  haunt  for  banditti."  ^  From 
Mount  Hor,  which  is  their  summit,  you  look  down 
upon  a  maze  of  mountains,  cliffs,  chasms,  rocky  shelves 
and  strips  of  valley.  On  the  east  the  range  is  but  the 
crested  edge  of  a  high,  cold  plateau,  covered  for  the 
most  part  by  stones,  but  with  stretches  of  corn  land 
and  scattered  woods.  The  western  walls,  on  the 
contrary,  spring  steep  and  bare,  black  and  red,  from 
the  yellow  of  the  desert  'Arabah.  The  interior  is 
reached  by  defiles,  so  narrow  that  two  horsemen  may 
scarcely  ride  abreast,  and  the  sun  is  shut  out  by 
the  overhanging  rocks.  Eagles,  hawks  and  other 
mountain  birds  fly  screaming  round  the  traveller. 
Little  else  than  wild-fowls'  nests  are  the  villages ; 
human  eyries  perched  on  high  shelves  or  hidden  away 
in  caves  at  the  ends  of  the  deep  gorges.  There  is 
abundance  of  water.  The  gorges  are  filled  with 
tamarisks,  oleanders  and  wild  figs.  Besides  the  wheat 
lands  on  the  eastern  plateau,  the  wider  defiles  hold 
fertile  fields  and  terraces  for  the  vine.  Mount  Esau  is, 
therefore,  no  mere  citadel  with  supplies  for  a  limited 
siege,  but  a  well-stocked,  well-watered  country,  full  of 
food  and  lusty  men,  yet  lifted  so  high,  and  locked  so 
fast  by  precipice  and  slippery  mountain,  that  it  calls 
for  Uttle  trouble  of  defence.  Diveller  in  the  clefts  of  the 
rockf  the  height  is  his  habitation,  that  saith  in  his  heart: 
Who  shall  bring  me  down  to  earth  ?  ^ 

On  this  rich  fortress-land  the  Edomites  enjoyed  a 
civilisation  far  above  that  of  the  tribes  who  swarmed 

*  Irby  and  Mangles'  Travels :  cf.  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  and 
Doughty,  Arabia  Deserta,  I. 

*  Obadiah  3. 


i8o  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

upon  the  surrounding  deserts;  and  at  the  same  time 
they  were  cut  oflF  from  the  lands  of  those  Syrian  nations 
who  were  their  equals  in  culture  and  descent.  When 
Edom  looked  out  of  himself,  he  looked  down  and  across 
— down  upon  the  Arabs,  whom  his  position  enabled 
him  to  rule  with  a  loose,  rough  hand,  and  across  at 
his  brothers  in  Palestine,  forced  by  their  more  open 
territories  to  make  alliances  with  and  against  each 
other,  from  all  of  which  he  could  afford  to  hold  himself 
free.  That  alone  was  bound  to  exasperate  them.  In 
Edom  himself  it  appears  to  have  bred  a  want  of 
sympathy,  a  habit  of  keeping  to  himself  and  ignoring 
the  claims  both  of  pity  and  of  kinship — with  which 
he  is  charged  by  all  the  prophets.  He  corrupted  his 
natural  feelings,  and  watched  his  passion  for  ever}  Thou 
stoodest  aloof  I  ^ 

This  self-sufficiency  was  aggravated  by  the  position 
of  the  country  among  several  of  the  main  routes  of 
ancient  trade.  The  masters  of  Mount  Se'ir  held  the 
harbours  of  'Akaba,  into  which  the  gold  ships  came 
from  Ophir.  They  intercepted  the  Arabian  caravans 
and  cut  the  roads  to  Gaza  and  Damascus.  Petra,  in 
the  very  heart  of  Edom,  was  in  later  times  the  capital 
of  the  Nabatean  kingdom,  whose  commerce  rivalled  that 
of  Phoenicia,  scattering  its  inscriptions  from  Teyma  in 
Central  Arabia  up  to  the  very  gates  of  Rome.'  The 
earlier  Edomites  were  also  traders,  middlemen  between 
Arabia  and  the  Phoenicians ;  and  they  filled  their 
caverns  with  the  wealth  both  of  East  and  West.* 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  this  which  first 
drew  the  envious  hand  of  Israel  upon  a  land  so  cut 


•  Amos  i. :  cf.  Ezek.  xxxv.  5.  •  C.  I.  S.,  II.  i.  183  ff, 

»  Obadiah  10.  *  Obadiah  6. 


Obad.  I-2I]  EDOM  AND  ISRAEL  i8i 

off  from  their  own  and  so  difficult  of  invasion.  Hear 
the  exultation  of  the  ancient  prophet  whose  words 
Obadiah  has  borrowed :  How  searched  out  is  Esau, 
and  his  hidden  treasures  rifled  !^  But  the  same  is  clear 
from  the  history.  Solomon,  Jehoshaphat,  Amaziah, 
Uzziah  and  other  Jewish  invaders  of  Edom  were  all 
ambitious  to  command  the  Eastern  trade  through  Elath 
and  Ezion-geber.  For  this  it  was  necessary  to  subdue 
Edom ;  and  the  frequent  reduction  of  the  country  to  a 
vassal  state,  with  the  revolts  in  which  it  broke  free, 
were  accompanied  by  terrible  cruelties  upon  both 
sides.'  Every  century  increased  the  tale  of  bitter 
memories  between  the  brothers,  and  added  the  horrors 
of  a  war  of  revenge  to  those  of  a  war  for  gold. 

The  deepest  springs  of  their  hate,  however,  bubbled 
in  their  blood.  In  genius,  temper  and  ambition,  the 
two  peoples  were  of  opposite  extremes.  It  is  very 
singular  that  we  never  hear  in  the  Old  Testament  of 
the  Edomite  gods.  Israel  fell  under  the  fascination  of 
every  neighbouring  idolatry,  but  does  not  even  mention 
that  Edom  had  a  religion.  Such  a  silence  cannot  be 
accidental,  and  the  inference  which  it  suggests  is 
confirmed  by  the  picture  drawn  of  Esau  himself.  Esau 
is  a  profane  person  ' ;  with  no  conscience  of  a  birthright, 
no  faith  in  the  future,  no  capacity  for  visions  ;  dead  to 
the  unseen,  and  clamouring  only  for  the  satisfaction 
of  his  appetites.  The  same  was  probably  the  character 
of  his  descendants ;  who  had,  of  course,  their  own 
gods,  like  every  other  people  in  that  Semitic  world,* 

*  Verse  6. 

•  See  the  details  in  Vol.  I.,  pp.  129  f. 

•  Heb.  xii.  16. 

*  We  even  know  the  names  of  some  of  these  deities  from  the 
theophorous  names  of  Edomites :  e.g.  Baal-chanan  (Gen.  xxxvi.  38), 
Hadad  {ib.  35;  l  Kings  xi.  14  fif.) ;  Malikram,  Kausmalaka,  Kausgabri 


1 82  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

but  were  essentially  irreligious,  living  for  food,  spoil 
and  vengeance,  v^rith  no  national  conscience  or  ideals — 
a  kind  of  people  who  deserved  even  more  than  the 
PhiHstines  to  have  their  name  descend  to  our  times 
as  a  symbol  of  hardness  and  obscurantism.  It  is  no 
contradiction  to  all  this  that  the  one  intellectual  quality 
imputed  to  the  Edomites  should  be  that  of  shrewdness 
and  a  wisdom  which  was  obviously  worldly.  The 
wise  men  of  Edom,  the  cleverness  of  Mount  Esau  ^  were 
notorious.  It  is  the  race  which  has  given  to  history 
only  the  Herods — clever,  scheming,  ruthless  statesmen, 
as  able  as  they  were  false  and  bitter,  as  shrewd  in 
policy  as  they  were  destitute  of  ideals.  That  fox, 
cried  Christ,  and  crying  stamped  the  race. 

But  of  such  a  national  character  Israel  was  in  all 
points,  save  that  of  cunning,  essentially  the  reverse. 
Who  had  such  a  passion  for  the  ideal  ?  Who  such  a 
hunger  for  the  future,  such  hopes  or  such  visions? 
Never  more  than  in  the  day  of  their  prostration,  when 
Jerusalem  and  the  sanctuary  fell  in  ruins,  did  they  feel 
and  hate  the  hardness  of  the  brother,  who  stood  aloof 
and  made  large  his  mouth} 

It  is,  therefore,  no  mere  passion  for  revenge,  which 
inspires  these  few,  hot  verses  of  Obadiah.  No  doubt, 
bitter  memories  rankle  in  his  heart.  He  eagerly  re- 
peats '  the  voices  of  a  day  when  Israel  matched  Edom 
in  cruelty  and  was  cruel  for  the  sake  of  gold,  when 
Judah's  kings  coveted  Esau's  treasures  and  were  foiled. 

(on  Assyrian  inscriptions :  Schrader,  K.A.T.^  150,613);  Ko<radapos, 
Koa-^avos,    Koffyrjpos,   KoavaTavos  {Rev.   arche'ol.    1870,    I.  pp.   109  ff., 
170  ff.),   Koaro^apoi  (Jos.,  XV.  Ant.  vii.  9).     See  Baethgen,  Beitrage 
sur  Sentit.  Rel.  Gesch.,  pp.  lO  ff. 
'  Obadiah  8:  cf.  Jer.  xlix.  "J. 

*  Obadiah  li,  12 :  cf.  Ezek.  xxxv.  12  t. 

•  1-5  or  6,     See  above,  pp.  167,  171  f. 


Obad.  1-21]  EDOM  AND  ISRAEL  183 

No  doubt  there  is  exultation  in  the  news  he  hears,  that 
these  treasures  have  been  rifled  by  others ;  that  all 
the  cleverness  of  this  proud  people  has  not  availed 
against  its  treacherous  allies  ;  and  that  it  has  been 
sent  packing  to  its  borders,^  But  beneath  such  savage 
tempers,  there  beats  the  heart  which  has  fought  and 
suffered  for  the  highest  things,  and  now  in  its  martyr- 
dom sees  them  baffled  and  mocked  by  a  people  without 
vision  and  without  feeling.  Justice,  mercy  and  truth ; 
the  education  of  humanity  in  the  law  of  God,  the 
establishment  of  His  will  upon  earth — these  things,  it 
is  true,  are  not  mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Obadiah,  but 
it  is  for  the  sake  of  some  dim  instinct  of  them  that  its 
wrath  is  poured  upon  foes  whose  treachery  and  malice 
seek  to  make  them  impossible  by  destroying  the  one 
people  on  earth  who  then  believed  and  lived  for  them. 
Consider  the  situation.  It  was  the  darkest  hour  of 
Israel's  history.  City  and  Temple  had  fallen,  the  people 
had  been  carried  away.  Up  over  the  empty  land  the 
waves  of  mocking  heathen  had  flowed,  there  was  none 
to  beat  them  back.  A  Jew  who  had  lived  through 
these  things,  who  had  seen  ^  the  day  of  Jerusalem's 
fall  and  passed  from  her  ruins  under  the  mocking  of 
her  foes,  dared  to  cry  back  into  the  large  mouths  they 
made :  Our  day  is  not  spent ;  we  shall  return  with 
the  things  we  live  for ;  the  land  shall  yet  be  ours,  and 
the  kingdom  our  God's. 

Brave,  hot  heart  1  It  shall  be  as  thou  sayest ;  it 
shall  be  for  a  brief  season.  But  in  exile  thy  people 
and  thou  have  first  to  learn  many  more  things  about 
the  heathen  than  you  can  now  feel.  Mix  with  them 
on  that  far-ofi  coast,  from  which  thou  criest.  Learn 
what  the  world  is,  and  that  more  beautiful  and  more 

'  Verse  7.  *  See  above,  p.  171. 


l84  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

possible  than  the  narrow  rule  which  thou  hast  promised 
to  Israel  over  her  neighbours  shall  be  that  worldwide 
service  of  man,  of  which,  in  fifty  years,  all  the  best  of 
thy  people  shall  be  dreaming. 

The  Book  of  Obadiah  at  the  beginning  of  the  Exile, 
and  the  great  prophecy  of  the  Servant  at  the  end  of 
it — how  true  was  his  word  who  said :  He  that  goeth 
forth  and  weepeth,  bearing  precious  seed,  shall  doubtless 
come  again  with  rejoicing,  bringing  his  sheaves  with  him. 


The  subsequent  history  of  Israel  and  Edom  may  be 
quickly  traced.  When  the  Jews  returned  from  exile 
they  found  the  Edomites  in  possession  of  all  the  Negeb, 
and  of  the  Mountain  of  Judah  far  north  of  Hebron. 
The  old  warfare  was  resumed,  and  not  till  130  B.C. 
(as  has  been  already  said)  did  a  Jewish  king  bring 
the  old  enemies  of  his  people  beneath  the  Law  of 
Jehovah.  The  Jewish  scribes  transferred  the  name 
of  Edom  to  Rome,  as  if  it  were  the  perpetual  symbol 
of  that  hostility  of  the  heathen  world,  against  which 
Israel  had  to  work  out  her  calling  as  the  peculiar 
people  of  God.  Yet  Israel  had  not  done  with  the 
Edomites  themselves.  Never  did  she  encounter  foes 
more  dangerous  to  her  higher  interests  than  in  her 
Idumean  dynasty  of  the  Herods;  while  the  savage 
relentlessness  of  certain  Edomites  in  the  last  struggles 
against  Rome  proved  that  the  fire  which  had  scorched 
her  borders  for  a  thousand  years,  now  burned  a  still 
more  fatal  flame  within  her.  More  than  anything 
else,  this  Edomite  fanaticism  provoked  the  splendid 
suicide  of  Israel,  which  beginning  in  Galilee  was  con- 
summated upon  the  rocks  of  Masada,  half-way  between 
Jerusalem  and  Mount  Esau. 


\ 


INTRODUCTION  TO   THE  PROPHETS  OF 
THE  PERSIAN  PERIOD 

(539—331  B.C.; 


185 


"The  exiles  fcturned  from  Babylon  to  found  not  a  kingdom  but 
a  church." 

KiRKPATRICK. 

*  Israel'  ij  bo  longer  a  kingdom,  but  a  colony"  (p,  189). 


tM 


CHAPTER  XV 

ISRAEL   UNDER   THE  PERSIANS  (S39— 331  b,€.) 

THE  next  group  of  the  Twelve  Prophets — Haggai, 
Zechariah,  Malachi  and  perhaps  Joel — fall  within 
the  period  of  the  Persian  Empire.  The  Persian  Empire 
was  founded  on  the  conquest  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus  in 
539  B.C.,  and  it  fell  in  the  defeat  of  Darius  III.  by 
Alexander  the  Great  at  the  battle  of  Gaugamela,  or 
Arbela,  in  331,  The  period  is  thus  one  of  a  little  more 
than  two  centuries. 

During  all  this  time  Israel  were  the  subjects  of  the 
Persian  monarchs,  and  bound  to  them  and  their  civi- 
lisation by  the  closest  of  ties.  They  owed  them  their 
liberty  and  revival  as  a  separate  community  upon  its 
own  land.  The  Jewish  State — if  we  may  give  that 
title  to  what  is  perhaps  more  truly  described  as  a 
Congregation  or  Commune — was  part  of  an  empire 
which  stretched  from  the  ^gean  to  the  Indus,  and  the 
provinces  of  which  were  held  in  close  intercourse  by 
the  first  system  of  roads  and  posts  that  ever  brought 
different  races  together.  Jews  were  scattered  almost 
everywhere  across  this  empire.  A  vast  number  still 
remained  in  Babylon,  and  there  were  many  at  Susa 
and  Ecbatana,  two  of  the  royal  capitals.  Most  of  these 
were  subject  to  the  full  influence  of  Aryan  manners 
and  religion  ;  some  were  even  members  of  the  Persian 
Court  and  had  access  to  the  Royal  Presence.     In  the 

187 


i88  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Delta  of  Egypt  there  were  Jewish  settlements,  and 
Jews  were  found  also  throughout  Syria  and  along  the 
coasts,  at  least,  of  Asia  Minor.  Here  they  touched 
another  civilisation,  destined  to  impress  them  in  the 
future  even  more  deeply  than  the  Persian.  It  is  the 
period  of  the  struggle  between  Asia  and  Europe,  between 
Persia  and  Greece  :  the  period  of  Marathon  and  Ther- 
mopylae, of  Salamis  and  Platsea,  of  Xenophon  and  the 
Ten  Thousand.  Greek  fleets  occupied  Cyprus  and 
visited  the  Delta.  Greek  armies — in  the  pay  of  Persia 
— trod  for  the  first  time  the  soil  of  Syria.^ 

In  such  a  world,  dominated  for  the  first  time  by  the 
Aryan,  Jews  returned  from  exile,  rebuilt  their  Temple 
and  resumed  its  ritual,  revived  Prophecy  and  codified 
the  Law  :  in  short,  restored  and  organised  Israel  as  the 
people  of  God,  and  developed  their  religion  to  those 
ultimate  forms  in  which  it  has  accomplished  its  supreme 
service  to  the  world. 

In  this  period  Prophecy  does  not  maintain  that 
lofty  position   which   it   has  hitherto  held  in  the  life 


'  The  chief  authorities  for  this  period  are  as  follows  : — A.  Ancient : 
the  inscriptions  of  Nabonidus,  last  native  King  of  Babylon,  Cyrus 
and  Darius  I.;  the  Hebrew  writings  wliich  were  composed  in,  or 
record  the  history  of,  the  period  ;  the  Greek  historians  Herodotus, 
fragments  of  Ctesias  in  Diodorus  Sic.  etc.,  of  Abydenus  in  Eusebius, 
Berosus.  B.  Modern  :  Meyer's  and  Duncker's  Histories  of  Antiquity ; 
art.  "  Ancient  Persia  "  in  Encycl.  Brit.,  by  Koldeke  and  Gutschmid ; 
Sayce,  Anc.  Empires;  the  works  of  Kuenen,  Van  Hoonacker  and 
Kosters  given  on  p.  192 ;  recent  histories  of  Israel,  e.g.  Stade's, 
Wellhausen's  and  Klostermann's ;  P.  Hay  Hunter,  After  the  Exile,  a 
Hundred  Years  ^  Jewish  History  and  Literature,  2  Vols.,  Edin.  1890 ; 
W.  Fairweather,  From  the  Exile  to  the  Advent,  Edin.  1895.  On  Ezra 
and  Nehemiah  see  especially  Ryle's  Commentary  in  the  Cambridge 
BibUfor  Schools,  and  Bertheau-Ryssel's  in  Kurzgefasstes  Exegetisches 
Handkuch :  of.  also  Charles  C.  Torrey,  The  Composition  and  Historical 
V^lut  of  Ezra-Nehemiah,  in  the  Beihefte  zurZ.A.T.W.,  II.,  1896. 


ISRAEL    UNDER   THE  PERSIANS   (539-331  b.c)      189 


of  Israel,  and  the  reasons  for  its  decline  are  obvious. 
To  begin  with,  the  national  life,  from  which  it  springs, 
is  of  a  far  poorer  quality.  Israel  is  no  longer  a  king- 
dom, but  a  colony.  The  state  is  not  independent : 
there  is  virtually  no  state.  The  community  is  poor 
and  feeble,  cut  off  from  all  the  habit  and  prestige  of 
their  past,  and  beginning  the  rudiments  of  life  again 
in  hard  struggle  with  nature  and  hostile  tribes.  To 
this  level  Prophecy  has  to  descend,  and  occupy  itself 
with  these  rudiments.  We  miss  the  civic  atmosphere, 
the  great  spaces  of  public  life,  the  large  ethical  issues. 
Instead  we  have  tearful  questions,  raised  by  a  grudging 
soil  and  bad  seasons,  with  all  the  petty  selfishness  of 
hunger-bitten  peasants.  The  religious  duties  of  the 
colony  are  mainly  ecclesiastical  :  the  building  of  a 
temple,  the  arrangement  of  ritual,  and  the  ceremonial 
discipline  of  the  people  in  separation  from  their  heathen 
neighbours.  We  miss,  too,  the  clear  outlook  of  the 
earlier  prophets  upon  the  history  of  the  world,  and 
their  calm,  rational  grasp  of  its  forces.  The  world  is 
still  seen,  and  even  to  further  distances  than  before. 
The  people  abate  no  whit  of  their  ideal  to  be  the 
teachers  of  mankind.  But  it  is  all  through  another 
medium.  The  lurid  air  of  Apocalypse  envelops  the 
future,  and  in  their  weakness  to  grapple  either  poli- 
tically or  philosophically  with  the  problems  which 
history  offers,  the  prophets  resort  to  the  expectation 
of  physical  catastrophes  and  of  the  intervention  of 
supernatural  armies.  Such  an  atmosphere  is  not 
the  native  air  of  Prophecy,  and  Prophecy  yields  its 
supreme  office  in  Israel  to  other  forms  of  religious 
development.  On  one  side  the  ecclesiastic  comes  to 
the  front — the  legalist,  the  organiser  of  ritual,  the 
priest ;  on  another,  the  teacher,  the  moralist,  the  thinker 


190  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

and  the  speculator.  At  the  same  time  personal  religion 
is  perhaps  more  deeply  cultivated  than  at  any  other 
stage  of  the  people's  history.  A  large  number  of 
lyrical  pieces  bear  proof  to  the  existence  of  a  very 
genuine  and  beautiful  piety  throughout  the  period. 

Unfortunately  the  Jewish  records  for  this  time  are 
both  fragmentary  and  confused  ;  they  touch  the  general 
history  of  the  world  only  at  intervals,  and  give  rise  to 
a  number  of  difficult  questions,  some  of  which  are  in- 
soluble. The  clearest  and  only  consecutive  line  of 
data  through  the  period  is  the  list  of  the  Persian 
monarchs.  The  Persian  Empire,  539 — 331,  was  sus- 
tained through  eleven  reigns  and  two  usurpations,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  chronological  table: — 

Cyrus  (Kurush)  the  Great      .  .         .  539—529 

Cambyses  (Kambujiya)  ....  529 — 522 

Pseudo-Smerdis,  or  Baradis      .         .   522 
Darius  (Darayahush)  I.,  Hystaspis  .  521 — 485 

Xerxes  (Kshayarsha)  1 485 — 464 

Artaxerxes(Artakshathra)I.,  Longimanus  464 — 424 
Xerxes  II 424—423 

Sogdianus 423 

Darius  II.,  Nothus 423—404 

Artaxerxes  II.,  Mnemon  ,         ,         .  404 — 358 

Artaxerxes  III.,  Ochus   ....  358—338 

Arses 338—335 

Darius  III.,  Codomanus  .         .         .         .  335 — 331 

Of  these  royal  names,  Cyrus,  Darius,  Xerxes  (Ahas- 
uerus)  and  Artaxerxes  are  given  among  the  Biblical 
data;  but  the  fact  that  there  are  three  Darius',  two 
Xerxes'   and    three  Artaxerxes'  makes   possible   more 


ISRAEL    UNDER    THE  PERSIANS   (539-313  B.C.)      191 

than  one  set  of  identifications,  and  has  suggested 
different  chronological  schemes  of  Jewish  history 
during  this  period.  The  simplest  and  most  generally 
accepted  identification  of  the  Darius,  Xerxes  (Ahas- 
uerus)  and  Artaxerxes  of  the  Biblical  history/  is 
that  they  were  the  first  Persian  monarchs  of  these 
names;  and  after  needful  rearrangement  of  the  some- 
what confused  order  of  events  in  the  narrative  of  the 
Book  of  Ezra,  it  was  held  as  settled  that,  while  the 
exiles  returned  under  Cyrus  about  537,  Haggai  and 
Zechariah  prophesied  and  the  Temple  was  built  under 
Darius  I.  between  the  second  and  the  sixth  year  of  his 
reign,  or  from  520  to  516;  that  attempts  were  made  to 
build  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  under  Xerxes  I.  (485 — 464), 
but  especially  under  Artaxerxes  I.  (464 — 424),  under 
whom  first  Ezra  in  458  and  then  Nehemiah  in  445 
arrived  at  Jerusalem,  promulgated  the  Law  and  re- 
organised Israel, 

But  this  has  by  no  means  satisfied  all  modern 
critics.  Some  in  the  interests  of  the  authenticity 
and  correct  order  of  the  Book  of  Ezra,  and  some  for 
other  reasons,  argue  that  the  Darius  under  whom  the 
Temple  was  built  was  Darius  II.,  or  Nothus,  423 — 404, 
and  thus  bring  down  the  building  of  the  Temple  and 
the  prophets  Haggai  and  Zechariah  a  whole  century 
later  than  the  accepted  theory;^  and  that  therefore 
the  Artaxerxes,  under  whom  Ezra  and  Nehemiah 
laboured,  was  not  the  first  Artaxerxes,  or  Longimanus 

'  Ezra  iv.  5-7,  etc.,  vi.  1-14,  etc. 

*  Havet,  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  XCIV.  799  ff.  (art.  La  ModemUe 
des  Prophites)  ;  Imbert  (in  defence  of  the  historical  character  of  the 
Book  of  Ezra),  Le  Temple  Recotistruit  par  Zorobabel,  extrait  du  Muse'on, 
1888-9  (this  I  ^^ave  not  seen);  Sir  Henry  Howorth  in  the  Acadeni) 
for  1893—866  especially  pp.  326  ff. 


192  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

(464 — 424),  but  the  second,  or  Mnemon  (404 — 358).' 
This  arrangement  of  the  history  finds  some  support 
in  the  data,  and  especially  in  the  order  of  the  data, 
furnished  by  the  Book  of  Ezra,  which  describes  the 
building  of  the  Temple  under  Darius  after  its  record  of 
events  under  Xerxes  I.  (Ahasuerus)  and  Artaxerxes  I.^ 
But,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next  chanter,  the  Compiler 
of  the  Book  of  Ezra  has  seen  fit,  for  some  reason,  to 
violate  the  chronological  order  of  the  data  at  his  dis- 
posal, and  nothing  reliable  can  be  built  upon  his 
arrangement.  Unravel  his  somewhat  confused  history, 
take  the  contemporary  data  supplied  in  Haggai  and 
Zechariah,  add  to  them  the  historical  probabilities  of 
the  time,  and  you  will  find,  as  the  three  Dutch  scholars 
Kuenen,  Van  Hoonacker  and  Kosters  have  done,'  that 
the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple  cannot  possibly  be  dated 
so  late  as  the  reign  of  the  second  Darius  (423 — 404), 
but  must  be  left,  according  to  the  usual  acceptation, 
under  Darius  I.  (521 — 485).  Haggai,  for  instance, 
plainly  implies  that  among  those  who  saw  the  Temple 
rising  were  men  who  had  seen  its  predecessor 
destroyed  in  586,*  and  Zechariah  declares  that  God's 
wrath  on  Jerusalem  has  just  lasted  seventy  years.^ 
Nor  (however  much  his  confusion  may  give  grounds 
to  the  contrary)  can  the  Compiler  of  the  Book  of  Ezra 

•  Another  French  writer,  Bellang6,  in  the  Museon  for  1890,  quoted 
by  Kuenen  (^Ges,  Abhandl.,  p.  213),  goes  further,  and  places  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah  under  the  third  Artaxerxes,  Ochus  (358 — 338). 

*  Ezra  iv.  6 — v. 

•  Kaenen,  De  Chronologic  van  het  Perzische  Tiidvak  der  Joodschc 
Geschiedems,  1890,  translated  by  Budde  in  Kuenen's  Gesammeltc 
Abhandlungen,  pp.  212  S.;  Van  Hoonacker,  Zorobabel  et  le  Second 
Temple  (1892);  Kosters,  Het  Herstel  van  Israel,  in  Hot  Perzische 
Tijdvak,  1894,  translated  by  Basedow,  Die  Wiederherstellung  Israels 
im  Persischen  Zeitalter,   1896. 

*  Hag.  ii.  3.  »  Zech.  i.  12, 


ISRAEL   UNDER   THE  PERSIANS  (539-331  b.c.)      193 

have  meant  any  other  reign  for  the  building  of  the 
Temple  than  that  of  Darius  I.  He  mentions  that 
nothing  was  done  to  the  Temple  all  the  days  of 
Cyrus  and  up  to  the  reign  oj  Darius :  ^  by  this  he  can- 
not intend  to  pass  over  the  first  Darius  and  leap  on 
three  more  reigns,  or  a  century,  to  Darius  II.  He 
mentions  Zerubbabel  and  Jeshua  both  as  at  the  head 
of  the  exiles  who  returned  under  Cyrus,  and  as  pre- 
siding at  the  building  of  the  Temple  under  Darius.^ 
If  alive  in  536,  they  may  well  have  been  alive  in 
521,  but  cannot  have  survived  till  423.'  These  data 
are  fully  supported  by  the  historical  probabilities.  It 
is  inconceivable  that  the  Jews  should  have  delayed 
the  building  of  the  Temple  for  more  than  a  century 
from  the  time  of  Cyrus.  That  the  Temple  was  built 
by  Zerubbabel  and  Jeshua  in  the  beginning  of  the 
reign  of  Darius  I.  may  be  considered  as  one  of  the 
unquestionable  data  of  our  period. 

But  if  this  be  so,  then  there  falls  away  a  great  part 
of  the  argument  for  placing  the  building  of  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem  and  the  labours  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah 
under  Artaxerxes  II.  (404 — 358)  instead  of  Arta- 
xerxes  I.  It  is  true  that  some  who  accept  the  build- 
ing of  the  Temple  under  Darius  I.  nevertheless  put 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah  under  Artaxerxes  II.  The  weak- 
ness of  their  case,  however,  has  been  clearly  exposed 
by  Kuenen,*  who  proves   that   Nehemiah's  mission  to 

*  Ezra  iv.  5.  *  Ezra  ii.  2,  iv.  i  ff.,  v.  2. 

*  As  Kuenen  shows,  p.  226,  nothing  can  be  deduced  from  Ezra 
vi.  14. 

*  P.  227 ;  in  answer  to  De  Saulcy,  Etude  Chronologique  des  Livres 
d'Esdras  et  de  Nehe'mie  (1868),  Sept  Sikles  de  THistoire  Judatque 
(1874).  De  Saulcy's  case  rests  on  the  account  of  Josephus  (XL 
Ant.  vii.  2-8 :  cf.  ix.  i),  the  untrustworthy  character  of  which  and  its 
confusion  of  two  distant  eras  Kuenen  has  no  difiSculty  in  showing. 

VOL.  II. 


194  T^HE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


Jerusalem  must  have  fallen  in  the  twentieth  year  of 
Artaxerxes  I.,  or  445.^  "On  this  fact  there  can  be  no 
further  diflference  of  opinion."  * 

These  two  dates  then  are  fixed  :  the  beginning  of 
the  Temple  in  520  by  Zerubbabel  and  Jeshua,  and  the 
arrival  of  Nehemiah  at  Jerusalem  in  445.  Other  points 
are  more  difficult  to  establish,  and  in  particular  there 
rests  a  great  obscurity  on  the  date  of  the  two  visits  of 
Ezra  to  Jerusalem.  According  to  the  Book  of  Ezra,^ 
he  went  there  first  in  the  seventh  year  of  Artaxerxes  I., 
or  458  B.C.,  thirteen  years  before  the  arrival  of  Nehemiah. 
He  found  many  Jews  married  to  heathen  wives,  laid  it 
to  heart,  and  called  a  general  assembly  of  the  people 
to  drive  the  latter  out  of  the  community.  Then  we 
hear  no  more  of  him :  neither  in  the  negotiations  with 
Artaxerxes  about  the  building  of  the  walls,  nor  upon 
the  arrival  of  Nehemiah,  nor  in  Nehemiah's  treatment 
of  the  mixed  marriages.  He  is  absent  from  everything, 
till  suddenly  he  appears  again  at  the  dedication  of  the 
walls  by  Nehemiah  and  at  the  reading  of  the  Law.* 
This  "eclipse  of  Ezra,"  as  Kuenen  well  calls  it,  taken 
with  the  mixed  character  of  all  the  records  left  of  him, 
has  moved  some  to  deny  to  him  and  his  reforms  and 
his  promulgation   of  the   Law   any    historical    reality 

'  When  Nehemiah  came  to  Jerusalem  Eliyashib  was  high  priest, 
and  he  was  grandson  of  Jeshua,  who  was  high  priest  in  520,  or 
seventj'-five  years  before  ;  but  between  520  and  the  twentieth  year  of 
Artaxerxes  II.  lie  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  years.  And  again,  the 
Artaxerxes  of  Ezra  iv.  8-23,  under  whom  the  walls  of  Jerusalem 
were  begun,  was  the  immediate  follower  of  Xerxes  (Ahasuerus),  and 
therefore  Artaxerxes  I.,  and  Van  Hoonacker  has  shown  that  be  must 
be  the  same  as  the  Artaxerxes  of  Nehemiah. 

'^  Kosters,  p.  43. 

»  vii.  1-8. 

*  Neh.  xii,  36,  viii.,  x. 


ISRAEL    UNDER    THE  PERSIANS   (539-331  B.C.)      195 

whatever ;  *  while  others,  with  a  more  sober  and  rational 
criticism,  have  sought  to  solve  the  difficulties  by  another 
arrangement  of  the  events  than  that  usually  accepted. 
Van  Hoonacker  makes  Ezra's  first  appearance  in 
Jerusalem  to  be  at  the  dedication  of  the  walls  and 
promulgation  of  the  Law  in  445,  and  refers  his 
arrival  described  in  Ezra  vii.  and  his  attempts  to 
abolish  the  mixed  marriages  to  a  second  visit  to 
Jerusalem  in  the  twentieth  year,  not  of  Artaxerxes  I., 
but  of  Artaxerxes  II.,  or  398  b.c.  Kuenen  has  exposed 
the  extreme  unlikelihood,  if  not  impossibility,  of  so  late 
a  date  for  Ezra,  and  in  this  Kosters  holds  with  him.^ 
But  Kosters  agrees  with  Van  Hoonacker  in  placing 
Ezra's  activity  subsequent  to  Nehemiah's  and  to  the 
dedication  of  the  walls. 

These  questions  about  Ezra  have  little  bearing  on 
our  present  study  of  the  prophets,  and  it  is  not  our 
duty  to  discuss  them.  But  Kuenen,  in  answer  to  Van 
Hoonacker,  has  shown  very  strong  reasons '  for  holding 
in  the  main  to  the  generally  accepted  theory  of  Elzra's 
arrival  in  Jerusalem  in  458,  the  seventh  year  of 
Artaxerxes  I. ;  and  though  there  are  great  difficulties 
about  the  narrative  which  follows,  and  especially 
about  Ezra's  sudden  disappearance  from  the  scene  till 
after  Nehemiah's  arrival,  reasons  may  be  found  for 
this.* 

'  Vernes,  Precis  d'Histoire  Juive  depuis  les  Origines  jusqu'h 
I'Epoque  Persane  (1889),  pp.  579  flF.  (not  seen)  ;  more  recently  alsc 
Charles  C.  Torrey  of  Andover,  The  Composition  and  Historical  Value 
of  Eera-Nehemiah,  in  the  Beihefte  zur  Z.A.T.W.,  II.,  1896. 

■  Pages  113  ff.  '  Page  237. 

*  The  failure  of  his  too  hasty  and  impetuous  attempts  at  so  whole- 
sale a  measure  as  the  banishment  of  the  heathen  wives  ;  or  his  return 
to  Babylon,  having  accomplished  his  end.  See  Ryle,  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah,  in  the  CaynOridge  Bible  for  Schoois.  Introd.,  pp.  xl.  f. 


196  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

We  are  therefore  justified  in  holding,  in  the  meantime, 
to  the  traditional  arrangement  of  the  great  events  in 
Israel  in  the  fifth  century  before  Christ.  We  may 
divide  the  vi^hole  Persian  period  by  the  two  points  we 
have  found  to  be  certain,  the  beginning  of  the  Temple 
under  Darius  I.  in  520  and  the  mission  of  Nehemiah 
to  Jerusalem  in  445,  and  by  the  other  that  we  have 
found  to  be  probable,  Ezra's  arrival  in  458. 

On  these  data  the  Persian  period  may  be  arranged 
under  the  following  four  sections,  among  which  we  place 
those  prophets  who  respectively  belong  to  them  : — 

1.  From  the  Taking  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus  to  the 
Completion  of  the  Temple  in  the  sixth  year  of  Darius  I,, 
538 — 516  :  Haggai  and  Zechariah  in  520 ff. 

2.  From  the  Completion  of  the  Temple  under 
Darius  I.  to  the  arrival  of  Ezra  in  the'  seventh  year 
of  Artaxerxes  I.,  516 — 458:  sometimes  called  the 
period  of  silence,  but  probably  yielding  the  Book  of 
"  Malachi." 

3.  The  Work  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  under  Arta- 
xerxes I.,  Longimanus,  458—425. 

4.  The  Rest  of  the  Period,  Xerxes  II.  to  Darius  III., 
425 — 331  :  the  prophet  Joel  and  perhaps  several  other 
anonymous  fragments  of  prophecy. 

Of  these  four  sections  we  must  now  examine 
the  first,  for  it  forms  the  necessary  introduction  to 
our  study  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  and  above  all 
it  raises  a  question  almost  greater  than  any  of  those 
we  have  just  been  discussing.  The  fact  recorded  by 
the  Book  of  Ezra,  and  till  a  few  years  ago  accepted 
without  doubt  by  tradition  and  modern  criticism,  the 
first  Return  of  Exiles  from  Babylon  under  Cyrus,  has 
lately  been  altogether  denied ;  and  the  builders  of  the 


ISRAEL    UNDER   THE  PERSIANS  (539-331  b.c.)      197 

Temple  in  520  have  been  asserted  to  be,  not  returned 
exiles,  but  the  remnant  of  Jews  left  in  Judah  by 
Nebuchadrezzar  in  586.  The  importance  of  this  for 
our  interpretation  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  who 
instigated  the  building  of  the  Temple,  is  obvious :  we 
must  discuss  the  question  in  detail. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

FROM  THE  RETURN  FROM  BABYLON  TO  THE 

BUILDING  OF  THE   TEMPLE 

(536—516  BC.) 

CYRUS  the  Great  took  Babylon  and  the  Babylonian 
Empire  in  539.  Upon  the  eve  of  his  conquest 
the  Second  Isaiah  had  hailed  him  as  the  Liberator 
of  the  people  of  God  and  the  builder  of  their  Temple. 
The  Return  of  the  Exiles  and  the  Restoration  both 
of  Temple  and  City  were  predicted  by  the  Second 
Isaiah  for  the  immediate  future  ;  and  a  Jewish  historian, 
the  Compiler  of  the  Books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  who 
lived  about  300  B.C.,  has  taken  up  the  story  of  how 
these  events  came  to  pass  from  the  very  first  year  of 
Cyrus  onward.  Before  discussing  the  dates  and  proper 
order  of  these  events,  it  will  be  well  to  have  this 
Chronicler's  narrative  before  us.  It  lies  in  the  first 
and  following  chapters  of  our  Book  of  Ezra. 

According  to  this,  Cyrus,  soon  after  his  conquest 
of  Babylon,  gave  permission  to  the  Jewish  exiles  to 
return  to  Palestine,  and  between  forty  and  fifty  thou- 
sand^ did  so  return,  bearing  the  vessels  of  Jehovah's 
house  which   the  Chaldeans  had   taken  away  in   586. 

'  42,360,  besides  their  servants,  is  the  total  sum  given  in  Ezra  ii.  64 ; 
but  the  detailed  figures  in  Ezra  amount  only  to  29,818,  those  in 
Nehemiah  to  31,089,  and  those  in  i  Esdras  to  30,143  (other  MSS. 
30,678).     Sec  RyVe  on  Ezra  ii.  64. 

198 


FROM  RETURN  TO  BUILDING  OF  TEMPLE        199 

These  Cyrus  delivered  io  Sheshbaszar,  prince  of  Judah^ 
(who  is  further  described  in  an  Aramaic  document 
incorporated  by  the  Compiler  of  the  Book  of  Ezra 
as  "  Pehah,"  or  provincial  governor^^  and  as  laying  the 
foundation  of  the  Temple  ^),  and  there  is  also  mentioned 
in  command  of  the  people  a  Tirshatha,  probably  the 
Persian  Tarsata,*  which  also  means  provincial  governor. 
Upon  their  arrival  at  Jerusalem,  the  date  of  which 
will  be  immediately  discussed,  the  people  are  said  to 
be  under  Jeshu'a  ben  Josadak  *  and  Zerubbabel  ben 
She'alti'el,®  who  had  already  been  mentioned  as  the 
head  of  the  returning  exiles,^  and  who  is  called  by 
his  contemporary  Haggai  Pehah,  or  governor,  of 
Judah}  Are  we  to  understand  by  Sheshbazzar  and 
Zerubbabel  one  and  the  same  person  ?  Most  critics 
have  answered  in  the  affirmative,  believing  that  Shesh- 
bazzar is  but  the  Babylonian  or  Persian  name  by 
which  the  Jew  Zerubbabel  was  known  at  court ;  •  and 
this  view  is  supported  by  the  facts  that  Zerubbabel  was 
of  the  house  of  David  and  is  called  Pehah  by  Haggai, 
and  by  the  argument  that  the  command  given  by 
the  Tirshatha  to  the  Jews  to  abstain  from  eating  the 
most  holy  things"^^   could  only  have   been  given  by  a 


'  Ezra  i.  8.  »  lb.  16. 

'  Ezra  V.  14.  *  Ezra  ii.  63. 

•  p'JV'l''"!!  VW>;  Ezra  iii.  2,  like  Ezra  i.  1-8,  from  the  Compiler 
of  Ezra-Nehemiah. 

••    •  :  -  :     '  V        V  T  v:  • 

'  Ezra  ii.  2. 

'  Hag.  i.  14,  ii.  2,  21,  and  perhaps  by  Nehemiah  (vii.  65-70). 
Nehemiah  himself  is  styled  both  Pehah  (xiv.  20)  and  Tirshatha 
\viii.  9,  X.  l). 

•  As  Daniel  and  his  three  friends  had  also  Babylonian  names. 
'•  Ezra  ii.  63. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


native  Jew.*  But  others,  arguing  that  Ezra  v.  i,  com- 
pared  with  w.  14  and  16,  implies  that  Zerubbabel 
and  Sheshbazzar  were  two  different  persons,  take 
the  former  to  have  been  the  most  prominent  of  the 
Jews  themselves,  but  the  latter  an  official,  Persian  or 
Babylonian,  appointed  by  Cyrus  to  carry  out  such 
business  in  connection  with  the  Return  as  could  only 
be  discharged  by  an  imperial  officer.*  This  is,  on  the 
whole,  the  more  probable  theory. 

If  it  is  right,  Sheshbazzar,  who  superintended  the 
Return,  had  disappeared  from  Jerusalem  by  521,  when 
Haggai  commenced  to  prophesy,  and  had  been  succeeded 
as  Pehah,  or  governor,  by  Zerubbabel.  But  in  that  case 
the  Compiler  has  been  in  error  in  calling  Sheshbazzar 
a  prince  of  Jiidah? 

The  next  point  to  fix  is  what  the  Compiler  considers 
to  have  been  the  date  of  the  Return.  He  names  no 
year,  but  he  recounts  that  the  same  people,  whom  he 
has  just  described  as  receiving  the  command  of  Cyrus 
to  return,  did  immediately  leave  Babylon,*  and  he  says 
that  they  arrived  at  Jerusalem  in  the  seventh  month, 
but  again  without    stating  a    year.^      In   any  case,  he 

'  Cf.  Ryle,  xxxi  ff. ;  and  on  Ezra  i.  8,  ii.  63. 

*  Stade,  Gesch.  des  Volkes  Israel,  II.  98  ff. :  cf.  Kuenen,  Gesatnntelt. 
Abhandl.,  220. 

*  Ezra  L  8. 

*  Ezra  i.  compared  with  ii.  I. 

*  Some  think  to  find  this  in  i  Esdras  v.  1-6,  where  it  is  said  that 
Darius,  a  name  they  take  to  be  an  error  for  that  of  Cyrus,  brought 
up  the  exiles  with  an  escort  of  a  thousand  cavalry,  starting  in  the  first 
month  of  the  second  year  of  the  king's  reign.  This  passage,  how- 
ever, is  not  beyond  suspicion  as  a  gloss  (see  Ryle  on  Ezra  i.  11),  and 
even  if  genuine  may  be  intended  to  describe  a  second  contingent  of 
exiles  despatched  by  Darius  I.  in  his  second  year,  520.  The  names 
given  include  that  of  Jesua,  son  of  Josedec,  and  instead  of  Zerub- 
babel's,  that  of  his  son  Joacim. 


FROM  RETURN    TO  BUILDING   OF   TEMPLE        2oi 


obviously  intends  to  imply  that  the  Return  followed 
immediately  on  reception  of  the  permission  to  return, 
and  that  this  was  given  by  Cyrus  very  soon  after  his 
occupation  of  Babylon  in  539-8.  We  may  take  it  that 
the  Compiler  understood  the  year  to  be  that  we  know 
as  537  B.C.  He  adds  that,  on  the  arrival  of  the 
caravans  from  Babylon,  the  Jews  set  up  the  altar  on 
its  old  site  and  restored  t!ie  morning  and  evening 
sacrifices ;  that  they  kept  also  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles, 
and  thereafter  all  the  rest  of  ihe  feasts  of  Jehovah;  and 
further,  that  they  engaged  masons  and  carpenters  for 
building  the  Temple,  and  Phoenicians  to  bring  them 
cedar-wood  from  Lebanon.^ 

Another  section  from  the  Compiler's  hand  states  that 
the  returned  Jews  set  to  work  upon  the  Temple  in  the 
second  month  vf  the  second  year  of  their  Return,  pre- 
sumably 536  B.C.,  laying  the  foundation-stone  with  due 
pomp,  and  amid  the  excitement  of  the  whole  people.^ 
Whereupon  certain  adversaries,  by  whom  the  Compiler 
means  Samaritans,  demanded  a  share  in  the  building  of 
the  Temple,  and  when  Jeshua  and  Zerubbabel  refused 
this,  the  people  of  the  land  frustrated  the  building  of  the 
Temple  even  until  the  reign  of  Darius,  521  flf. 

This — the  second  year  of  Darius — is  the  point  to 
which  contemporary  documents,  the  prophecies  of 
Haggai  and  Zechariah,  assign  the  beginning  of 
new  measures  to  build  the  Temple.  Of  these  the 
Compiler  of  the  Book  of  Ezra  says  in  the  mean- 
time nothing,  but  after  barely  mentioning  the  reign 
of  Darius  leaps  at  once'  to  further  Samaritan 
obstructions — though  not  of  the  building  01  the 
Temple  (be  it  noted),  but  of  the  building  of  the  city 

•  Ezra  iii  3-7.  *  lb.  8-13.  *  Ezra  iv.  7. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


walls — in  the  reigns  of  Ahasuerus,  that  is  Xerxes, 
presumably  Xerxes  I.,  the  successor  of  Darius,  485 — 
464,  and  of  his  successor  Artaxerxes  I.,  464—424 ;  ^  the 
account  of  the  latter  of  which  he  gives  not  in  his  own 
language  but  in  that  of  an  Aramaic  document,  Ezra  iv.  8  flf. 
And  this  document,  after  recounting  how  Artaxerxes 
empowered  the  Samaritans  to  stop  the  building  of  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem,  records  ^  that  the  building  ceased 
//'//  the  second  year  of  the  reign  of  Darius,  when  the 
prophets  Haggai  and  Zechariah  stirred  up  Zerubbabel 
and  Jeshua  to  rebuild,  not  the  city  walls,  be  it  observed, 
but  the  Temple,  and  with  the  permission  of  Darius 
this  building  was  at  last  completed  in  his  sixth  year.' 
That  is  to  say,  this  Aramaic  document  brings  us  back, 
with  the  frustrated  building  of  the  walls  under  Xerxes  I. 
and  Artaxerxes  I.  (485 — 424),  to  the  same  date  under 
their  predecessor  Darius  I.,  viz.  520,  to  which  the 
Compiler  had  brought  down  the  frustrated  building  of 
the  Temple  1  The  most  reasonable  explanation  of  this 
confusion,  not  only  of  chronology,  but  of  two  distinct 
processes — the  erection  of  the  Temple  and  the  forti- 
fication of  the  city — is  that  the  Compiler  was  misled  by 
his  desire  to  give  as  strong  an  impression  as  possible 
of  the  Samaritan  obstructions  by  placing  them  all 
together.  Attempts  to  harmonise  the  order  of  his 
narrative  with  the  ascertained  sequence  of  the  Persian 
reigns  have  failed.* 

'  See  above,  p.  193. 
"  iv.  24. 

•  Ezra  iv.  24 — vi.  15. 

*  There  are  in  the  main  two  classes  of  such  attempts,  (a)  Some 
have  suggested  that  the  Ahasuerus  (Xerxes)  and  Artaxerxes  men- 
tioned in  Ezra  iv.  6  and  7  fif.  are  not  the  successors  of  Darius  I.  who 
bore  these  names,  but  titles  of  his  predecessors  Cambyses  and  the 
Pseudo-Smerdis  (see  ibove,  p.  190).     This  view  has  been  disposed  of 


FROM  RETURN   TO  BUILDING   OF  TEMPLE        203 

Such  then  is  the  character  of  the  compilation  known 
to  us  as  the  Book  of  Ezra.  If  we  add  that  in  its 
present  form  it  cannot  be  of  earlier  date  than  300  B.C., 
or  two  hundred  and  thirty-six  years  after  the  Return, 
and  that  the  Aramaic  document  which  it  incorporates 
is  probably  not  earlier  than  430,  or  one  hundred  years 
after  the  Return,  while  the  List  of  Exiles  which  it 
gives  (in  chap,  ii.)  also  contains  elements  that  cannot 
be  earlier  than  430,  we  shall  not  wonder  that  grave 
doubts  should  have  been  raised  concerning  its  trust- 
worthiness as  a  narrative. 

These  doubts  affect,  with  one  exception,  all  the  great 
facts  which  it  professes  to  record.  The  exception  is 
the  building  of  the  Temple  between  the  second  and 
sixth  years  of  Darius  I.,  520 — 516,  which  we  have 
already  seen  to  be  past  doubt.^  But  all  that  the 
Book  of  Ezra  relates  before  this  has  been  called  in 
question,  and  it  has  been  successively  alleged  :  (i) 
that  there  was  no  such  attempt  as  the  book  describes 
to  build  the  Temple  before  520,  (2)  that  there  was 
no  Return  of  Exiles  at  all  under  Cyrus,  and  that 
the  Temple  was  not  built  by  Jews  who  had  come  from 
Babylon,  but  by  Jews  who  had  never  left  Judah. 

These  conclusions,  if  justified,  would  have  the  most 
important  bearing  upon  our  interpretation  of  Haggai 
and  Zechariah.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  examine 
them  with  care.  They  were  reached  by  critics  in  the 
order   just    stated,    but   as    the   second    is   the   more 

by  Kuenen,  Ges.  Abhandl.,  pp.  224  flf.,  and  by  Ryle,  pp.  65  ff.  (6)  The 
attempt  to  prove  that  the  Darius  under  whom  the  Temple  was 
built  was  not  Darius  I.  (521 — 4S5),  the  predecessor  of  Xerxes  I.  and 
Artaxerxes  1.(485—424),  but  their  successor  once  removed,  Darius  II., 
Nothus  (423  ~4o0-  So,  in  defence  of  the  Book  of  Ezra,  Imbert. 
For  his  theory  and  the  answer  to  it  see  above,  pp.  191  f. 
'  See  above,  pp.  192  ff. 


a04  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

sweeping  and  to  some  extent  involves  the  other,  we 
may  take  it  first. 

I.  Is  the  Book  of  Ezra,  then,  right  or  wrong  in 
asserting  that  there  was  a  great  return  of  Jews,  headed 
by  Zerubbabel  and  Jeshua,  about  the  year  536,  and  that 
it  was  they  who  in  520 — 516  rebuilt  the  Temple? 

The  argument  that  in  recounting  these  events  the 
Book  of  Ezra  is  unhistorical  has  been  fully  stated  by 
Professor  Kosters  of  Leiden.*  He  reaches  his  conclu- 
sion along  three  lines  of  evidence  :  the  Books  of  Haggai 
and  Zechariah,  the  sources  from  which  he  believes  the 
Aramaic  narrative  Ezra  v.  i — vi.  18  to  have  been 
compiled,  and  the  list  of  names  in  Ezra  ii.  In  the 
Books  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  he  points  out  that 
the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  whom  the  prophets  sum- 
mon to  build  the  Temple  are  not  called  by  any  name 
which  implies  that  they  are  returned  exiles;  that  nothing 
in  the  description  of  them  would  lead  us  to  suppose 
this ;  that  God's  anger  against  Israel  is  represented  as 
still  unbroken;  that  neither  prophet  speaks  of  a  Return 
as  past,  but  that  Zechariah  seems  to  look  for  it  as  still 
to  come.^  The  second  line  of  evidence  is  an  analysis 
of  the  Aramaic  document,  Ezra  v.  6  If.,  into  two 
sources,  neither  of  which  implies  a  Return  under  Cyrus. 
But  these  two  lines  of  proof  cannot  avail  against  the 
List   of  Returned   Exiles  offered   us  in  Ezra   ii.  and 

•  For  his  work  see  above,  p.  192,  n.  3.  I  regret  that  neither  Well- 
hausen's  answer  to  it,  nor  Kosters'  reply  to  Wellhausen,  was 
accessible  to  me  in  preparing  this  chapter.  Nor  did  I  read  Mr. 
Torrey's  resume  of  Wellhausen's  answer,  or  Wellhausen's  notes  to 
the  second  edition  of  his  Isr.  u.  Jud.  Geschichte,  till  the  chapter  was 
written.  Previous  to  Kosters,  the  Return  under  Cyrus  had  been 
called  in  question  only  by  the  very  arbitrary  French  scholar 
M.  Vernes  in  1889-90. 

*  ii.  6flF.  Eng.,  10  ff.  Heb. 


FROM  RETURN   TO  BUILDING  OF  TEMPLE        2oS 

Nehemiah  vii.,  if  the  latter  be  genuine.  On  his  third 
line  of  evidence,  Dr.  Kosters,  therefore,  disputes  the 
genuineness  of  this  List,  and  further  denies  that  it 
even  gives  itself  out  as  a  List  of  Exiles  returned  under 
Cyrus.  So  he  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  there  was 
no  Return  from  Babylon  under  Cyrus,  nor  any  before 
the  Temple  was  built  in  520  ff.,  but  that  the  builders 
were  people  of  the  land,  Jews  who  had  never  gone 
into  exile. 

The  evidence  which  Dr.  Kosters  draws  from  the 
Book  of  Ezra  least  concerns  us.  Both  because  of  this 
and  because  it  is  the  weakest  part  of  his  case,  we  may 
take  it  first. 

Dr.  Kosters  analyses  the  bulk  of  the  Aramaic  document, 
Ezra  V. — vi.  18,  into  two  constituents.  His  arguments 
for  this  are  very  precarious.*  The  first  document, 
which  he  takes  to  consist  of  chap.  v.  1-5  and  10,  with 
perhaps  vi.  6-15  (except  a  few  phrases),  relates  that 
Thathnai,  Satrap  of  the  West  of  the  Euphrates,  asked 
Darius  whether  he  might  allow  the  Jews  to  proceed 
with  the  building  of  th&  Temple,  and  received  command 
not  only  to  allow  but  to  help  them,  on  the  ground 
that  Cyrus  had  already  given  them  permission.  The 
second,  chap.  v.  II-17,  vi.  1-3,  affirms  that  the  building 

'  His  chief  grounds  for  this  analysis  are  (i)  that  in  v.  1-5  the  Jews 
are  said  to  have  begun  to  build  the  Temple  in  the  second  year  of 
Darius,  while  in  v.  16  the  foundation-stone  is  said  to  have  been  laid 
under  Cyrus;  (2)  the  frequent  want  of  connection  throughout  the 
passage;  (3)  an  alleged  doublet:  in  v.  17 — vi.  I  search  is  said  to 
have  been  made  for  the  edict  of  Cyrus  in  Babylon,  while  in  vi.  2  the 
edict  is  said  to  have  been  found  in  Ecbatana.  But  (i)  and  (3)  are 
capable  of  very  obvious  explanations,  and  (2)  is  far  from  conclusive. — 
The  remainder  of  the  Aramaic  text,  iv.  8-24,  Kosters  seeks  to  prove  is 
by  the  Chronicler  or  Compiler  himself.  As  Torrey  (o/>.  cit.,  p.  il)  has 
shown,  this  "  is  as  unlikely  as  possible."  At  the  most  he  may  have 
made  additions  to  the  Aramaic  document. 


2o6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

had  actually  begun  under  Cyrus,  who  had  sent  Shesh- 
bazzar,  the  Satrap,  to  see  it  carried  out.  Neither  of 
these  documents  says  a  word  about  any  order  from 
Cyrus  to  the  Jews  to  return ;  and  the  implication  of  the 
second,  that  the  building  had  gone  on  uninterruptedly 
from  the  time  of  Cyrus'  order  to  the  second  year  of 
Darius,*  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  evidence  of  the 
Compiler  of  the  Book  of  Ezra,  who,  as  we  have  seen,^ 
states  that  Samaritan  obstruction  stayed  the  building 
till  the  second  year  of  Darius. 

But  suppose  we  accept  Kosters'  premisses  and  agree 
that  these  two  documents  really  exist  within  Ezra  v. — 
vi.  i8.  Their  evidence  is  not  irreconcilable.  Both  imply 
that  Cyrus  gave  command  to  rebuild  the  Temple :  if  they 
were  originally  independent  that  would  but  strengthen 
the  tradition  of  such  a  command,  and  render  a  little 
weaker  Dr.  Kosters'  contention  that  the  tradition  arose 
merely  from  a  desire  to  find  a  fulfilment  of  the  Sec>ond 
Isaiah's  predictions  ^  that  Cyrus  would  be  the  Temple's 
builder.  That  neither  of  the  supposed  documents  men- 
tions the   Return  itself  is  very  natural,  because  both 

'  Ezra  V.  i6. 

•  Above,  pp.  20I  f. 

•  Isa.  xliv.  28,  xlv.  I.  According  to  Kosters,  the  statement  of 
the  Aramaic  document  about  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple  is  there- 
fore a  pious  invention  of  a  literal  fulfilment  of  prophecy.  To  this 
opinion  Cheyne  adheres  (Introd.  to  the  Book  of  Isaiah,  1895,  P-  xxxviii), 
and  adds  the  further  assumption  that  the  Chronicler,  being  "shocked 
at  the  ascription  to  Cyrus  (for  the  Judaean  builders  have  no  credit 
given  them)  of  what  must,  he  thought,  have  been  at  least  equally  due 
to  the  zeal  of  the  exiles,"  invented  his  story  in  the  earlier  chapters 
of  Ezra  as  to  the  part  the  exiles  themselves  took  in  the  rebuilding. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  these  assumptions  have  precisely  the  value 
of  such.  They  are  merely  the  imputation  of  motives,  more  or  less 
probable  to  the  writers  of  certain  statements,  and  may  therefore  be 
fairly  met  by  probabilities  from  the  other  side.  But  of  this  more 
Utcr  on. 


FROM  RETURN   TO  BUILDING  OF  TEMPLE        J07 

are  concerned  with  the  building  of  the  Temple.  For 
the  Compiler  of  the  Book  of  Ezra,  who  on  Kosters' 
argument  put  them  together,  the  interest  of  the  Return 
is  over ;  he  has  already  sufficiently  dealt  with  it.  But 
more — Kosters*  second  document,  which  ascribes  the 
building  of  the  Temple  to  Cyrus,  surely  by  that  very 
statement  implies  a  Return  of  Exiles  during  his  reign. 
For  is  it  at  all  probable  that  Cyrus  would  have  com- 
mitted the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple  to  a  Persian 
magnate  like  Sheshbazzar,  without  sending  with  him 
a  large  number  of  those  Babylonian  Jews  who  must 
have  instigated  the  king  to  give  his  order  for  rebuilding  ? 
We  may  conclude  then  that  Ezra  v. — vi.  18,  whatever  be 
its  value  and  its  date,  contains  no  evidence,  positive  or 
negative,  against  a  Return  of  the  Jews  under  Cyrus, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  takes  this  for  granted. 

We  turn  now  to  Dr.  Kosters'  treatment  of  the  so- 
called  List  of  the  Returned  Exiles.  He  holds  this 
List  to  have  been,  not  only  borrowed  for  its  place  in 
Ezra  ii.  from  Nehemiah  vii.,^  but  even  interpolated 
in  the  latter.  His  reasons  for  this  latter  conclusion 
are  very  improbable,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  appended 
note,  and  really  weaken  his  otherwise  strong  case.* 
As  to  the  contents  of  the  List,  there  are,  it  is  true, 
many  elements  which  date  from  Nehemiah's  own  time 
and  even  later.     But  these  are  not  sufficient  to  prove 

'  This  is  the  usual  opinion  of  critics,  who  yet  hold  it  to  be  genuine 
—e.g.  Ryle. 

*  He  seeks  to  argue  that  a  List  of  Exiles  returned  under  Cyrus  in 
536  could  be  of  no  use  for  Nehemiah's  purpose  to  obtain  in  445  a 
census  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem;  but  surely,  if  in  his  efforts  to 
make  a  census  Nehemiah  discovered  the  existence  of  such  a  List,  it 
was  natural  for  him  to  give  it  as  the  basis  of  his  inquiry,  or  (because 
the  List — see  above,  p.  203 — contains  elements  from  Nehemiah's  own 
time)  to  enlarge  it  and  bring  it  down  to  date.     But  Dr.  Kosters  thinks 


2o8  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

that  the  List  was  not  originally  a  List  of  Exiles  returned 
under  Cyrus.  The  verses  in  which  this  is  asserted — 
Ezra  ii.  i,  2 ;  Nehemiah  vii.  6,  7— plainly  intimate  that 
those  Jews  who  came  up  out  of  the  Exile  were  the 
same  who  built  the  Temple  under  Darius.  Dr.  Kosters 
endeavours  to  destroy  the  force  of  this  staten;ent  (if 
true  so  destructive  of  his  theory)  by  pointing  to  the 
number  of  the  leaders  which  the  List  assigns  to  the 
returning  exiles.  In  fixing  this  number  as  twelve, 
the  author,  Kosters  maintains,  intended  to  make  the 
leaders  representative  of  the  twelve  tribes  and  the 
body  of  returned  exiles  as  equivalent  to  All-Israel. 
But,  he  argues,  neither  Haggai  nor  Zechariah  con- 
siders the  builders  of  the  Temple  to  be  equivalent 
to  All-Israel,  nor  was  this  conception  realised  in 
Judah  till  after  the  arrival  of  Ezra  with  his  bands. 
The  force  of  this  argument  is  greatly  weakened  by 
remembering  how  natural  it  would  have  been  for  men, 
who  felt  the  Return  under  Cyrus,  however  small, 
to  be  the  fulfilment  of  the  Second  Isaiah's  glorious 
predictions  of  a  restoration  of  All-Israel,  to  appoint 
twelve  leaders,  and  so  make  them  representative  of 
the  nation  as  a  whole.  Kosters'  argument  against  the 
naturalness  of  such  an  appointment  in  537,  and  there- 
fore against  the  truth  of  the  statement  of  the  List 
about  it,  falls  to  the  ground. 

But  in  the  Books  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah  Dr.  Kosters 

also  that,  as  Nehemiah  would  never  have  broken  the  connection  of 
his  memoirs  with  such  a  List,  the  latter  must  have  been  inserted  by 
the  Compiler,  who  at  this  point  grew  weary  of  the  discursiveness  of 
the  memoirs,  broke  from  them,  and  then — inserted  this  length3'  List ! 
This  is  simply  incredible — that  he  should  seek  to  atone  for  the 
difiusaness  of  Nehemiah's  memoirs  by  the  intrusion  of  a  very  long 
catalogue  which  had  no  relevance  to  the  point  at  which  he  broke 
them  off. 


FROM  RETURN  TO  BUILDING   OF  TEMPLE        209 

finds  much  more  formidable  witnesses  for  his  thesis 
that  there  was  no  Return  of  exiles  from  Babylon  before 
the  building  of  the  Temple  under  Darius.  These  books 
nowhere  speak  of  a  Return  under  Cyrus,  nor  do  they  call 
the  community  who  built  the  Temple  by  the  names  ot 
Golah  or  B'ne  ha-Golah,  Captivity  or  Sons  of  the  Captivity, 
which  are  given  after  the  Return  of  Ezra's  bands ;  but 
they  simply  name  them  this  people^  or  remnant  of  the 
people,^  people  of  the  land^  Judah  or  House  of  fudah^ 
names  perfectly  suitable  to  Jews  who  had  never  left 
the  neighbourhood  of  Jerusalem.  Even  if  we  except 
from  this  list  the  phrase  the  remnant  of  the  people,  as 
intended  by  Haggai  and  Zechariah  in  the  numerical 
sense  of  the  rest  or  all  the  others^  we  have  still  to  deal 
with  the  other  titles,  with  the  absence  from  them  of  any 
symptom  descriptive  of  return  from  exile,  and  with 
the  whole  silence  of  our  two  prophets  concerning  such 
a  return.  These  are  very  striking  phenomena,  and 
they  undoubtedly  afford  considerable  evidence  for  Dr. 
ICosters'  thesis.*     But  it  cannot  escape  notice  that  the 

'  Hag.  i.  2,  12 ;  ii.  14. 

•  Hag.  i.  12,  14;  ii.  2;  Zech.  viii.  6,  II,  12. 

•  Hag.  ii.  4;  Zech.  vii.  5.  *  Zech.  ii.  16;  viii.  13,  15. 

•  It  is  used  in  Hag.  i.  12,  14,  ii.  2,  only  after  the  mention  of  the 
leaders;  see,  however,  Pusey's  note  9  to  Hag.  i.  12;  while  in 
Zech.  viii.  6,  II,  18,  it  might  be  argued  that  it  was  employed  in  such 
a  way  as  to  cover  not  only  Jews  who  had  never  left  their  land,  but 
all  Jews  as  well  who  were  left  of  ancient  Israel. 

•  Compare  Cheyne,  Introduction  to  the  Book  of  Isaiah,  1895,  xxxvff., 
who  says  that  in  the  main  points  Kosters'  conclusions  "appear  so 
inevitable "  that  he  has  "constantly  presupposed  them"  in  dealing 
with  chaps.  Ivi. — Ixvi.  of  Isaiah ;  and  Torrey,  op.  cit.,  1896,  p.  53 : 
"  Kosters  has  demonstrated,  from  the  testimony  of  Haggai  and 
Zechariah,  that  Zerubbabel  and  Jeshua  were  not  returned  exiles ; 
and  furthermore,  that  the  prophets  Haggai  and  Zechariah  knew 
nothing  of  an  important  return  of  exiles  from  Babylonia."  Cf.  also 
Wildeboer,  Litteratur  des  A.  T.,  pp.  291  flf 

VOL,   II.  14 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


evidence  they  afford  is  mainly  negative,  and  this  raises 
two  questions  :  (i)  Can  the  phenomena  in  Haggai  and 
Zechariah  be  accounted  for?  and  (2)  whether  accounted 
for  or  not,  can  they  be  held  to  prevail  against  the 
mass  of  positive  evidence  in  favour  of  a  Return  under 
Cyrus  ? 

An  explanation  of  the  absence  of  all  allusion  in 
Haggai  and  Zechariah  to  the  Return  is  certainly 
possible. 

No  one  can  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  spirituality  of 
the  teaching  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah.  Their  one 
ambition  is  to  put  courage  from  God  into  the  poor  hearts 
before  them,  that  these  out  of  their  own  resources 
may  rebuild  their  Temple.  As  Zechariah  puts  it. 
Not  by  migJit,  nor  by  power,  but  by  My  Spirit,  saith 
Jehovah  of  Hosts}  It  is  obvious  why  men  of  this 
temper  should  refrain  from  appealing  to  the  Return,  or  to 
the  royal  power  of  Persia  by  which  it  had  been  achieved. 
We  can  understand  why,  while  the  annals  employed 
in  the  Book  of  Ezra  record  the  appeal  of  the  political 
leaders  of  the  Jews  to  Darius  upon  the  strength  of  the 
edict  of  Cyrus,  the  prophets,  in  their  effort  to  encourage 
the  people  to  make  the  most  of  what  they  themselves 
were  and  to  enforce  the  omnipotence  of  God's  Spirit 
apart  from  all  human  aids,  should  be  silent  about 
the  latter.  We  must  also  remember  that  Haggai  and 
Zechariah  were  addressing  a  people  to  whom  (what- 
ever view  we  take  of  the  transactions  under  Cyrus) 
the  favour  of  Cyrus  had  been  one  vast  disillusion  in 
the  light  of  the  predictions  of  Second   Isaiah.*     The 

'  iv.  4. 

*  Of  course  it  is  always  possible  that,  if  there  had  been  no  great 
Return  from  Babylon  under  Cyrus,  the  community  at  Jerusalem  in 
520  had  not  heard  of  the  prophecies  of  the  Second  Isaiah. 


FROM  RETURN   TO  BUILDING   OF   TEMPLE        21 1 

Persian  magnate  Sheshbazzar  himself,  invested  with 
full  power,  had  been  unable  to  build  the  Temple  for 
them,  and  had  apparently  disappeared  from  Judah, 
leaving  his  powers  as  Pehah,  or  governor,  to  Zerubbabel. 
Was  it  not,  then,  as  suitable  to  these  circumstances, 
as  it  was  essential  to  the  prophets'  own  religious 
temper,  that  Haggai  and  Zechariah  should  refrain  from 
alluding  to  any  of  the  political  advantages,  to  which 
their  countrymen  had  hitherto  trusted  in  vain  ?  * 

Another  fact  should  be  marked.  If  Haggai  is  silent 
about  any  return  from  exile  in  the  past,  he  is  equally 
silent  about  any  in  the  future.  If  for  him  no  return 
had  yet  taken  place,  would  he  not  have  been  likely  to 
predict  it  as  certain  to  happen  ?  ^  At  least  his  silence 
on  the  subject  proves  how  absolutely  he  confined  his 
thoughts  to  the  circumstances  before  him,  and  to  the 
needs  of  his  people  at  the  moment  he  addressed  them. 
Kosters,  indeed,  alleges  that  Zechariah  describes  the 
Return  from  Exile  as  still  future — viz.  in  the  lyric 
piece  appended  to  his  Third  Vision.'  But,  as  we  shall 
see  when  we  come  to  it,  this  lyric  piece  is  most  pro- 
bably an  intrusion  among  the  Visions,  and  is  not  to 
be  assigned  to  Zechariah  himself.  Even,  however,  if  it 
were  from  the  same  date  and  author  as  the  Visions,  it 

'  This  argument,  it  is  true,  does  not  fully  account  for  the  curious 
fact  that  Haggai  and  Zechariah  never  call  the  Jewish  community  at 
Jerusalem  by  a  name  significant  of  their  return  from  exile.  But  in 
reference  to  this  it  ought  to  be  noted  that  even  the  Aramaic  document 
in  the  Book  of  Ezra  which  records  the  Return  under  Cyrus  does  not 
call  the  builders  of  the  Temple  by  any  name  which  implies  that  they 
have  come  up  from  exile,  but  styles  them  simply  the  Jews  who  were 
in  Judah  and  Jerusalem  (Ezra  v.  i),  in  contrast  to  the  Jews  who  were 
in  foreign  lands. 

Indeed,  why  does  he  ignore  the  whole  Exile  itself  if  no  return 
from  it  has  taken  place  ? 

Zech.  ii.  10-17  Heb.,  6-13  Eng. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


would  not  prove  that  no  return  from  Babylon  had  taken 
place,  but  only  that  numbers  of  Jews  still  remained  in 
Babylon. 

But  we  may  now  take  a  further  step.  If  there  were 
these  natural  reasons  for  the  silence  of  Haggai  and 
Zechariah  about  a  return  of  exiles  under  Cyrus,  can 
that  silence  be  allowed  to  prevail  against  the  mass  of 
testimony  which  we  have  that  such  a  return  took 
place  ?  It  is  true  that,  while  the  Books  of  Haggai  and 
Zechariah  are  contemporary  with  the  period  in  question, 
some  of  the  evidence  for  the  Return,  Ezra  i.  and  iii. — iv.  7, 
is  at  least  two  centuries  later,  and  upon  the  date  of  the 
rest,  the  List  in  Ezra  ii,  and  the  Aramaic  document  in 
Ezra  iv.  8  fF.,  we  have  no  certain  information.  But  that 
the  List  is  from  a  date  very  soon  after  Cyrus  is  allowed 
by  a  large  number  of  the  most  advanced  critics,^  and  even 
if  we  ignore  it,  we  still  have  the  Aramaic  document, 
which  agrees  with  Haggai  and  Zechariah  in  assigning  the 
real,  effectual  beginning  of  the  Temple-building  to  the 
second  year  of  Darius  and  to  the  leadership  of  Zerub- 
babel  and  Jeshua  at  the  instigation  of  the  two  prophets. 
May  we  not  trust  the  same  document  in  its  relation 
of  the  main  facts  concerning  Cyrus  ?  Again,  in  his 
memoirs  Ezra*  speaks  of  the  transgressions  of  the 
Gdlah  or  B'ne  ha-Golah  in  effecting  marriages  with 
the  mixed  people  of  the  land,  in  a  way  which  shows 
that  he  means  by  the  name,  not  the  Jews  who  had 
just  come  up  with  himself  from  Babylon,  but  the  older 
community  whom  he  found  in   Judah,  and  who  had 

*  E.g.  Stade,  Kuenen  {op.  at,  p.  216).  So.  too,  Klostermann,  Gesch. 
des  Volkes  Israel,  Munchen,  1S96.  Wellliausen,  in  the  second  editioa 
of  his  Gesch.,  does  not  admit  tiiat  the  List  is  one  of  exiles  returned 
under  Cyrus  (p.  155,  n.), 

»  ix.  4;  X.  6,  7. 


FROM  RETURN   TO  BUILDING   OF  TEMPLE        213 

had  time,  as  his  own  bands  had  not,  to  scatter  over  the 
land  and  enter  into  social  relations  with  the  heathen. 

But,  as  Kuenen  points  out,^  we  have  yet  further 
evidence  for  the  probability  of  a  Return  under  Cyrus, 
in  the  explicit  predictions  of  the  Second  Isaiah  that 
Cyrus  would  be  the  builder  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
Temple.  "  If  they  express  the  expectation,  nourished 
by  the  prophet  and  his  contemporaries,  then  it  is  clear 
from  their  preservation  for  future  generations  that 
Cyrus  did  not  disappoint  the  hope  of  the  exiles,  from 
whose  midst  this  voice  pealed  forth  to  him."  And  this 
leads  to  other  considerations.  Whether  was  it  more 
probable  for  the  poverty-stricken  people  of  the  laud,  the 
dregs  which  Nebuchadrezzar  had  left  behind,  or  for 
the  body  and  flower  of  Israel  in  Babylon,  to  rebuild 
the  Temple  ?  Surely  for  the  latter.'^  Among  them  had 
risen,  as  Cyrus  drew  near  to  Babylon,  the  hopes  and 
the  motives,  nay,  the  glorious  assurance  of  the  Return 
and  the  Rebuilding ;  and  with  them  was  all  the 
material  for  the  latter.  Is  it  credible  that  they  took  no 
advantage  of  their  opportunity  under  Cyrus?  Is  it 
credible  that  they  waited  nearly  a  century  before 
seeking  to  return  to  Jerusalem,  and  that  the  building 
of    the   Temple   was   left   to   people   who   were   half- 


•  Op.  at.,  p.  216,  where  he  also  quotes  the  testimony  of  the  Book 
of  Daniel  (ix.  25). 

*  Since  writing  the  above  I  have  seen  the  relevant  notes  to  the 
second  edition  of  Wellhausen's  Gesch.,  pp.  155  and  160.  "The  re- 
founding  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Temple  cannot  have  started  from  the 
Jews  left  behind  in  Palestine."  "  The  remnant  left  in  the  land  would 
have  restored  the  old  popular  cultus  of  the  high  places.  Instead  of 
that  we  find  even  before  Ezra  the  legitimate  cultus  and  t?ie  hierocracy 
in  Jerusalem :  in  the  Temple-service  proper  Ezra  discovers  nothing 
to  reform.  Without  the  leaven  of  the  Golah  the  Judaism  of  Palestine 
is  in  its  origin  incomprehensible." 


214  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 


heathen,  and,  in  the  eyes  of  the  exiles,  despicable  and 
unholy?  This  would  be  credible  only  upon  one 
condition,  that  Cyrus  and  his  immediate  successors 
disappointed  the  predictions  of  the  Second  Isaiah  and 
refused  to  allow  the  exiles  to  leave  Babylon.  But  the 
little  we  know  of  these  Persian  monarchs  points  all 
the  other  way :  nothing  is  more  probable,  for  nothing  is 
more  in  harmony  with  Persian  policy,  than  that  Cyrus 
should  permit  the  captives  of  the  Babylon  which  he 
conquered  to  return  to  their  own  lands.^ 

Moreover,  we  have  another,  and  to  the  mind  of  the 
present  writer  an  almost  conclusive  argument,  that  the 
Jews  addressed  by  Haggai  and  Zechariah  were  Jews 
returned  from  Babylon.  Neither  prophet  ever  charges 
his  people  with  idolatry ;  neither  prophet  so  much  as 
mentions  idols.  This  is  natural  if  the  congregation 
addressed  was  composed  of  such  pious  aad  ardent 
adherents  of  Jehovah,  as  His  word  had  brought  back 
to  Judah,  when  His  servant  Cyrus  opened  the  way.  But 
had  Haggai  and  Zechariah  been  addressing  the  people 
of  the  land,  who  had  never  left  the  land,  they  could  not 
have  helped  speaking  of  idolatry. 

Such  considerations  may  very  justly  be  used  against 
an  argument  which  seeks  to  prove  that  the  narratives 
of  a  Return  under  Cyrus  were  due  to  the  pious 
invention  of  a  Jewish  writer  who  wished  to  record 
that  the  predictions  of  the  Second  Isaiah  were  fulfilled 
by  Cyrus,   their   designated    trustee.^     They  certainly 

'  -The  inscription  of  Cyrus  is  sometimes  quoted  to  this  effect :  cf. 
P.  Hay  Hunter,  op.  cit.,  I.  35.  But  it  would  seem  that  the  statement 
of  Cyrus  is  limited  to  the  restoration  of  Assyrian  idols  and  their 
worshippers  to  Assur  and  Akkad.  Still,  what  he  did  in  this  case 
furnishes  a  strong  argument  for  the  probability  of  his  having  done 
the  same  in  the  case  of  the  Jews. 

*  See  above,  p.  206,  and  especially  n.  3. 


FROM  RETURN    TO   BUILDING   OF  TEMPLE        215 

possess  a  far  higher  degree  of  probability  than  that 
argument  does. 

Finally  there  is  this  consideration.  If  there  was  no 
return  from  Babylon  under  Cyrus,  and  the  Temple,  as 
Dr.  Kosters  alleges,  was  built  by  the  poor  people  of  the 
land,  is  it  likely  that  the  latter  should  have  been  re- 
garded with  such  contempt  as  they  were  by  the  exiles 
who  returned  under  Ezra  and  Nehemiah?  Theirs 
would  then  have  been  the  glory  of  reconstituting  Israel, 
and  their  position  very  different  from  what  we  find  it. 

On  all  these  grounds,  therefore,  we  must  hold  that 
the  attempt  to  discredit  the  tradition  of  an  important 
return  of  exiles  under  Cyrus  has  not  been  successful ; 
that  such  a  return  remains  the  more  probable  solution 
of  an  obscure  and  difficult  problem  ;  and  that  therefore 
the  Jews  who  with  Zerubbabel  and  Jeshua  are  re- 
presented in  Haggai  and  Zechariah  as  building  the 
Temple  in  the  second  year  of  Darius,  520,  had  come 
up  from  Babylon  about  537.^  Such  a  conclusion,  of 
course,  need  not  commit  us  to  the  various  data  offered 
by  the  Chronicler  in  his  story  of  the  Return,  such  as 
the  Edict  of  Cyrus,  nor  to  all  of  his  details. 

2.  Many,  however,  who  grant  the  correctness  of  the 
tradition  that  a  large  number  of  Jewish  exiles  returned 
under  Cyrus  to  Jerusalem,  deny  the  statement  of  the 
Compiler  of  the  Book  of  Ezra  that  the  returned  exiles 
immediately  prepared  to  build  the  Temple  and  laid 
the  foundation-stone    with  solemn    festival,    but  were 


•  Even  Cheyne,  after  accepting  Kosters'  conclusions  as  in  the  main 
points  inevitable  {op.  cit.,  p.  xxxv),  considers  (p.  xxxviii)  that  "  the 
earnestness  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah  (who  cannot  have  stood  alone) 
implies  the  existence  of  a  higher  religious  element  at  Jerusalem  long 
before  432  b.c.  Whence  came  this  higher  element  but  from  its 
natural  home  among  the  more  cultured  Jews  in  Babylonia?" 


2l6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

hindered  from  proceeding  with  the  building  till  the 
second  year  of  Darius.*  They  maintain  that  this  late 
narrative  is  contradicted  by  the  contemporary  state- 
ments of  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  who,  according  to 
them,  imply  that  no  foundation-stone  was  laid  till 
520  B.C.'  For  the  interpretation  of  our  prophets  this 
is  not  a  question  of  cardinal  importance.  But  for 
clearness'  sake  we  do  well  to  lay  it  open. 

We  may  at  once  concede  that  in  Haggai  and 
Zechariah  there  is  nothing  which  necessarily  implies 
that  the  Jews  had  made  any  beginning  to  build  the 
Temple  before  the  start  recorded  by  Haggai  in  the 
year  520.  The  one  passage,  Haggai  ii.  18,  which  is 
cited  to  prove  this'  is  at  the  best  ambiguous,  and 
many  scholars  claim  it  as  a  fixture  of  that  date  for 
the  twenty-fourth  day  of  the  ninth  month  of  520.*  At 
the  same  time,  and  even  granting  that  the  latter 
interpretation  of  Haggai  ii.  18  is  correct,  there  is 
nothing  in  either  Haggai  or  Zechariah  to  make  it 
impossible  that  a  foundation-stone  had  been  laid  some 
years  before,  but  abandoned  in  consequence  of  the 
Samaritan  obstruction,  as  alleged  in  Ezra  iii.  8-1 1. 
If  we  keep  in  mind  Haggai's  and  Zechariah's  silence 


'  Ezra  iii.  8-13. 

*  Schrader,  "Ueber  die  Dauer  des  Tempelbaues,"  in  Stud.  u.  Krit., 
1879,  460  ff. ;  Stade,  Gesch.  des  Volkes  Israel,  II.  1 15  fif. ;  Kuenen,  op.  cit, 
p.  222  ;  Kos*:ers,  op.  cit.,  Chap.  I.,  §  i.  To  this  opinion  others  have 
adhered  :  KSnig  {Einleit.  in  das  A.T.),  Ryssel  (op.  at.)  and  Marti  (2nd 
edition  of  Kayser's  Theol.  des  A.  T.,  p.  200).  Schrader  (p.  563) 
argues  that  Ezra  iii.  8-13  was  not  founded  on  a  historical  document, 
but  is  an  imitation  of  Neh.  vii.  73 — viii. ;  and  Stade  that  the  Aramaic 
document  in  Ezra  which  ascribes  the  laying  of  the  foundation-stone 
to  Sheshbazzar,  the  legate  of  Cyrus,  was  not  earlier  than  430. 

'  Ryle,  op.  cit.,  p.  xxx 

*  Stade,  Wellhausen,  etc.     See  below.  Chap.  XVIII.  on  Hag.  ii.  18. 


FROM  RETURN   TO  BUILDING   OF   TEMPLE        217 

about  the  Return  from  Babylon,  and  their  very  natural 
concentration  upon  their  own  circumstances/  we  shall 
not  be  able  to  reckon  their  silence  about  previous 
attempts  to  build  the  Temple  as  a  conclusive  proof 
that  these  attempts  never  took  place.  Moreover  the 
Aramaic  document,  which  agrees  with  our  two  prophets 
in  assigning  the  only  effective  start  of  the  work  on 
the  Temple  to  520,^  does  not  deem  it  inconsistent  with 
this  to  record  that  the  Persian  Satrap  of  the  West  of 
the  Euphrates '  reported  to  Darius  that,  when  he  asked 
the  Jews  why  they  were  rebuilding  the  Temple,  they 
replied  not  only  that  a  decree  of  Cyrus  had  granted 
them  permission,*  but  that  his  legate  Sheshbazzar  had 
actually  laid  the  foundation-stone  upon  his  arrival  at 
Jerusalem,  and  that  the  building  had  gone  on  without 
interruption  from  that  time  to  520.*  This  last  assertion, 
which  of  course  was  false,  may  have  been  due  either 
to  a  misunderstanding  of  the  Jewish  elders  by  the 
reporting  Satrap,  or  else  to  the  Jews  themselves, 
anxious  to  make  their  case  as  strong  as  possible. 
The  latter  is  the  more  probable  alternative.  As  even 
Stade  admits,  it  was  a  very  natural  assertion  for  the 
Jews  to  make,  and  so  conceal  that  their  effort  of  520 
was  due  to  the  instigation  of  their  own  prophets.  But 
in  any  case  the  Aramaic  document  corroborates  the 
statement  of  the  Compiler  that  there  was  a  foundation- 
stone  laid  in  the  early  years  of  Cyrus,  and  does  not 
conceive  this  to  be  inconsistent  with  its  own  narrative 
of  a  stone  being  laid  in  520,  and  an  effective  start  at 
last  made  upon  the  Temple  works.  So  much  does 
Stade  feel  the  force  of  this,  that  he  concedes  not  only 
that  Sheshbazzar  may  have  started  some  preparation 

'  See  above,  pp.  210  f.  *  Ezra  v.  6.  *  lb.  16. 

*  Ezra  iv.  24,  v.  i  *  lb.  13. 


2i8  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

for  building  the  Temple,  but  that  he  may  even  have 
laid  the  stone  with  ceremony.* 

And  indeed,  is  it  not  in  itself  very  probable  that 
some  early  attempt  was  made  by  the  exiles  returned 
under  Cyrus  to  rebuild  the  house  of  Jehovah  ?  Cjoois 
had  been  predicted  by  the  Second  Isaiah  not  only 
as  the  redeemer  of  God's  people,  but  with  equal  ex- 
plicitness  as  the  builder  of  the  Temple  ;  and  all  the 
argument  which  Kuenen  draws  from  the  Second  Isaiah 
for  the  fact  of  the  Return  from  Babylon'  tells  with 
almost  equal  force  for  the  fact  of  some  efforts  to 
raise  the  fallen  sanctuary  of  Israel  immediately  after 
the  Return.  Among  the  returned  were  many  priests, 
and  many  no  doubt  of  the  most  sanguine  spirits  in 
Israel.  They  came  straight  from  the  heart  of  Jewry, 
though  that  heart  was  in  Babylon ;  they  came  with  the 
impetus  and  obligation  of  the  great  Deliverance  upon 
them ;  they  were  the  representatives  of  a  community 
which  we  know  to  have  been  comparatively  wealthy. 
Is  it  credible  that  they  should  not  have  begun  the 
Temple  at  the  earliest  possible  moment  ? 

Nor  is  the  story  of  their  frustration  by  the  Samaritans 
any  less  natural.'  It  is  true  that  there  were  not  any 
adversaries  likely  to  dispute  with  the  colonists  the 
land  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Jerusalem. 
The  Edomites  had  overrun  the  fruitful  country  about 


'  Gtsch.,  II.,  p.  123. 

•  See  above,  p.  213, 

•  Ezra  iv.  1-4.  "  That  the  relation  of  Ezra  iv.  I-4  is  historical  seems 
to  be  established  against  objections  which  have  been  taken  to  it  by 
the  reference  to  Esarhaddon,  which  A.  v.  Gutschmidt  has  vindicated 
by  an  ingenious  historical  combination  with  the  aid  of  the  Assyrian 
monuments  {Neue  Beitrage,  p.  145)." — Robertson  Smith,  art.  "Haggai,' 
Encyc.  Brit. 


FROM  RETURN   TO  BUILDING  OF  TEMPLE        219 

Hebron,  and  part  of  the  Shephelah.  The  Samaritans 
held  the  rich  valleys  of  Ephraim,  and  probably  the 
plain  of  Ajalon.  But  if  any  peasants  struggled  with 
the  stony  plateaus  of  Benjamin  and  Northern  Judah, 
such  must  have  been  of  the  remnants  of  the  Jewish 
population  who  were  left  behind  by  Nebuchadrezzar,  and 
who  clung  to  the  sacred  soil  from  habit  or  from  motives 
of  religion.  Jerusalem  was  never  a  site  to  attract  men, 
either  for  agriculture,  or,  now  that  its  shrine  was 
desolate  and  its  population  scattered,  for  the  command 
of  trade.^  The  returned  exiles  must  have  been  at  first 
undisturbed  by  the  envy  of  their  neighbours.  The 
tale  is,  therefore,  probable  which  attributes  the  hostility 
of  the  latter  to  purely  religious  causes — the  refusal  of 
the  Jews  to  allow  the  half-heathen  Samaritans  to 
share  in  the  construction  of  the  Temple.^  Now  the 
Samaritans  could  prevent  the  building.  While  stones 
were  to  be  had  by  the  builders  in  profusion  from  the 
ruins  of  the  city  and  the  great  quarry  to  the  north  of 
it,  ordinary  timber  did  not  grow  in  their  neighbourhood, 
and  though  the  story  be  true  that  a  contract  was  already 
made  with  Phcenicians  to  bring  cedar  to  Joppa,  it  had 
to  be  carried  thence  for  thirty-six  miles.  Here,  then, 
was  the  opportunity  of  the  Samaritans.  They  could 
obstruct  the  carriage  both  of  the  ordinary  timber  and 
of  the  cedar.  To  this  state  of  affairs  the  present 
writer  found  an  analogy  in  1891  among  the  Circassian 
colonies  settled  by  the  Turkish  Government  a  few  years 
earlier  in  the  vicinity  of  Gerasa  and  Rabbath-Ammon. 
The  colonists  had  built  their  houses  from  the  numerous 
ruins  of  these  cities,  but  at  Rabbath-Ammon  they  said 
their  great  difficulty  had  been  about  timber.     And  we 

»  Cf.  Hist.  Geog.,  pp.  317  ff.  *  Ezra  iv. 


THE   TIVELVE  FROFn £!'::> 


could  well  understand  how  the  Beduin,  who  resented 
the  settlement  of  Circassians  on  lands  they  had  used 
for  ages,  and  with  whom  the  Circassians  were  nearly 
always  at  variance/  did  what  they  could  to  make  the 
carriage  of  timber  impossible.  Similarly  with  the  Jews 
and  their  Samaritan  adversaries.  The  site  might  be 
cleared  and  the  stone  of  the  Temple  laid,  but  if  the 
timber  was  stopped  there  was  little  use  in  raising 
the  walls,  and  the  Jews,  further  discouraged  by  the 
failure  of  their  impetuous  hopes  of  what  the  Return 
would  bring  them,  found  cause  for  desisting  from  their 
efforts.  Bad  seasons  followed,  the  labours  for  their 
own  sustenance  exhausted  their  strength,  and  in  the 
sordid  toil  their  hearts  grew  hard  to  higher  interests. 
Cyrus  died  in  529,  and  his  legate  Sheshbazzar,  having 
done  nothing  ,  but  lay  the  stone,  appears  to  have  left 
Judaea.^  Cambyses  marched  more  than  once  through 
Palestine,  and  his  army  garrisoned  Gaza,  but  he  was 
not  a  monarch  to  have  any  consideration  for  Jewish 
ambitions.  Therefore — although  Samaritan  opposition 
ceased  on  the  stoppage  of  the  Temple  works  and 
the  Jews  procured  timber  enough  for  their  private 
dwellings' — is  it  wonderful  that  the  site  of  the  Temple 
should  be  neglected  and  the  stone  laid  by  Sheshbazzar 
forgotten,  or  that  the  disappointed  Jews  should  seek 
to  explain  the  disillusions  of  the  Return,  by  arguing 
that  God's  time  for  the  restoration  of  His  house  had 
not  yet  come  ? 

'  There  was  a  sharp  skirmish  at  Rabbath-Ammon  the  night  we 
spent  there,  and  at  least  one  Circassian  was  shot. 

*  "  Sheshbazzar  presumably  having  taken  up  his  task  with  the  usua 
conscientiousness  of  an  Oriental  governor,  that  is  having  done  nothing 
though  the  work  was  nominally  in  hand  all  along  (Ezra  v.  16)." — 
Robertson  Smith,  art.  "  Haggai,"  Encyc.  Brit, 

•  See  below,  Chap.  XVIIL 


FROM  RETURN   TO  BUILDING   OF   TEMPLE        221 

The  death  of  a  cruel  monarch  is  always  in  the  East 
an  occasion  for  the  revival  of  shattered  hopes,  and  the 
events  which  accompanied  the  suicide  of  Cambyses  in 
522  were  particularly  fraught  with  the  possibilities  of 
political  change.  Cambyses'  throne  had  been  usurped 
by  one  Gaumata,  who  pretended  to  be  Smerdis  or 
Barada,  a  son  of  Cyrus,  In  a  few  months  Gaumata 
was  slain  by  a  conspiracy  of  seven  Persian  nobles,  of 
whom  Darius,  the  son  of  Hystaspes,  both  by  virtue  of 
his  royal  descent  and  by  his  own  great  ability,  was 
raised  to  the  throne  in  521.  The  empire  had  been 
too  profoundly  shocked  by  the  revolt  of  Gaumata  to 
settle  at  once  under  the  new  king,  and  Darius  found 
himself  engaged  by  insurrections  in  all  his  provinces 
except  Syria  and  Asia  Minor.^  The  colonists  in  Jeru- 
salem, like  all  their  Syrian  neighbours,  remained  loyal 
to  the  new  king ;  so  loyal  that  their  Pebah  or  Satrap 
was  allowed  to  be  one  of  themselves — Zerubbabel,  son 
of  She'alti'el,'  a  son  of  their  royal  house.  Yet  though 
they  were  quiet,  the  nations  were  rising  against  each 
other  and  the  world  was  shaken.  It  was  just  such 
a  crisis  as  had  often  before  in  Israel  rewakened 
prophecy.  Nor  did  it  fail  now;  and  when  prophecy 
was  roused  what  duty  lay  more  clamant  for  its  inspira- 
tion than  the  duty  of  building  the  Temple  ? 

We  are  in  touch  with  the  first  of  our  post-exilic 
prophets,  Haggai  and  Zechariah. 


'  Herod.,  I.  130,  III.  127. 

'  I  Chron.  iii.  19  makes  him  a  son  of  Pedaiah,  brother  of  She'altl'el, 
son  of  Jehoiachin,  the  king  who  was  carried  away  by  Nebuchadrezzar 
in  597  and  remained  captive  till  561,  when  King  Evil-Merodach  set 
him  in  honour.  It  has  been  supposed  that,  She'altl'el  dying  childless, 
Pedaiah  by  levirate  marriage  with  his  widow  became  father  of 
Zerubbabel. 


HAGGAI 


223 


Cro  Up  into  th4  moutttam,  and  i»teh  wood,  and  build  tk*  Honat. 


M4 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  BOOK  OF  HAGGAI 

THE  Book  of  Haggai  contains  thirty-eight  verses, 
which  have  been  divided  between  two  chapters.^ 
The  text  is,  for  the  prophets,  a  comparatively  sound 
one.  The  Greek  version  affords  a  number  of  correc- 
tions, but  has  also  the  usual  amount  of  misunderstand- 
ings, and,  as  in  the  case  of  other  prophets,  a  few 
additions  to  the  Hebrew  text.^  These  and  the  variations 
in  the  other  ancient  versions  will  be  noted  in  the 
translation  below.' 

The  book  consists  of  four  sections,  each  recounting 
a  message  from  Jehovah  to  the  Jews  in  Jerusalem  in 
520  B.C.,  the  second  year  of  Darius  (Hystaspis),  by  the 
hand  of  the  prophet  Haggai. 

The  first,  chap,  i.,  dated  the  first  day  of  the  sixth 
month,  during  our  September,  reproves  the  Jews  for 
building  their  own  cieled  houses,  while  they  say  that 
the  time  f Of   building  J ehovaKs  house  has  not  yet  come; 

'  In  the  English  Bible  the  division  corresponds  to  that  of  the  Hebrew, 
which  gives  fifteen  verses  to  chap.  i.  The  LXX.  takes  the  fifteenth 
verse  along  with  ver.  i  of  chap.  ii. 

*  ii.  9,  14  :  see  on  these  passages,  pp.  243,  n.  I,  246,  n.  4. 

•  Besides  the  general  works  on  the  text  of  the  Twelve  Prophets, 
already  cited,  M.  Tony  Andrea  has  published  Etat  Critiqut  du  T*xte 
cTAggee :  Quatre  Tableaux  Comparatifs  (Paris,  1893),  which  is  also 
included  in  his  general  introduction  and  commentary  on  the  prophet, 
quoted  below. 

VOL    II,  225  15 


226  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

affirms  that  this  is  the  reason  of  their  poverty  and 
of  a  great  drought  which  has  afQicted  them.  A  piece 
of  narrative  is  added  recounting  how  Zerubbabel  and 
Jeshua,  the  heads  of  the  community,  were  stirred  by 
this  word  to  lead  the  people  to  begin  work  on  the 
Temple,  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  the  same  month. 

The  second  section,  chap.  ii.  1-9,  contains  a  message, 
dated  the  twenty-first  day  of  the  seventh  month,  during 
our  October,  in  which  the  builders  are  encouraged  for 
their  work.  Jehovah  is  about  to  shake  all  nations, 
these  shall  contribute  of  their  wealth,  and  the  latter 
glory  of  the  Temple  be  greater  than  the  former. 

The  third  section,  chap.  ii.  10-19,  contains  a  word 
of  Jehovah  which  came  to  Haggai  on  the  twenty-fourth 
day  of  the  ninth  month,  during  our  December.  It  is 
in  the  form  of  a  parable  based  on  certain  ceremonial 
laws,  according  to  which  the  touch  of  a  holy  thing  does 
not  sanctify  so  much  as  the  touch  of  an  unholy  pollutes. 
Thus  is  the  people  polluted,  and  thus  every  work  of 
their  hands.  Their  sacrifices  avail  nought,  and  adver- 
sity has  persisted :  small  increase  of  fruits,  blasting, 
mildew  and  hail.     But  from  this  day  God  will  bless. 

The:  fourth  section,  chap.  ii.  2023,  is  a  second  word 
from  the  Lord  to  Haggai  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of 
the  ninth  month.  It  is  for  Zerubbabel,  and  declares 
that  God  will  overthrow  the  thrones  of  kingdoms  and 
destroy  the  forces  of  many  of  the  Gentiles  by  war. 
In  that  day  Zerubbabel,  the  Lord's  elect  servant,  shall 
be  as  a  signet  to  the  Lord. 

The  authenticity  of  all  these  four  sections  was 
doubted  by  no  one,*   till  ten   years   ago   W.  BOhme, 

'  Robertson  Smith  (^Encyc.  Brit,  art  "Haggai,"  1880)  does  not 
even  mention  authenticity.  "Without  doubt  from  Haggai  himself" 
(Kuenen).     "The   Book  of  Haggai  is  without  doubt  to  be  dated, 


THE  BOOK   OF  HAGGAI  227 

besides  pointing  out  some  useless  repetitions  of  single 
words  and  phrases,  cast  suspicion  on  chap.  i.  1 3,  and  ques- 
tioned the  whole  of  the  fourth  section,  chap.  ii.  20-23.* 
With  regard  to  chap.  i.  13,  it  is  indeed  curious  that 
Haggai  should  be  described  as  the  messenger  of  Jehovah ; 
while  the  message  itself,  /  am  with  you,  seems  super- 
fluous here,  and  if  the  verse  be  omitted,  ver.  14  runs 
on  naturally  to  ver.  \2?  Bohme's  reasons  for  disputing 
the  authenticity  of  chap.  ii.  20-23  are  much  less 
sufficient.  He  thinks  he  sees  the  hand  of  an  editor 
in  the  phrase  for  a  second  time  in  ver.  20 ;  notes  the 
omission  of  the  title  "  prophet  "  ^  after  Haggai's  name, 
and  the  difference  of  the  formula  the  word  came  to 
Haggai  from  that  employed  in  the  previous  sections,  by 
the  hand  of  Haggai,  and  the  repetition  of  ver.  6  A  in 
ver.  21  ;  and  otherwise  concludes  that  the  section  is  an 
insertion  from  a  later  hand.  But  the  formula  the  word 
came  to  Haggai  occurs  also  in  ii.  10 :  *  the  other  points 
are  trivial,  and  while  it  was  most  natural  for  Haggai 
the  contemporary  of  Zerubbabel  to  entertain  of  the 
latter  such  hopes  as  the  passage  expresses,  it  is  in- 
conceivable that  a  later  writer,  who  knew  how  they 
had  not  been  fulfilled  in  Zerubbabel,  should  have 
invented  them.* 

Recently  M.  Tony  Andree,  privat-docent  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Geneva,  has  issued  a  large  work  on  Haggai,'  in 
which  he  has  sought  to  prove  that  the  third  section  of 

according  to  its  whole  extant  contents,  from  the  prophet  Haggai, 
whose  work  fell  in  the  year  520"  (Kenig).  So  Driver,  Kirkpatrick, 
Cornill,  etc. 

'  Z.A.T.IV.,  18S7,  215  f.  3  Which  occurs  only  in  the  LXX. 

'^  So  also  Wcllhausen.  *  See  note  on  that  verse. 

*  Cf  Wildeboer,  Litter,  des  A.  T.,  294. 

*  Le  Prophete  Aggee,  Introduction  Critique  et  Cotnntentaire.     PariSf 
Fischbachcr,  ;Sj3. 


228  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  book,  chap.  ii.  (lo)  I1-19,  is  from  the  hand  of 
another  writer  than  the  rest.  He  admits*  that  in 
neither  form,  nor  style,  nor  language  is  there  anything 
to  prove  this  distinction,  and  that  the  ideas  of  all  the 
sections  suit  perfectly  the  condition  of  the  Jews  in  the 
time  soon  after  the  Return.  But  he  considers  that 
chap.  ii.  (10)  11-19  interrupts  the  connection  between 
the  sections  upon  either  side  of  it;  that  the  author 
is  a  legalist  or  casuist,  while  the  author  of  the  other 
sections  is  a  man  whose  only  ecclesiastical  interest  is 
the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple ;  that  there  are  obvious 
contradictions  between  chap.  ii.  (10)  11-19  and  the  rest 
of  the  book;  and  that  there  is  a  difference  of  vocabulary. 
Let  us  consider  each  of  these  reasons. 

The  first,  that  chap.  ii.  (lO)  11-19  interrupts  the  con- 
nection between  the  sections  on  either  side  of  it,  is  true 
only  in  so  far  as  it  has  a  different  subject  from  that 
which  the  latter  have  more  or  less  in  common.  But 
the  second  of  the  latter,  chap.  ii.  20-23,  treats  only  of 
a  corollary  of  the  first,  chap.  ii.  1-9,  and  that  corollary 
may  well  have  formed  the  subject  of  a  separate  oracle. 
Besides,  as  we  shall  see,  chap.  ii.  1019  is  a  natural 
development  of  chap,  i.^  The  contradictions  alleged  by 
M.  Andrde  are  two.  He  points  out  that  while  chap.  i. 
speaks  only  of  a  drought,^  chap.  ii.  (10)  1 1-19  mentions  * 
as  the  plagues  on  the  crops  shiddaphon  and  yerakCn, 
generally  rendered  blasting  and  mildew  in  our  English 
Bible,  and  barad,  or  hail;  and  these  he  reckons  to  be 
plagues  due  not  to  drought  but  to  excessive  moisture. 
But  shiddaphon  and  yerakon,  which  are  always  connected 
in  the  Old  Testament  and  are  words  of  doubtful  meaning, 
are  not  referred   to  damp  in  any  of  the  passages  in 

'  Page  151,  •  i.  10,  II. 

*  Below,  p.  249.  *  ii.  17. 


THE  BOOK  OF  HAGGAl  329 


which  they  occur,  but,  on  the  contrary,  appear  to  be 
the  consequences  of  drought.^  The  other  contradiction 
alleged  refers  to  the  ambiguous  verse  ii.  18,  on  which  we 
have  already  seen  it  difficult  to  base  any  conclusion,  and 
which  will  be  treated  when  we  come  to  it  in  the  course 
of  translation.'  Finally,  the  differences  in  language 
which  M.  Andrde  cites  are  largely  imaginary,  and  it 
is  hard  to  understand  how  a  responsible  critic  has 
come  to  cite,  far  more  to  emphasise  them,  as  he  has 
done.  We  may  relegate  the  discussion  of  them  to  a 
note,'  and  need  here  only  remark  that  there  is  among 

'  They  follow  drought  in  Amos  iv.  9 ;  and  in  the  other  passages 
where  they  occur — Deut.  xxviii.  22  ;  i  Kings  viii.  37  ;  2  Chron.  vi.  28 
— they  are  mentioned  in  a  list  of  possible  plagues  after  famine,  or 
pestilence,  or  fevers,  all  of  which,  with  the  doubtful  exception  of 
fevers,  followed  drought. 

*  Above,  p.  216;  below,  p.  248,  n.  2. 

•  Some  of  M.  Andr^e's  alleged  differences  need  not  be  discussed  at 
all,  e.g.  that  between  *330  and  *3Q?.  But  here  are  the  others.  He 
asserts  that  while  chap.  i.  calls  oil  and  wine  "yishar  and  tirdsh," 
chap.  ii.  (10)  11-19  calls  them  "yayin  and  shemen."  But  he  over- 
looks the  fact  that  the  former  pair  of  names,  meaning  the  newly 
pressed  oil  and  wine,  suit  their  connection,  in  which  the  fruits  of  the 
earth  are  being  catalogued,  i,  11,  while  the  latter  pair,  meaning  the 
finished  wine  and  oil,  equally  suit  their  connection,  in  which  articles 
of  food  are  being  catalogued,  ii.  12.  Equally  futile  is  the  distinction 
drawn  between  i.  9,  which  speaks  of  bringing  the  crops  to  the  house, 
or  as  we  should  say  honte,  and  ii.  1 9,  which  speaks  of  seed  being  in 
the  barn.  Again,  what  is  to  be  said  of  a  critic  who  adduces  in 
evidence  of  distinction  of  authorship  the  fact  that  i.  6  employs  the 
verb  labhash,  to  clothe,  while  iL  12  uses  beged  for  garment,  and  who 
actually  puts  in  brackets  the  root  bagad,  as  if  it  anywhere  in  the 
Old  Testament  meant  to  clothe !  Again,  Andr^e  remarks  that  while 
ii.  (10)  11-19  does  not  employ  the  epithet  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  but  only 
Jehovah,  the  rest  of  the  book  frequently  uses  the  former;  but  he 
omits  to  observe  that  the  rest  of  the  book,  besides  w%\n^  Jehovah  of 
Hosts,  often  uses  the  name  Jehovah  alone  [the  phrase  in  ii.  (10)  II-19 
is  nin*  DN3,  and  occurs  twice  ii.  14,  17  ;  but  the  rest  of  the  book  has 
also  niiT'  DXJ,  ii.  4;  and  besides  mn''  "131,  i.  i,  ii.  i,  ii.  20;  mn'  tDN, 
i.  8;  and  DTI^K  niil"'  and  niiT'  '•JSD,  i.  12].     Again,  Andr6e  observes 


230  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

them  but  one  of  any  significance :  while  the  rest  of  the 
book  calls  the  Temple  the  House  or  the  House  of 
Jehovah  (or  of  Jehovah  oj  Hosts),  chap.  ii.  (lo)  11-19 
styles  it  palace,  or  temple,  of  Jehovah.^  On  such  a 
difference  between  two  comparatively  brief  passages 
it  would  be  unreasonable  to  decide  for  a  distinction  of 
authorship. 

There  is,  therefore,  no  reason  to  disagree  with  the 
consensus  of  all  other  critics  in  the  integrity  of  the 
Book  of  Haggai.  The  four  sections  are  either  from 
himself  or  from  a  contemporary  of  his.  They  probably 
represent,'  not  the  full  addresses  given  by  him  on  the 
occasions  stated,  but  abstracts  or  summaries  of  these. 
"  It  is  never  an  easy  task  to  persuade  a  whole  popula- 
tion to  make  pecuniary  sacrifices,  or  to  postpone  private 
to  public  interests ;  and  the  probability  is,  that  in 
these  brief  remains  of  the  prophet  Haggai  we  have 
but  one  or  two  specimens  of  a  ceaseless  diligence  and 
persistent  determination,  which  upheld  and  animated 
the  whole  people  till   the  work  was  accomplished,"  • 

that  while  the  rest  of  the  book  designates  Israel  always  by  UH  and 
the  heathen  by  ^13,  chap.  ii.  (lo)  ll-ig,  in  ver.  14,  uses  both  terms  of 
Israel.  Yet  in  this  latter  case  i)i  is  used  only  in  parallel  to  Dl?, 
as  frequently  in  other  parts  of  the  Old  Testament.  Again,  that  while 
in  the  rest  of  the  book  Haggai  is  called  the  prophet  (the  doubtful 
i.  13  may  be  omitted),  he  is  simply  named  in  ii.  (10)  II-19,  means 
nothing,  for  the  name  here  occurs  only  in  introducing  his  contribution 
to  a  conversation,  in  recording  which  it  was  natural  to  omit  titles, 
Similarly  insignificant  is  the  fact  that  while  the  rest  of  the  book 
mentions  only  the  High  Pnest,  chap.  ii.  (10)  I1-19  talks  only  of  the 
priests :  because  here  again  each  is  suitable  to  the  connection. — Two  or 
three  of  Andr^e's  alleged  grounds  (such  as  that  from  the  names  for 
wine  and  oil  and  that  from  labhash  and  beged)  are  enough  to  discredit 
his  whole  case.  '  ii.  1$.  18. 

•  In  this  opinion,  stated  first  by  Eichhorn,  most  critics  agree. 

•  Marcus  Dods,  Haggai,  Zechariah  and  Malachi,  1879,  in  Handbooks 
for  Biblfc  Classes :  Edin.,  T.  &  T.  Clark. 


THE  BOOK  OF  HAGGAI  231 

At  the  same  time  it  must  be  noticed  that  the  style 
of  the  book  is  not  wholly  of  the  bare,  jejune  prose 
which  it  is  sometimes  described  to  be.  The  passages 
of  Haggai's  own  exhortation  are  in  the  well-known 
parallel  rhythm  of  prophetic  discourse :  see  especially 
chap,  i.,  ver.  6. 

The  only  other  matter  of  Introduction  to  the  prophet 
Haggai  is  his  name.  The  precise  form*  is  not  else- 
where found  in  the  Old  Testament ;  but  one  of  the 
clans  of  the  tribe  of  Gad  is  called  Haggi,^  and  the 
letters  H  G  I  occur  as  the  consonants  of  a  name  on 
a  Phoenician  inscription,'  Some  *  have  taken  Haggai  to 
be  a  contraction  of  Haggiyah,  the  name  of  a  Levitical 
family/  but  although  the  final  yod  of  some  proper 
names  stands  for  Jehovah,  we  cannot  certainly  con- 
clude that  it  is  so  in  this  case.  Others  *  see  in  Haggai 
a  probable  contraction  for  Hagariah,'  as  Zaccai,  the 
original  of  Zacchseus,  is  a  contraction  of  Zechariah.' 
A  more  general  opinion*  takes  the  termination  as 
adjectival,^"  and  the  root  to  be  "  ha.g,^'  feast  or  festival}^ 
In  that  case  Haggai  would  mean  festal,  and  it  has  been 
supposed  that  the  name  would  be  given  to  him  from 

'   *ID,  Greek  'AyyaTos, 

*  ^irij  Gen.  xlvi.  16,  Num.  Kxvi.  15 ;  Greek  'kyfei,  'Arfyeit.  The 
feminine  Ti^^Hj  Haggith,  was  the  name  of  one  of  David's  wives : 
2  Sam.  iii.  4. 

*  No.  67  of  the  Phoenician  inscriptions  in  C.  I.  S. 

*  Hiller,  Onom.  Sacrum,  Tub.,  1706  (quoted  by  Andr^e),  and  Pusey. 

*  n*^.n,  I  Chron.  vi.  15;  Greeic 'Aiyta,  Lu.  'Kvaia. 

*  Kohler,  Nachexil,  Prvph.,  I.  2 ;  Wellhausen  in  fourth  edition  of 
Bleek's  Einleiiung;  Robertson  Smith,  Encyc.  Brit.,  art  "Haggai." 

'  T\'^'^^T\'=Jehovah  hath  girded. 

*  Derenbourg,  Hist,  de  la  Palestine,  pp.  95,  i5<x 

*  Jerome,  Gesenius,  and  most  moderns. 

»•  As  in  the  names  ''^P?,   '•3-l'?3,    i>>|^,  etc. 

"  The  radical  double  g  of  which  appears  in  composftioa* 


232  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

his  birth  on  the  day  of  some  feast.  It  is  impossible 
to  decide  with  certainty  among  these  alternatives. 
M.  Andrde,*  who  accepts  the  meaning  festal,  ventures 
the  hypothesis  that,  like  "  Malachi,"  Haggai  is  a  symbolic 
title  given  by  a  later  hand  to  the  anonymous  writer 
of  the  book,  because  of  the  coincidence  of  his  various 
prophecies  with  solemn  festivals.^  But  the  name  is 
too  often  and  too  naturally  introduced  into  the  book 
to  present  any  analogy  to  that  of  "  Malaclii " ;  and 
the  hypothesis  may  be  dismissed  as  improbable  and 
unnatural. 

Nothing  more  is  known  of  Haggai  than  his  name 
and  the  facts  given  in  his  book.  But  as  with  the 
other  prophets  whom  we  have  treated,  so  with  this 
one,  Jewish  and  Christian  legends  have  been  very 
busy.  Other  functions  have  been  ascribed  to  him ; 
a  sketch  of  his  biography  has  been  invented.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Rabbis  he  was  one  of  the  men  of  the  Great 
Synagogue,  and  with  Zechariah  and  "  Malachi  "  trans- 
mitted to  that  mythical  body  the  tradition  of  the  older 
prophets.'  He  was  the  author  of  several  ceremonial 
regulations,  and  with  Zechariah  and  "  Malachi "  intro- 
duced into  the  alphabet  the  terminal  forms  of  the  five 
elongated  letters.*  The  Christian  Fathers  narrate  that 
he  was  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,^  that  with  Zechariah  he 
prophesied  in  exile  of  the  Return,®  and  was  still  young 
when  he  arrived  in  Jerusalem,^  where  he  died  and  was 

»  Op.  cit,  p.  8. 

*  i.  I,  the  new  moon;  ii.  i,  the  seventh  day  of  the  Feast  of  Taber. 
nacles;  ii.  18,  the  foundation  of  the  Temple  (?). 

•  Baba-bathra,  15a,  etc. 

*  Megilla,  2b. 

•  Hesychius  :  see  above,  p  80,  n. 

•  Augustine,  Enarratio  in  Psalm  cxlvH. 

*  Pseud-Epiphanius,  De  Vitis  Proplietarum, 


THE  BOOK  OF  HAGGAI  «33 

buried.  A  strange  legend,  founded  on  the  doubtful 
verse  which  styles  him  the  messenger  of  Jehovah, 
gave  out  that  Haggai,  as  well  as  for  similar  reasons 
"  Malachi "  and  John  the  Baptist,  were  not  men,  but 
angels  in  human  shape.*  With  Zechariah  Haggai 
appears  on  the  titles  of  Psalms  cxxxvii.,  cxlv. — cxlviii. 
in  the  Septuagint ;  cxi.,  cxlv.,  cxlvi.  in  the  Vulgate  ;  and 
cxxv.,  cxxvi.  and  cxlv, — cxlviii.  in  the  Peshitto.'  "  In 
the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  he  was  the  first  who  chanted 
the  Hallelujah,  .  .  .  wherefore  we  say :  Hallelujah, 
which  is  the  hymn  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah.'"  All 
these  testimonies  are,  of  course,  devoid  of  value. 

Finally,  the  modern  inference  from  chap.  ii.  3,  that 
Haggai  in  his  youth  had  seen  the  former  Temple,  had 
gone  into  exile,  and  was  now  returned  a  very  old 
man,*  may  be  probable,  but  is  not  certain.  We  are 
quite  ignorant  of  his  age  at  the  time  the  word  of 
Jehovah  came  to  him. 

'  Jerome  on  Hag.  i.  13. 

*  Eusebius  did  not  find  these  titles  in  the  Hexaplar  Septuagint. 
See  Field's  Hexaplar  on  Psalm  cxlv.  I.  The  titles  are  of  course 
wholly  without  authority. 

*  Psead-Epiphanius,  as  above. 

*  So  Ewald,  Wildeboer  (p.  295)  and  others. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

HAGGAI  AND  THE  BUILDING  OF  THE   TEMPLE 
Haggai  i^  ii 

WE  have  seen  that  the  most  probable  solution  o\ 
the  problems  presented  to  us  by  the  inadequate 
and  confused  records  of  the  time  is  that  a  consider- 
able number  of  Jewish  exiles  returned  from  Jerusalem 
to  Babj'lon  about  537,  upon  the  permission  of  Cyrus, 
and  that  the  Satrap  whom  he  sent  with  them  not  only 
allowed  them  to  raise  the  altar  on  its  ancient  site, 
but  himself  laid  for  them  the  foundation-stone  of  the 
Temple.* 

We  have  seen,  too,  why  this  attempt  led  to  nothing, 
and  we  have  followed  the  Samaritan  obstructions,  the 
failure  of  the  Persian  patronage,  the  drought  and 
bad  harvests,  and  all  the  disillusion  of  the  fifteen 
years  which  succeeded  the  Return.^  The  hostility  01 
the  Samaritans  was  entirely  due  to  the  refusal  of  the 
Jews  to  give  them  a  share  in  the  construction  of  the 

'  See  above,  pp.  210-18,  and  emphasise  specially  the  facts  that  the 
most  pronounced  adherents  of  Kosters'  theory  seek  to  qualify  his 
absolute  negation  of  a  Return  under  Cyrus,  by  the  admission  that 
some  Jews  did  return ;  and  that  even  Stade,  who  agrees  in  the  main 
with  Schrader  that  no  attempt  was  made  by  the  Jews  to  begin 
building  the  Temple  till  520,  admits  the  probability  of  a  stone  being 
laid  by  Sheshbazzar  about  536. 

•  See  above,  pp.  218  flF. 

334 


Iag.i.,ii.]    HAGGAI  AND  THE  TEMPLE-BUILDING  235 

Temple,  and  its  virulence,  probably  shown  by  preventing 
the  Jews  from  procuring  timber,  seems  to  have  ceased 
when  the  Temple  works  were  stopped.  At  least  we 
find  no  mention  of  it  in  our  prophets ;  and  the  Jews 
are  furnished  with  enough  of  timber  to  panel  and  ciel 
their  own  houses.^  But  the  Jews  must  have  feared 
a  renewal  of  Samaritan  attacks  if  they  resumed  work 
on  the  Temple,  and  for  the  rest  they  were  too  sodden 
with  adversity,  and  too  weighted  with  the  care  of  their 
own  sustenance,  to  spring  at  higher  interests.  What 
immediately  precedes  our  prophets  is  a  miserable  story 
of  barren  seasons  and  little  income,  money  leaking  fast 
away,  and  every  man's  sordid  heart  engrossed  with  his 
own  household.  Little  wonder  that  critics  have  been 
led  to  deny  the  great  Return  of  sixteen  years  back, 
with  its  grand  ambitions  for  the  Temple  and  glorious 
future  of  Israel.  But  the  like  collapse  has  often  been 
experienced  in  history  when  bands  of  religious  men, 
going  forth,  as  they  thought,  to  freedom  and  the 
immediate  erection  of  a  holy  commonwealth,  have  found 
their  unity  wrecked  and  their  enthusiasm  dissipated  by 
a  few  inclement  seasons  on  a  barren  and  a  hostile 
shore.  Nature  and  their  barbarous  fellow-men  have 
frustrated  what  God  had  promised.  Themselves, 
accustomed  from  a  high  stage  of  civilisation  to  plan 
still  higher  social  structures,  are  suddenly  reduced  to 
the  primitive  necessities  of  tillage  and  defence  against 
a  savage  foe.  Statesmen,  poets  and  idealists  of  sorts 
have  to  hoe  the  ground,  quarry  stones  and  stay  up  of 
nights  to  watch  as  sentinels.  Destitute  of  the  comforts 
and  resources  with  which  they  have  grown  up,  they  live 
in  constant  battle  with  their  bare  and  unsympathetic 

•  Hag.  u  4. 


236  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

environs.  It  is  a  familiar  tale  in  history,  and  we  read 
it  with  ease  in  the  case  of  Israel.  The  Jews  enjoyed 
this  advantage,  that  they  came  not  to  a  strange  land, 
but  to  one  crowded  with  inspiring  memories,  and  they 
had  behind  them  the  most  glorious  impetus  of  prophecy 
which  ever  sent  a  people  forward  to  the  future.  Yet 
the  very  ardours  of  this  hurried  them  past  a  due 
appreciation  of  the  difficulties  they  would  have  to 
encounter,  and  when  they  found  themselves  on  the 
stony  soil  of  Judah,  which  they  had  been  idealising 
for  fifty  years,  and  were  further  afflicted  by  barren 
seasons,  their  hearts  must  have  suffered  an  even  more 
bitter  disillusion  than  has  so  frequently  fallen  to  the 
lot  of  religious  emigrants  to  an  absolutely  new  coast. 

I.  The  Call  to  Build  (Chap.  i,). 

It  was  to  this  situation,  upon  an  autumn  day,  when 
the  colonists  felt  another  year  of  beggarly  effort  behind 
them  and  their  wretched  harvest  had  been  brought 
home,  that  the  prophet  Haggai  addressed  himself. 
With  rare  sense  he  confined  his  efforts  to  the  practical 
needs  of  the  moment.  The  sneers  of  modern  writers 
have  not  been  spared  upon  a  style  that  is  crabbed  and 
jejune,  and  they  have  esteemed  this  to  be  a  collapse 
of  the  prophetic  spirit,  in  which  Haggai  ignored 
all  the  achievements  of  prophecy  and  interpreted  the 
word  of  God  as  only  a  call  to  hew  wood  and  lay 
stone  upon  stone.  But  the  man  felt  what  the  moment 
needed,  and  that  is  the  supreme  mark  of  the  prophet. 
Set  a  prophet  there,  and  what  else  could  a  prophet 
have  done  ?  It  would  have  been  futile  to  rewaken 
those  most  splendid  voices  of  the  past,  which  had  in 
part  been  the  reason  of  the  people's  disappointment, 
and  equally  futile  to  interpret  the  mission  of  the  great 


Hag.i.,iu]     HAGGAI  AND  THE  TEMPLE-BUILDING  237 

world  powers  towards  God's  people.  What  God's 
people  themselves  could  do  for  themselves — that  was 
what  needed  telling  at  the  moment ;  and  if  Haggai 
told  it  with  a  meagre  and  starved  style,  this  also  was 
in  harmony  with  the  occasion.  One  does  not  expect 
it  otherwise  when  hungry  men  speak  to  each  other 
of  their  duty. 

Nor  does  Haggai  deserve  blame  that  he  interpreted 
the  duty  as  the  material  building  of  the  Temple. 
This  was  no  mere  ecclesiastical  function.  Without 
the  Temple  the  continuity  of  Israel's  religion  could 
not  be  maintained.  An  independent  state,  with  the 
full  courses  of  civic  life,  was  then  impossible.  The 
ethical  spirit,  the  regard  for  each  other  and  God,  could 
prevail  over  their  material  interests  in  no  other  way 
than  by  common  devotion  to  the  worship  of  the  God 
of  their  fathers.  In  urging  them  to  build  the  Temple 
from  their  own  unaided  resources,  in  abstaining  from 
all  hopes  of  imperial  patronage,  in  making  the  business 
one,  not  of  sentiment  nor  of  comfortable  assurance 
derived  from  the  past  promises  of  God,  but  of  plain 
and  hard  duty — Haggai  illustrated  at  once  the  sanity 
and  the  spiritual  essence  of  prophecy  in  Israel. 

Professor  Robertson  Smith  has  contrasted  the  central 
importance  which  Haggai  attached  to  the  Temple  with 
the  attitude  of  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  to  whom  "  the 
religion  of  Israel  and  the  holiness  of  Jerusalem  have 
little  to  do  with  the  edifice  of  the  Temple.  The  city 
is  holy  because  it  is  the  seat  of  Jehovah's  sovereignty 
on  earth,  exerted  in  His  dealings  with  and  for  the  state 
of  Judah  and  the  kingdom  of  David." ^  At  the  same 
time  it  ought  to  be  pointed  out  that  even  to  Isaiah  the 

Art.  "  Haggai,"  Encyc.  Brit 


238  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Temple  was  the  dwelling-place  of  Jehovah,  and  if  it 
had  been  lying  in  ruins  at  his  feet,  as  it  was  at  Haggai's, 
there  is  little  doubt  he  would  have  been  as  earnest  as 
Haggai  in  urging  its  reconstruction.  Nor  did  the 
Second  Isaiah,  who  has  as  lofty  an  idea  of  the  spiritual 
destiny  of  the  people  as  any  other  prophet,  lay  less 
emphasis  upon  the  cardinal  importance  of  the  Temple 
to  their  life,  and  upon  the  certainty  of  its  future  glory. 

In  the  second  year  of  Darius  ^  the  king,  in  the  sixth 
month  and  the  first  day  of  the  month — that  is,  on  the 
feast  of  the  new  moon — the  word  of  Jehovah  came 
by*  Haggai  the  prophet  to  Zerubbabel,  son  of  She^altfel,^ 
Satrap  of  Judah,  and  to  Jehoshud ,  son  of  Jehosada^,'^  the 
high  priest — the  civil  and  religious  heads  of  the  com- 
munity— as  follows  *  ; — 

Thus  hath  Jehovah  of  Hosts  spoken,  saying:  This 
people  have  said,  Not  yet*  is  come  the  time  for  the  building 
of  Jehovah!  s  House.  Therefore  Jehovah  s  word  is  come 
by  Haggai  the  prophet,  saying :  Is  tt  a  time  for  you — 
you ' — to  be  dwelling  in  houses  deled  with  planks*  while 
this  House  is  waste  ?  A  nd  now  thus  saith  Jehovah  of 
Hosts :  Lay  to  heart  how  things  have  gone  with  you*    Ye 

'  Heb.  Daryavesh.  *  See  below,  pp.  258,  279,  292  ff. 

*  Heb.  by  the  hand  oj.  •  Heb.  saying. 

•  See  above,  pp.  199  f.  and  221. 

*  For  N2"ny  "^  =  not  the  time  of  coming  read  with  Hitzig  and 
Wellhausen  N3  Fiy  N?,  not  now  is  come ;  for  P!D  cf.  Ezek.  xxiii.  4, 
Pbalm  Ixxiv.  6. 

'  The  emphasis  may  be  due  only  to  the  awkward  grammatical 
construction. 

•  D*31QD,  from  JSD,  to  cover  with  planks  of  cedar,  a  Kings  vi.  9 : 
cf.  iii.  7. 

'  Heb.  set  your  hearts  (see  Vol.  I.,  pp.  258,  275,  321,  323)  upon  your 
ways;  hut  your  ways  cannot  mean  here,  as  elsewhere,  ^o«r  conduct, 
but  obviously  from  what  follows  the  ways  you  have  been  led,  the  way 
things  liave  gone  with  you — the  barren  seasons  and  little  income. 


Hag.i,ii.]  HAGGAI  AND  THE  TEMPLE-BUILDING  239 

sowed  much  but  had  little  income,  ate  and  were  not 
satisfied,  drank  and  were  not  full,  put  on  clothing  and 
there  was  no  warmth,  while  he  that  earned  wages  has 
earned  them  into  a  bag  with  holes. 

Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts :  ^  Go  up  into  the 
mountain — the  hill-country  of  Judah — and  bring  in 
timoer,  and  build  the  House,  that  I  may  take  pleasure 
tn  it,  and  show  My  glory,  saith  Jehovah.  Ye  looked  Jor 
much  and  it  has  turned  out  little,^  and  what  ye  brought 
home  I  puffed  at.  On  account  of  what? — oracle  of 
fehovah  of  Hosts — on  account  of  My  House  which 
is  waste,  while  ye  are  hurrying  every  man  after  his 
own  house.  Therefore  ^  hath  heaven  shut  off  the  dew,^ 
and  earth  shut  off  her  increase.  And  I  have  called 
drought  upon  the  earth,  both  upon  the  mountains^  and 
upon  the  com,  and  upon  the  wine,  and  upon  the  oil,  and 
upon  what  the  ground  brings  forth,  and  upon  man, 
and  upon  beast,  and  upon  all  the  labour  of  the  hands. 

For  ourselves,  Haggai's  appeal  to  the  barren  seasons 
and  poverty  of  the  people  as  proof  of  God's  anger  with 
their  selfishness  must  raise  questions.  But  we  have 
already  seen,  not  only  that  natural  calamities  were  by 
the  ancient  world  interpreted  as  the  penal  instruments 
of  the  Deity,  but  that  all  through  history  they  have 
had  a  wonderful  influence  on  the  spirits  of  men,  forcing 
them  to  search  their  own  hearts  and  to    believe    that 


'  The  Hebrew  and  Versions  here  insert  set  your  hearts  upon  your 

ways,  obviously  a  mere  clerical  repetition  from  ver,  5. 

*  For  tDyo"?  n:ni  read  with  the  LXX.  Dyob  HNll  or  »n*1. 

'  The  D3vy  here  inserted  in  the  Hebrew  text  is  unparsable,  not 
found  in  the  LXX.  and  probabl}'  a  clerical  error  by  dittography  from 
the  preceding  p"?y. 

*  Heb.  heavens  are  shut  from  dew.  But  perhaps  the  D  of  7130 
should  be  deleted.  So  Wellhausen.  There  is  no  instance  of  an 
intransitive  Qal  of  K73.  *  Query  ? 


f 


240  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Providence  is  conducted  for  other  ends  than  those  of 
our  physical  prosperity.  "  Have  not  those  who  have 
beHeved  as  Amos  believed  ever  been  the  strong  spirits 
of  our  race,  making  the  very  disasters  which  crushed 
them  to  the  earth  the  tokens  that  God  has  great  views 
about  them  ? "  ^  Haggai,  therefore,  takes  no  sordid 
view  of  Providence  when  he  interprets  the  seasons, 
from  which  his  countrymen  had  suffered,  as  God's 
anger  upon  their  selfishness  and  delay  in  building  His 
House. 

The  straight  appeal  to  the  conscience  of  the  Jews 
had  an  immediate  effect.  Within  three  weeks  they 
began  work  on  the  Temple. 

And  Zerubbabel,  son  of  She^alifel,  and  Jehoshua*,  son 
ofjehosadak,  the  high  priest,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  people, 
hearkened  to  the  voice  of  Jehovah  their  God,  and  to  the 
ivords  of  Haggai  the  prophet,  as  Jehovah  their  God  had 
sent  him;  and  the  people  feared  before  the  face  of  Jehovah. 
[And  Haggai,  the  messenger  of  Jehovah,  in  JehovaKs 
mission  to  the  people,  spake,  saying,  I  am  with  you — 
oracle  of  Jehovah ^^  And  Jehovah  stirred  the  spirit  of 
Zerubbabel,  son  of  She'altfel,  Satrap  of  Judah,  and  the 
spirit  of  Jehos!ma\  son  ofjehosadak,  the  high  priest,  and 
the  spirit  of  all  the  rest  of  the  people;  and  they  went  and 
did  work  in  the  House  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  their  God,  on 
the  twenty-fourth  day  of  the  sixth  month,  in  the  second 
year  of  Darius  the  king} 

Note  how  the  narrative  emphasises  that  the  new 
energy  was,  as  it  could  not  but  be  from  Haggai's 
unflattering  words,  a  purely  spiritual   result.     It  was 

>  Vol.  I.,  pp.  162  a. 

*  See  above,  p.  227. 

*  The  LXX.  wrongly  takes  this  last  verse  of  chap.  i.  as  the  firs; 
half  of  the  first  verse  of  chap.  iL 


Hag.i.,ii.]    HAGGAI  AND  THE  TEMPLE-BUILDING  241 

the  spirit  of  Zerubbabel,  and  the  spirit  of  Jehoshua, 
and  the  spirit  of  all  the  rest  of  the  people,  which  was 
stirred — their  conscience  and  radical  force  of  character. 
Not  in  vain  had  the  people  suffered  their  great  dis- 
illusion under  Cyrus,  if  now  their  history  was  to  start 
again  from  sources  so  inward  and  so  pure. 

2.  Courage,  Zerubbabel  1   Courage,  Jehoshua  and 
ALL  THE  People!  (Chap.  ii.   1-9). 

The  second  occasion  on  which  Haggai  spoke  to  the 
people  was  another  feast  the  same  autumn,  the  seventh 
day  of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,*  the  twenty-first  of 
the  seventh  month.  For  nearly  four  weeks  the  work 
on  the  Temple  had  proceeded.  Some  progress  must 
have  been  made,  for  comparisons  became  possible 
between  the  old  Temple  and  the  state  of  this  one. 
Probably  the  outline  and  size  of  the  building  were 
visible.  In  any  case  it  was  enough  to  discourage  the 
builders  with  their  efforts  and  the  means  at  their  dis- 
posal. Haggai's  new  word  is  a  very  simple  one  of 
encouragement.  The  people's  conscience  had  been 
stirred  by  his  first ;  they  needed  now  some  hope.  Con- 
sequently he  appeals  to  what  he  had  ignored  before, 
the  political  possibilities  which  the  present  state  of 
the  world  afforded — always  a  source  of  prophetic 
promise.  But  again  he  makes  his  former  call  upon 
their  own  courage  and  resources.  The  Hebrew  text 
contains  a  reference  to  the  Exodus  which  would  be 
appropriate  to  a  discourse  delivered  during  the  Feast 
of  Tabernacles,  but  it  is  not  found  in  the  Septuagint, 
and  is  so  impossible  to  construe  that  it  has  been  justly 
suspected  as  a  gloss,  inserted  by  some  later  hand,  only 

'  Lev.  xxiii.  34,  36,  40-42. 
VOL.  IL  16 


242  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

because  the  passage  had  to  do  with  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles. 

In  the  seventh  month,  on  the  twenty-first  day  of  the 
month,  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  by  ^  Haggai  the  prophet, 
saying : — 

Speak  now  to  Zerubbahel,  son  of  Sh^altfel^  Satrap 
of  Judah,  and  to  Jehoshua' ,  son  of  Jehosadak,  the  high 
priest,  and  to  the  rest  of  the  people,  saying :  Who  among 
you  is  left  that  saw  this  House  in  its  former  glory,  and 
how  do  ye  see  it  now  ?  Is  it  not  as  nothing  in  your 
eyes?^  And  now  courage,^  O  Zerubbabel — oracle  of 
fehovah — and  courage,  Jehoshud ,  son  of  fehosadak,  O 
high  priest;  *  and  courage,  all  people  of  the  land  ! — oracle 
of  Jehovah;  and  get  to  work,  for  I  am  with  you — oracle 
of  Jehovah  of  Hosts  ^ — and  My  Spirit  is  standing  in  your 
midst.  Fear  not !  For  thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts : 
It  is  but  a  little  ivhile,  and  I  will  shake  the  heavens,  and 
the  earth  and  the  sea  and  the  dry  land;  and  I  will 
shake  all  nations,  and  the  costly  things  ®  of  all  nations  shall 
<ome  in,  and  I  will  fill  this  House   zvith   glory,  saith 


*  By  the  hand  of. 

'■'  DD\:^y3  PX?  -iriDD  vhr\.  UterMy,  is  not  the  Uke  of  U  as  nothing 
in  your  eyes  ?  But  that  can  hardly  be  the  meaning.  It  might  be 
equivalent  to  is  it  not,  as  it  stands,  as  nothing  in  your  eyes  ?  But  the 
fact  is  that  in  Hebrew  construction  of  a  simple,  unemphasised  com- 
parison, the  comparing  particle  D  stands  before  both  objects  compared  : 
as,  for  instance,  in  the  phrase  (Gen.  xliv.  l8)  fiyjIS?  '^'iDD  ''3,  thou 
art  as  Pharaoh. 

'  Literally:  be  strong, 

*  It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  high  priest  belongs  to  the  text  or  not 

*  Here  occurs  the  anacolouthic  clause,  introduced  by  an  ace.  with- 
out a  verb,  which  is  not  found  in  the  LXX.  and  is  probably  a  gloss 
(see  above,  p.  241)  :  The  promise  which  I  made  with  you  in  your  going 
forth  from  Egypt. 

"  Hebrew  has  singular,  costly  thing  or  desirableness,  ri^.pn 
(fem.  for  neut.),  but  the  verb  shall  come  is  in  the  plural,  and  the 
LXX.  has  Ttt  iK\€Kra.,  the  choice  things.     See  below,  next  page. 


Hag.i.,ii.]    HAGGAI  AND  THE  TEMPLE-BUILDING  243 


Jehovah  of  Hosts.  Mine  is  the  silver  and  Mine  the  gold 
— oracle  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts.  Greater  shall  the  latter 
glory  of  this  House  be  than  the  former,  saith  Jehovah 
of  Hosts,  and  in  this  place  will  I  give  peace  ^ — oracle 
of  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

From  the  earliest  times  this  passage,  by  the 
majority  of  the  Christian  Church,  has  been  inter- 
preted of  the  coming  of  Christ.  The  Vulgate  renders 
ver.  yb,  Et  veniet  Desideratus  cunctis  gentibus,  and  so 
a  large  number  of  the  Latin  Fathers,  who  are  followed 
by  Luther,  Der  Trost  aller  Heiden,  and  by  our  own 
Authorised  Version,  And  the  Desire  of  all  nations  shall 
come.  This  was  not  contrary  to  Jewish  tradition,  for 
Rabbi  Akiba  had  defined  the  clause  of  the  Messiah, 
and  Jerome  received  the  interpretation  from  his  Jewish 
instructors.  In  itself  the  noun,  as  pointed  in  the 
Massoretic  text,  means  longing  or  object  of  longing? 
But  the  verb  Vv^hich  goes  with  it  is  in  the  plural,  and 
by  a  change  of  points  the  noun  itself  may  be  read  as 
a  plural.^  That  this  was  the  original  reading  is  made 
extremely  probable  by  the  fact  that  it  lay  before  the 
translators  of  the  Septuagint,  who  render :  the  picked. 


'  The  LXX.  add  a  parallel  clause  /coJ  dp-fjvrip  x/^vxv^  els  -Trepiiroltiffiv 
TTOVTi  T(p  ktI^ovti  toO  dj'acTT^ffai  rbv  vabv  tovtov,  which  would  read  in 

Hebrew   Hjn    h^^nn  ud)pb  nD»n-b   nrn>  ly^i   nv'A   On 

nvn  Wellhausen  cites  I  Chron.  xi.  8,  =  restore  or  revive. 

*  JT^pn  =  longing,  2  Chron.  xxi.  2,  and  object  of  longing, 
Dan.  .xi.  37.  It  is  the  feminine  or  neuter,  and  might  be  rendered  as 
a  collective,  desirable  things.  Pusey  cites  Cicero  s  address  to  his  wife  : 
Valete,  mea  desideria,  valete  {Ep.  ad  Famil.,  xiv.  2  fin.). 

•  mpn  plural  feminine  of  pass,  part.,  as  in  Gen.  xxvii.  15,  where 
It  is  an  adjective,  but  used  as  a  noun  =  precious  things,  Dan.  xi. 
38,  43,  which  use  meets  the  objection  of  Pusey,  in  loco,  where  he 
wrongly  maintains  that  precious  things,  if  intended,  must  have  been 
expressed  by   ^"^IDHD. 


244  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

or  chosen,  things  of  the  nations}  So  the  old  Italic 
version  :  Et  venient  omnia  electa  gentium?  Moreover 
this  meaning  suits  the  context,  as  the  other  does 
not.  The  next  verse  mentions  silver  and  gold.  "  We 
may  understand  what  he  says,"  writes  Calvin,  "of 
Christ ;  we  indeed  know  that  Christ  was  the  expecta- 
tion of  the  whole  world  ;  .  .  .  but  as  it  immediately 
follows,  Mine  is  the  silver  and  Mine  is  the  gold,  the 
more  simple  meaning  is  that  which  I  first  stated  :  that 
the  nations  would  come,  bringing  with  them  all  their 
riches,  that  they  might  offer  themselves  and  all  their 
possessions  a  sacrifice  to  God."  ' 

3.  The  Power  of  the  Unclean  (Chap.  ii.   1019). 

Haggai's  third  address  to  the  people  is  based  on  a 
deliverance  which  he  seeks  from  the  priests.  The 
Book  of  Deuteronomy  had  provided  that,  in  all  difficult 
cases  not  settled  by  its  own  code,  the  people  shall 
seek  a  deliverance  or  Torah  from  the  priests,  and  shall 
observe  to  do  according  to  the  deliverance  which  the  priests 
deliver  to  thee}  Both  noun  and  verb,  which  may  be 
thus  literally  translated,  are  also  used  for  the  com- 
pleted and  canonical  Law  in  Israel,  and  they  signify 
that  in  the  time  of  the  composition  of  the  Book  of 
Deuteronomy  that  Law  was  still  regarded  as  in  process 
of  growth.     So  it  is  also  in  the  time  of  Haggai :  he 

'  Jj^ei  rd  iKKeKTb.  ir&vTuv  twv  iOvdv.  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia  takes 
it  as  elect  persons  of  all  nations,  to  which  a  few  moderns  adhere. 

*  Augustini  Contra  Donatistas  post  Collationent,  cap.  xx.  30  (Migne, 
Latin  Patrology,  XLIII.,  p.  671). 

•  Calvin,  Comm.  in  Haggai,  ii.  6-9. 

«  Deut.  xvii.  8  fif. :  ?J-nV  TJ'y  iTjinri  *S"7i;,  Compare  the  expres- 
sion \T\yO  jniSj  2  Chion.  XV.  3,  and  the  duties  of  the  teaching 
priests  assigned  by  the  Chronicler  (2  Chron.  xvii.  7-9)  to  the  days  of 
Jehoshaphat. 


Hag.U.ii.]    HAGGAI  AND  THE   TEMPLE-BUILDING  245 

does  not  consult  a  code  of  laws,  nor  asks  the  priests 
what  the  canon  says,  as,  for  instance,  our  Lord  does 
with  the  question,  how  readest  thou  ?  But  he  begs  them 
to  give  him  a  Torah  or  deliverance^^  based  of  course 
upon  existing  custom,  but  not  yet  committed  to  writing.^ 
For  the  history  of  the  Law  in  Israel  this  is,  therefore, 
a  passage  of  great  interest. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  the  ninth  month,  in  the  second 
year  of  Darius,  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  to  ^  Haggai 
the  prophet,  saying :  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  Ask, 
I  pray,  of  the  priests  a  deliverance,'^  saying : — 

If  a  man  be  carrying  flesh  that  is  holy  in  the  skirt  of 
his  robe,  and  w'fh  his  skirt  touch  bread  or  pottage  or  wine 
or  oil  or  any  food,  shall  the  latter  become  holy  ?  And 
the  priests  gave  answer  and  said,  No  !  And  Haggai 
said,  If  one  unclean  by  a  corpse  *  touch  any  of  these,  shall 
the  latter  become  unclean  ?  And  the  priests  gave  answer 
and  said,  It  shall.  That  is  to  say,  holiness  which 
passed  from  the  source  to  an  object  immediately  in 
touch  with  the  latter  did  not  spread  further;  but 
pollution  infected  not  only  the  person  who  came  into 


'  Note  that  it  is  not  the  Torah,  but  a  Torah. 

*  The  nearest  passage  to  the  deliverance  of  the  priests  to  Haggai  is 
Lev.  vi.  20,  21  (Heb.),  27,  28  (Eng.).  This  is  part  of  the  Priestly  Code 
not  promulgated  till  445  B.C.,  but  based,  of  course,  on  long  extant 
custom,  some  of  it  very  ancient.  Everything  that  touches  the  flesh  (of 
the  sin-offering,  which  is  holy)  shall  be  holy — Ei^^pJ,  the  verb  used  by 
the  priests  in  their  answer  to  Haggai — and  when  any  of  its  blood  has 
been  sprinkled  on  a  garment,  that  whereon  it  was  sprinkled  shall  be 
washed  in  a  holy  place.  The  earthen  vessel  wherein  it  has  been  boiled 
shall  be  broken,  and  ij  it  has  been  boiled  in  a  brazen  vessel,  this  shall  be 
scoured  and  rinsed  with  water. 

*  So  several  old  edd.  and  many  codd.,  and  adopted  by  Baer  (see 
his  note  in  loco)  in  his  text.  But  most  of  the  edd.  of  the  Massoretic 
text  read  1^2  after  Cod.  Hill.  For  the  importance  of  the  questioE 
see  above,  p.  227.  *  Torah.  ^  B'Sa  NDfl 


246  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

contact  with  it,  but  whatever  he  touched.*  "  The  flesh 
of  the  sacrifice  hallowed  whatever  it  should  touch,  but 
not  further ;  *  but  the  human  being  who  was  defiled  by 
touching  a  dead  body,  defiled  all  he  might  touch."' 
And  Haggai  answered  and  said:  So  is  this  people,  and 
so  is  this  nation  before  Me — oracle  of  Jehovah — and  so 
is  all  the  work  of  their  hands,  and  what  they  offer  there — 
at  the  altar  erected  on  its  old  site — is  unclean}  That 
is  to  say,  while  the  Jews  had  expected  their  restored 
ritual  to  make  them  holy  to  the  Lord,  this  had  not 
been  effective,  while,  on  the  contrary,  their  contact 
with  sources  of  pollution  had  thoroughly  polluted  both 
themselves  and  their  labour  and  their  sacrifices.  What 
these  sources  of  pollution  are  is  not  explicitly  stated, 
but  Haggai,  from  his  other  messages,  can  only  mean, 
either  the  people's  want  of  energy  in  building  the 
Temple,  or  the  unbuilt  Temple  itself.  Andr^e  goes  so 
far  as   to  compare  the   latter  with  the   corpse,  whose 

'  There  does  not  appear  to  be  the  contrast  between  indirect  con- 
tact with  a  holy  thing  and  direct  contact  with  a  polluted  which 
Wellhausen  says  there  is.  In  either  case  the  articles  whose  character 
is  in  question  stand  second  from  the  source  of  holiness  and  pollution 
—the  holy  flesh  and  the  corpse. 

*  See  above,  p.  245,  n.  2. 
'  Pusey,  in  loco. 

*  The  LXX.  have  here  found  inserted  three  other  clauses :  tvsKev 
rG)v  \r)fi.n6.T(t)v  airuiv  ruy  ipOpivwv,  hSwrid-qaovTai  Airb  wpoadwov  irbvwv 
aCiTwv,  Kcd  i/jLiaeire  iv  irvXots  iX^yxovras.  The  first  clause  is  a  mis- 
reading (Wellhausen),  im  Dnhp"?  1^2  for  im  Ompb  \^l^  de- 
cause  ye  take  a  bribe,  and  goes  well  with  the  third  clause,  modified 
from  Amos  V.  10:  n''p1D  irS^'3  -IX^K^  they  hate  htm  who  reproves  in 
the  gate.  These  may  have  been  inserted  into  the  Hebrew  text  by 
some  one  puzzled  to  know  what  the  source  of  the  people's  pollution 
was,  and  who  absurdly  found  it  in  sins  which  in  Haggai's  time  it 
was  impossible  to  impute  to  them.  The  middle  clause,  \JSP  'l^yri? 
Dn^5Vy,  ^^'^^y  ^^■'^  themselves  with  their  labours,  is  suitable  to  the  sense 
of  the  Hebrew  text  of  the  verse,  as  Wellhausen  points  out,  but 
besides  gives  a  connection  with  what  follows. 


Hag.i.,ii.]    HAGGAI  AND  THE  TEMPLE-BUILDING  24? 

touch,  according  to  the  priests,  spreads  infection  through 
more  than  one  degree.  In  any  case  Haggai  means 
to  illustrate  and  enforce  the  building  of  the  Temple 
without  delay ;  and  meantime  he  takes  one  instance  of 
the  effect  he  has  already  spoken  of,  the  work  oj  their 
hands,  and  shows  how  it  has  been  spoilt  by  their 
neglect  and  delay.  And  now,  I  pray,  set  your  hearts 
backward  frc  m  to-day,^  before  stone  was  laid  upon  stone 
in  the  Tetrf  !e  oJ  Jehovah  ;  .  .  .  ^  when  one  came  to  a 
heap  of  gi  lin  of  twenty  measures,  and  it  had  become 
ten,  or  zve^t  to  the  winevat  to  draw  ffty  measures,^  and 
it  had  b^xome  twenty.  I  smote  you  with  blasting  and  tvith 
withering,*^  and  with  hail  all  the  work  of  your  hands, 
and  .  .  .  ^ — oracle  of  Jehovah.  Lay  now  your  hearts 
Dn  the  time  before  to-day  ®  {the  twerity-Jourth  day  of  the 

'   From  this  day  and  onward. 

'  Heb.  literally  since  they  were.      A.V.  since  those  days  ivere 

•  Winevat,  QP^^  is  distinguished  from  winepress,  flJ  in  Josh.  ix.  13, 
and  is  translated  by  the  Greek  vTroXyviov  Mark  xii.  i,  Xrjvdv  Matt.  xxi.  33, 
dug  a  pit  for  the  winepress;  but  the  name  is  appliea  sometimes  to  the 
whole  winepress — Hosea  ix.  2  etc.,  Job  xxiv.  11,  to  tread  the  winepress. 
The  word  translated  measures,  as  in  LXX.  fierprjrds,  is  n^-IS  and 
triat  is  properly  the  vat  in  which  the  grapes  were  trodden  (Isa.  Ixiii.  3), 
but  here  it  can  scarcely  mean  fifty  vaifuls,  but  must  refer  to  some 
smaller  measure — cask  ? 

*  See  above,  pp.  228  f.,  n.  t. 

'  The  words  omitted  cannot  be  construed  in  the  Hebrew, 
VNI  DDJl^T^l,  literally  and  not  you  (ace.)  to  Me.  Hitzig,  etc., 
propose  to  read  DSnX  and  render  there  was  none  with  you  w^\\o  turned 
to  Me.  Others  propose  D5?\N,  <*s  if  none  of  you  turned  to  Me.  Others 
retain  03 ri^  and  render  as  for  you.  The  versions  LXX.  Syr., 
Vulg.  ye  will  not  return  or  did  not  return  to  Me,  reading  perhaps 
for  DDriX  pNj  Drilill'  N?,  which  is  found  in  Amos  iv.  9,  of  which 
the  rest  of  the  verse  is  an  echo.  Wellhausen  deletes  the  whole 
verse  as  a  gloss.  It  is  certainly  suspicious,  and  remarkable  in  that 
the  LXX.  text  has  already  introduced  two  citations  from  Amos.  See 
above  on  ver.  14. 

'  Heb.  fror.t  this  '^'ly  backwards. 


248  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

tinth  month  *),  before  the  day  of  the  foundation  of  the 
Temple  of  Jehovah^ — lay  your  hearts  to  that  time  1     Is 

'  The  date  Wellhausen  thinks  was  added  by  a  later  hand. 

*  This  is  the  ambiguous  clause  on  diEFerent  interpretations  of  which 
50  much  has  been  founded :  nTnvS5''n  nDpu\S  DT»n-Jp'?.  Does 
Ihis  clause,  in  simple  parallel  to  the  previous  one,  describe  the  day  no 
A-hich  the  prophet  was  speaking,  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  the  ninth 
month,  the  terminus  a  quo  of  the  people's  retrospect  ?  In  that  case 
Haggai  regards  the  foundation-stone  of  the  Temple  as  laid  on  the 
twenty-fourth  day  of  the  ninth  month  520  B.C.,  and  does  not  know, 
or  at  least  ignores,  any  previous  laying  of  a  foundation-stone.  So 
Kuenen,  Kosters,  Andrde,  etc.  Or  does  ]u?  signify  up  to  the  time 
the  foundalion- stone  was  laid,  and  state  a  terminus  ad  quern  for  the 
people's  retrospect?  So  Ewald  and  others,  who  therefore  find  in 
the  verse  a  proof  that  Haggai  knew  of  an  earlier  laying  of  the 
foundation-stone.  But  that  JO?  is  ever  used  for  ^U1  cannot  be 
proved,  and  indeed  is  disproved  by  Jer.  vii.  7,  where  it  occurs  in  con- 
trast to  nyi.  Van  Hoonacker  finds  tlie  same,  but  in  a  more  subtle  trans- 
lation of|D?-  \Q,  he  says,  is  never  used  except  of  a  date  distant  from 
the  speaker  or  writer  of  it ;  }07  (if  I  understand  him  aright)  refers 
therefore  to  a  date  previous  to  Haggai  to  which  the  people's  thoughts 
are  directed  by  the  7  and  then  brought  back  from  it  to  the  date  at 
which  he  was  speaking  by  means  of  the  |0  :  "  la  preposition  7  sig- 
nifie  la  direction  de  I'esprit  vers  une  epoque  du  pass6  d'ou  il  est 
ramen6  par  la  preposition  JO."  But  surely  JO  can  be  used  (as 
indeed  Haggai  has  just  used  it)  to  signify  extension  backwards  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  speaker ;  and  although  in  the  passages  cited 
by  Van  Hoonacker  of  the  use  of  JO?  it  always  refers  to  a  past 
date— Deut.  ix.  7,  Judg.  xix.  30,  2  Sam.  vi.  11,  Jer.  vii.  7  and  25 — 
still,  as  it  is  there  nothing  but  a  pleonastic  form  for  JOi  it  surely 
might  be  employed  as  JO  is  sometimes  employed  for  departure  from 
the  present  backwards.  Nor  in  any  case  is  it  used  to  express  what 
Van  Hoonacker  seeks  to  draw  from  it  here,  the  idea  of  direction  of 
the  mind  to  a  past  event  and  then  an  immediate  return  from  that. 
Had  Haggai  wished  to  express  that   idea  he  would  have  phrased  it 

thus :  ntn  Dvn  nyi  nin>  ^a^n  "vy  x\s'  Dvn  jo?  (as  Kosters 

remarks).  Besides,  as  Kosters  has  pointed  out  (pp.  7  ff.  of  the 
Germ,  trans,  of  Het  Herstel,  etc.),  even  if  Van  Hoonacker's  translation 
of  JO'P  were  correct,  the  context  would  show  that  it  might  refer 
only  to  a  laying  of  the  foundation-stone  since  Haggai's  first  address 
to  the  people,  and  therefore  the  question  of  an  earlier  foundation- 
stone  under  Cyrus  would  remain  unsolved.  Consequently  Haggai 
ii.  18  cannot  be  quoted  as  a  proof  of  tlie  latter.     See  above,  p.  2l6. 


Hag.L.ii.]    HAGGAI  AND  THE  TEMPLE-BUILDING  249 

there  yet  any  seed  in  the  barn?^  And  as  yet  ^  the 
vine,  the  fig-tree,  the  pomegranate  and  the  olive  have  not 
borne  fruit.     From  this  day  I  will  bless  thee. 

This  then  is  the  substance  of  the  whole  message.  On 
the  twenty-fourth  day  of  the  ninth  month,  somewhere 
in  our  December,  the  Jews  had  been  discouraged 
that  their  attempts  to  build  the  Temple,  begun  three 
months  before,^  had  not  turned  the  tide  of  their 
misfortunes  and  produced  prosperity  in  their  agricul- 
ture. Haggai  tells  them,  there  is  not  yet  time  for  the 
change  to  work.  If  contact  with  a  holy  thing  has 
only  a  slight  effect,  but  contact  with  an  unclean  thing 
has  a  much  greater  effect  (verses  11-13),  then  their 
attempts  to  build  the  Temple  must  have  less  good 
influence  upon  their  condition  than  the  bad  influence  of 
all  their  past  devotion  to  themselves  and  their  secular 
labours.  That  is  why  adversity  still  continues,  but 
courage  1  from  this  day  on  God  will  bless.  The  whole 
message  is,  therefore,  opportune  to  the  date  at  which 
it  was  delivered,  and  comes  naturally  on  the  back  of 
Haggai's  previous  oracles.  Andrde's  reason  for  assign- 
ing it  to  another  writer,  on  the  ground  of  its  breaking 
the  connection,  does  not  exist.* 

These  poor  colonists,  in  their  hope  deferred,  were 
learning  the  old  lesson,  which  humanity  finds  so  hard 
to  understand,  that  repentance  and  new-born  zeal  do 
not  immediately  work  a  change  upon  our  material 
condition  ;  but  the  natural  consequences  of  sin  often 
outweigh  the  influence  of  conversion,  and  though 
devoted    to   God   and   very   industrious   we   may  still 

'  Meaning  there  is  none. 

^  TlJ?1  or  iyi  for  iy\   after  LXX.  kuI  ei  ?rt. 

^  The  twenty- fovirth  day  of  the  sixth  month,  according  to  chap.  i.  15 

'  See  above,  p.  228. 


250  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

be  punished  for  a  sinful  past.  Evil  has  an  infectious 
power  greater  than  that  of  holiness.  Its  effects  are 
more  extensive  and  lasting.'^  It  was  no  bit  of  casuistry 
which  Haggai  sought  to  illustrate  by  his  appeal  to  the 
priests  on  the  ceremonial  law,  but  an  ethical  truth 
deeply  embedded  in  human  experience. 

4.  The  Reinvestment  of  Israel's  Hope 
(Chap.  ii.  20-23). 

On  the  same  day  Haggai  published  another  oracle, 
in  which  he  put  the  climax  to  his  own  message  by  re- 
investing in  Zerubbabel  the  ancient  hopes  of  his  people. 
When  the  monarchy  fell  the  Messianic  hopes  were 
naturally  no  longer  concentrated  in  the  person  of  a  king ; 
and  the  great  evangelist  of  the  Exile  found  the  elect  and 
anointed  Servant  of  Jehovah  in  the  people  as  a  whole, 
or  in  at  least  the  pious  part  of  them,  with  functions 
not  of  political  government  but  of  moral  influence  and 
instruction  towards  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth.  Yet 
in  the  Exile  Ezekiel  still  predicted  an  individual 
Messiah,  a  son  of  the  house  of  David ;  only  it  is  signi- 
ficant that,  in  his  latest  prophecies  delivered  after  the 
overthrow  of  Jerusalem,  Ezekiel  calls  him  not  king"^ 
any  more,  h\xi  prince.^ 

•  "  For  I  believe  the  devil's  voice 
Sinks  deeper  in  our  ear, 
Than  any  whisper  sent  from  heaven, 
However  sweet  and  clear." 

•  Only  in  xxxiv.  24,  xxxvii.  22,  24. 

*  N"'J^'J :  cf.  Skinner,  Ezekiel  (Expositor's  Bible  Series),  pp.  447  flF., 
who,  however,  attributes  the  diminution  of  the  importance  of  the  civil 
head  in  Israel,  not  to  the  feeling  that  he  would  henceforth  always  be 
subject  to  a  foreign  emperor,  but  to  the  conviction  that  in  the  future 
he  will  be  "  overshadowed  by  the  personal  presence  of  Jehovah  in 
the  raidst  of  His  people." 


Hag.i.,ii.]    HAGGAI  AND  THE  TEMPLE-BUILDING  251 

After  the  return  of  Sheshbazzar  to  Babylon  this 
position  was  virtually  filled  by  Zerubbabel,  a  grandson 
of  Jehoiakin,  the  second  last  king  of  Judah,  and 
appointed  by  the  Persian  king  Pehah  or  Satrap  of 
Judah.  Him  Haggai  now  formally  names  the  elect 
ser\'ant  of  Jehovah.  In  that  overturning  of  the  king- 
doms of  the  world  which  Haggai  had  predicted  two 
months  before,  and  which  he  now  explains  as  their 
mutual  destruction  by  war,  Jehovah  of  Hosts  will 
make  Zerubbabel  His  signet-ring,  inseparable  from 
Himself  and  the  symbol  of  His  authority. 

And  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  a  second  time  to  * 
Haggai  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  the  ninth  monthy 
saying :  Speak  to  Zerubbabel,  Satrap  of  Judah,  saying : 
I  am  about  to  shake  the  heavens  and  the  earthy  and  I 
will  overturn  the  thrones '  of  kingdoms,  and  will  shatter 
the  power  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  Gentiles,  and  will  over- 
turn chariots*  and  their  riders,  and  horses  and  their 
riders  will  come  down,  every  man  by  the  sword  of  his 
brother.  In  that  day —oracle  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts — I 
will  take  Zerubbabel,  son  of  She^alttel,  My  servant — 
oracle  of  Jehovah — and  will  tnake  him  like  a  signet-ring; 
for  thee  have  I  chosen— oracle  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

The  wars  and  mutual  destruction  of  the  Gentiles,  of 
which  Haggai  speaks,  are  doubtless  those  revolts  of 
races  and  provinces,  which  threatened  to  disrupt  the 
Persian  Empire  upon  the  accession  of  Darius  in  521. 
Persians,  Babylonians,  Medes,  Armenians,  the  Sacae 
and  others  rose  together  or  in  succession.  In  four 
years  Darius   quelled   them   all,   and  reorganised    his 

'  See  above,  p.  227. 

•  LXX.  enlarges  :  and  the  sea  and  the  dry  land. 

•  Heb.  sing,  collect.     LXX.  plural. 
'  Again  a  sing.  coll. 


253  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

empire  before  the  Jews  finished  their  Temple.  Like 
all  the  Syrian  governors,  Zerubbabel  remained  his  poor 
lieutenant  and  submissive  tributary.  History  rolled 
westward  into  Europe.  Greek  and  Persian  began  their 
struggle  for  the  control  of  its  future,  and  the  Jews  fell 
into  an  obscurity  and  oblivion  unbroken  for  centuries. 
The  signet-ring  of  Jehovah  was  not  acknowledged  by 
the  world — does  not  seem  even  to  have  challenged  its 
briefest  attention.  But  Haggai  had  at  least  succeeded  in 
asserting  the  Messianic  hope  of  Israel,  always  baffled, 
never  quenched,  in  this  re-opening  of  her  life.  He  had 
delivered  the  ancient  heritage  of  Israel  to  the  care  of 
the  new  Judaism. 

Haggai's  place  in  the  succession  of  prophecy  ought 
now  to  be  clear  to  us.  The  meagreness  of  his  words 
and  their  crabbed  style,  his  occupation  with  the  con- 
struction of  the  Temple,  his  unfulfilled  hope  in  Zerub- 
babel, his  silence  on  the  great  inheritance  of  truth 
delivered  by  his  predecessors,  and  the  absence  from 
his  prophesying  of  all  visions  of  God's  character  and 
all  emphasis  upon  the  ethical  elements  of  religion — 
these  have  moved  some  to  depress  his  value  as  a 
prophet  almost  to  the  vanishing  point.  Nothing  could 
be  more  unjust.  In  his  opening  message  Haggai 
evinced  the  first  indispensable  power  of  the  prophet : 
to  speak  to  the  situation  of  the  moment,  and  to  suc- 
ceed in  getting  men  to  take  up  the  duty  at  their  feet ; 
in  another  message  he  announced  a  great  ethical 
principle ;  in  his  last  he  conserved  the  Messianic  tra- 
ditions of  his  religion,  and  though  not  less  disappointed 
than  Isaiah  in  the  personality  to  whom  he  looked  for 
their  fulfilment,  he  succeeded  in  passing  on  their  hope 
undiminished  to  future  ages. 


iBCHARIAM 


253 


Not  by  might,  and  not  by  force,  but  by  My  Spirit,  saith  Jehovah  of 
Hosts. 

Be  not  afraid,  strengthen  your  hands  1  :3peak  truth,  every  niati  to  his 
neighbour;  truth  and  wholesome  judgment  judge  ye  i)i  your  gales,  and 
tn  your  hearts  plan  no  evil  for  each  other,  nor  take  pleasure  in  false 
swearing,  for  all  these  things  do  1  hate — oracle  of  Jehovah. 


»54 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  BOOK  OF  ZECHARIAH  (I.—VIII.) 

THE  Book  of  Zechariah,  consisting  of  fourteen 
chapters,  falls  clearly  into  two  divisions  :  First, 
chaps,  i. — viii.,  ascribed  to  Zechariah  himself  and 
full  of  evidence  for  their  authenticity ;  Second, 
chaps,  ix. — xiv.,  which  are  not  ascribed  to  Zechariah, 
and  deal  with  conditions  different  from  those  upon 
which  he  worked.  The  full  discussion  of  the  date  and 
character  of  this  second  section  we  shall  reserve  till  we 
reach  the  period  at  which  we  believe  it  to  have  been 
written.  Here  an  introduction  is  necessary  only  to 
chaps,  i. — viii. 

These  chapters  may  be  divided  into  five  sections. 

I.  Chap.  i.  1-6. — A  Word  of  Jehovah  which  came  to  Zechariah  in  the 
eighth  month  of  the  second  year  of  Darius,  that  is  in  November  520 
B.C.,  or  between  the  second  and  the  third  oracles  of  Haggai.'  In  this 
the  prophet's  place  is  affirmed  in  the  succession  of  the  prophets  of 
Israel.  The  ancient  prophets  are  gone,  but  their  predictions  have 
been  fulfilled  in  the  calamities  of  the  Exile,  and  God's  Word  abides 
for  ever. 

II.  Chap.  i.  7 — vi.  9. — A  Word  of  Jehovah  which  came  to  Zechariah 
on  the  twenty-fourth  of  the  eleventh  month  of  the  same  year,  that 
is  January  or  February  519,  and  which  he  reproduces  in  the  form  of 
eight  Visions  by  night,  (i)  The  Vision  of  the  Four  Horsemen  :  God's 
new  mercies  to  Jerusalem  (chap.  i.  7-17).  (2)  The  Vision  of  the  Four 
Horns,  or  Powers  ol"  the  World,  and  the  Four  Smiths,  who  smite 
them  down  (iu  1-4  Heb.,  but  in  the  Septuagint  and  in  the  English 

•  See  above,  pp.  225  fiF. 
255 


2S6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Version  i.  i8-2i).  (3)  The  Vision  of  the  Man  with  the  Measuring 
Rope  :  Jerusalem  shall  be  rebuilt,  no  longer  as  a  narrow  fortress,  but 
spread  ?.broad  for  the  multitude  of  her  population  (chap.  ii.  5-9  Heb.. 
ii.  1-5  LXX.  and  Eng.).  To  this  Vision  is  appended  a  lyric  piece 
of  probably  older  date  calling  upon  the  Jews  in  Babylon  to  return, 
and  celebrating  the  joining  of  many  peoples  to  Jehovah,  now  that 
He  takes  up  again  His  habitation  in  Jerusalem  (chap.  ii.  10-17  Heb., 
ii.  6-13  LXX.  and  Eng.).  (4)  The  Vision  of  Joshua,  the  High  Priest, 
and  the  Satan  or  Accuser :  the  Satan  is  rebuked,  and  Joshua  is 
cleansed  from  his  foul  garments  and  clothed  with  a  new  turban  and 
festal  apparel ;  the  land  is  purged  and  secure  (chap.  iii.).  (5)  The 
Vision  of  the  Seven-Branched  Lamp  and  the  Two  Olive-Trees 
(chap.  iv.  l-6a,  106-14)  :  into  the  centre  of  this  has  been  inserted 
a  Word  of  Jehovah  to  Zerubbabel  (vv,  66-ioa),  which  interrupts 
the  Vision  apd  ought  probably  to  come  at  the  close  of  it.  (6)  The 
Vision  of  the  Flying  Book  :  it  is  the  curse  of  the  land,  which  is  being 
removed,  but  after  destroying  the  houses  of  the  wicked  (chap.  v.  I«4). 
(7)  The  Vision  of  the  Bushel  and  the  Woman  :  that  is  the  guilt  of 
the  land  and  its  wickedness  ;  they  are  carried  off  and  planted  in  the 
land  of  Shinar  (v.  5-ll).  (8)  The  Vision  of  the  Four  Chariots  :  they 
go  forth  from  the  Lord  of  all  the  earth,  to  traverse  the  earth  and 
bring  His  Spirit,  or  anger,  to  bear  on  the  North  country  (chap.  vi.  1-8). 

III.  Chap.  vi.  9-15. — A  Word  of  Jehovah,  undated  (unless  it  is  to 
be  taken  as  of  the  same  date  as  the  Visions  to  which  it  is  attached), 
giving  directions  as  to  the  gifts  sent  to  the  community  at  Jerusalem 
from  the  Babylonian  Jews.  A  crown  is  to  be  made  from  the  silver 
and  gold,  and,  according  to  the  text,  placed  upon  the  head  of  Joshua. 
But,  as  we  shall  see,'  the  text  gives  evident  signs  of  having  been 
altered  in  the  interest  of  the  High  Priest ;  and  probably  the  crown 
was  meant  for  Zerubbabel,  at  whose  right  hand  the  priest  is  to  stand, 
and  there  shall  be  a  counsel  of  peace  between  the  two  of  them.  The 
far-away  shall  come  and  assist  at  the  building  of  the  Temple.  This 
section  breaks  oflfin  the  middle  of  a  sentence. 

IV.  Chap.  vii. — The  Word  of  Jehovah  which  came  to  Zechariah  on 
the  fourth  of  the  ninth  month  of  the  fourth  year  of  Darius,  that  is 
nearly  two  years  after  the  date  of  the  Visions.  The  Temple  was 
approaching  completion  ;  and  an  inquiry  was  addressed  to  the  priests 
who  v;7ere  in  it  and  to  the  prophets  concerning  the  Fasts,  which 
had  been  maintained  during  the  Exile,  while  the  Temple  lay  desolate 
(chap.  vii.  1-3).  This  inquiry  drew  from  Zechariah  a  historical 
explanation  of  how  the  Fasts  arose  (chap.  vii.  4- 14). 

V.  Chap.    viii. — Ten    short   undated    oracles,    each  introduced  by 

'  Below,  p.  303. 


THE  BOOK   OF  ZECHARIAH   {I.-VIII.)  257 

the  same  formula,  Thus  satth  Jthovah  of  Hosts,  and  summarising  all 
Zechariah's  teaching  since  before  the  Temple  began  up  to  the  ques- 
tion of  the  cessation  of  the  Fasts  upon  its  completion — with  promises 
for  the  future.  (i)  A  Word  affirming  Jehovah's  new  zeal  for 
Jerusalem  and  His  Return  to  her  (vv.  i,  2).  (2)  Another  of  the 
same  (ver,  3).  (3)  A  Word  promising  fulness  of  old  folk  and 
children  in  her  streets  (w,  4,  5).  (4)  A  Word  affirming  that 
nothing  is  too  wonderful  for  Jehovah  (ver.  6).  (5)  A  Word  promis- 
ing the  return  of  the  people  from  east  and  west  (vv.  7,  8). 
(6  and  7)  Two  Words  contrasting,  in  terms  similar  to  Haggai  i.,  the 
poverty  of  the  people  before  the  foundation  of  the  Temple  with  their 
new  prosperity :  from  a  curse  Israel  shall  become  a  blessing.  This 
is  due  to  God's  anger  having  changed  into  a  purpose  of  grace  to 
Jerusalem.  But  the  people  themselves  must  do  truth  and  justice, 
ceasing  from  perjury  and  thoughts  of  evil  against  each  other 
(vv.  9- 1 7)'  (8)  A  Word  which  recurs  to  the  question  of  Fasting, 
and  commands  that  the  four  great  Fasts,  instituted  to  commemorate 
the  siege  and  overthrow  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  murder  of  Gedaliah, 
be  changed  to  joy  and  gladness  (vv.  18,  19).  (9)  A  Word  pre- 
dicting the  coming  of  the  Gentiles  to  the  worship  of  Jehovah  at 
Jerusalem  (vv.  20-22).     (10)  Another  of  the  same  (ver.  23). 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that,  apart  from  the  few 
interpolations  noted,  these  eight  chapters  are  genuine 
prophecies  of  Zechariah,  who  is  mentioned  in  the  Book 
of  Ezra  as  the  colleague  of  Haggai,  and  contemporary 
of  Zerubbabel  and  Joshua  at  the  time  of  the  rebuild- 
ing of  the  Temple.*  Like  the  oracles  of  Haggai,  these 
prophecies  are  dated  according  to  the  years  of  Darius 
the  king,  from  his  second  year  to  his  fourth.  Al- 
though they  may  contain  some  of  the  exhortations  to 
build  the  Temple,  which  the  Book  of  Ezra  informs  us 
that  Zechariah  made  along  with  Haggai,  the  most  of 
them  presuppose  progress  in  the  work,  and  seek 
to  assist  it  by  historical  retrospect  and  by  glowing 
hopes  of  the  Messianic  effects  of  its  completion.  Their 
allusions  suit   exactly   the   years   to   which   they   are 

'  Ezra  v.  I,  vi.  14. 
VOL.  II.  17 


2S8  THE   TWELVE  PR0PHE2S 

assigned.  Darius  is  king.  The  Exile  has  lasted  about 
seventy  years.^  Numbers  of  Jews  remain  in  Babylon,^ 
and  are  scattered  over  the  rest  of  the  world.'  The 
community  at  Jerusalem  is  small  and  weak  :  it  is  the 
mere  colony  of  young  men  and  men  in  middle  life  who 
came  to  it  from  Babylon ;  there  are  few  children  and 
old  folk.*  Joshua  and  Zerubbabel  are  the  heads  of 
the  community,  and  the  pledges  for  its  future,*  The 
exact  conditions  are  recalled  as  recent  which  Haggai 
spoke  of  a  few  years  before,*  Moreover,  there  is  a 
steady  and  orderly  progress  throughout  the  prophecies, 
in  harmony  with  the  successive  dates  at  which  they 
were  delivered.  In  November  520  they  begin  with  a 
cry  to  repentance  and  lessons  drawn  from  the  past  of 
prophecy/  In  January  519  Temple  and  City  are  still 
to  be  built.*  Zerubbabel  has  laid  the  foundation ;  the 
completion  is  yet  future."  The  prophet's  duty  is  to 
quiet  the  people's  apprehensions  about  the  state  of  the 
world,^"  to  provoke  their  zeal,"  give  them  confidence 
in  their  great  men,"  and,  above  all,  assure  them  that 
God  is  returned  to  them  ^^  and  their  sin  pardoned,^* 
But  in  December  518  the  Temple  is  so  far  built 
that  the  priests  are  said  to  belong  to  it ; "  there  is  no 


'  i,  12,  vii.  5  :  reckoning  in  round  numbers  from  590,  midway  between 
the  two  Exiles  of  597  and  586,  that  brings  us  to  about  520,  the  second 
year  of  Darius. 

*  ii.  6  (Eng,,  Heb,  10),  On  the  question  whether  the  Book  of 
Zechariah  gives  no  evidence  of  a  previous  Return  from  Babylon  see 
above,  pp.  208  flf, 

viii.  7,  etc.  »•  i.  7-21  (Eng,,  Heb.  I.  7— U.  4). 

viii.  4,  5.  "  iv.  6  flf. 

iii.  l-io,  iv.  6-10,  vi,  11  flf.         '*  iii.,  iv. 

viii  9,  10.  '•  i.  16. 

i.  1-6.  «*  V. 

i,  7-17.  '•  vii,  3. 

iv.  6-10. 


THE  BOOK  OF  ZECHARIAH  {I.-VIII.)  259 

occasion  for  continuing  the  fasts  of  the  Exile,*  the 
future  has  opened  and  the  horizon  is  bright  with 
the  Messianic  hopes.^  Most  of  all,  it  is  felt  that 
the  hard  struggle  with  the  forces  of  nature  is  over, 
and  the  people  are  exhorted  to  the  virtues  of  the 
civic  life.'  They  have  time  to  lift  their  eyes  from 
their  work  and  see  the  nations  coming  from  afar  to 
Jerusalem.* 

These  features  leave  no  room  for  doubt  that  the 
great  bulk  of  the  first  eight  chapters  of  the  Book 
of  Zechariah  are  by  the  prophet  himself,  and  from  the 
years  to  which  he  assigns  them,  November  520  to 
December  518.     The  point  requires  no  argument. 

There  are,  however,  three  passages  which  provoke 
further  examination — two  of  them  because  of  the  signs 
they  bear  of  an  earlier  date,  and  one  because  of  the 
alteration  it  has  suffered  in  the  interests  of  a  later  day 
in  Israel's  history. 

The  lyric  passage  which  is  appended  to  the  Second 
Vision  (chap.  ii.  10-17  Heb.,  6-13  LXX.  and  Eng.) 
suggests  questions  by  its  singularity :  there  is  no  other 
such  among  the  Visions.  But  in  addition  to  this  it 
speaks  not  only  of  the  Return  from  Babylon  as  still 
future ' — this  might  still  be  said  afler  the  First  Return 
of  the  exiles  in  536* — but  it  differs  from  the  language 
of  all  the  Visions  proper  in  describing  the  return  of 
Jehovah  Himself  to  Zion  as  still  future.  The  whole, 
too,  has  the  ring  of  the  great  odes  in  Isaiah  xl. — Iv., 
and  seems  to  reflect  the  same  situation,  upon  the  eve 


•  vii.  1-7,  viii.  18,  19.  •  viii.  16,  17. 

•  viii.  20-23.  *  viii.  20-23. 

•  ii.  10  f.  Heb.,  6  f.  LXX.  and  Eng. 

•  Though  the  expression  /  have  scattered  you  to  the  four  wtttds  0/ 
heaven  seems  to  imply  the  Exile  before  any  return. 


26o  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


of  Cyrus'  conquest  of  Babylon.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  we  have  here  inserted  in  Zechariah's  Visions 
a  song  of  twenty  years  earlier,  but  we  must  confess 
inability  to  decide  whether  it  was  adopted  by  Zechariah 
himself  or  added  by  a  later  hand.^ 

Again,  there  are  the  two  passages  called  the  Word 
of  Jehovah  to  Zerubbabel,  chap.  iv.  6b-ioa ;  and  the 
Word  of  Jehovah  concerning  the  gifts  which  came  to 
Jerusalem  from  the  Jews  in  Babylon,  chap.  vi.  9-15. 
The  first,  as  Wellhausen  has  shown,*  is  clearly  out  of 
place ;  it  disturbs  the  narrative  of  the  Vision,  and  is  to 
be  put  at  the  end  of  the  latter.  The  second  is  undated, 
and  separate  from  the  Visions.  The  second  plainly 
affirms  that  the  building  of  the  Temple  is  still  future. 
The  man  whose  name  is  Branch  or  Shoot  is  designated  : 
and  he  shall  build  the  Temple  of  Jehovah.  The  first  is 
in  the  same  temper  as  the  first  two  oracles  of  Haggai. 
It  is  possible  then  that  these  two  passages  are  not, 
like  the  Visions  with  which  they  are  taken,  to  be 
dated  from  519,  but  represent  that  still  earlier  pro- 
phesying of  Zechariah  with  which  we  are  told  he 
assisted  Haggai  in  instigating  the  people  to  begin  to 
build  the  Temple. 

The  style  of  the  prophet  Zechariah  betrays  special 
features  almost  only  in  the  narrative  of  the  Visions. 
Outside  these  his  language  is  simple,  direct  and  pure, 
as  it  could  not  but  be,  considering  how  much  of  it  is 
drawn   from,  or   modelled  upon,  the  older  prophets,' 

'  For  the  bearing  of  this  on  Kosters'  theory  of  the  Return  see 
pp.  21 1  f. 

*  See  below,  p.  300. 

•  Outside  the  Visions  tha  prophecies  contain  these  echoes  or 
repetitions  of  earlier  writers:  chap.  i.  1-6  quotes  the  constant  refrain 


THE  BOOK  OF  ZECHARIAH  {I.-VIII.)  261 

and  chiefly  Hosea  and  Jeremiah.  Only  one  or  two 
lapses  into  a  careless  and  degenerate  dialect  show  us 
how  the  prophet  might  have  written,  had  he  not  been 
sustained  by  the  music  of  the  classical  periods  of  the 
language.^ 

This  directness  and  pith  is  not  shared  by  the 
language  in  which  the  Visions  are  narrated.*  Here  the 
style  is  involved  and  redundant.  The  syntax  is  loose  ; 
there  is  a  frequent  omission  of  the  copula,  and  of  other 
means  by  which,  in  better  Hebrew,  connection  and 
conciseness  are  sustained.  The  formulas,  thus  saith 
and  saying,  are  repeated  to  weariness.  At  the  same 
time  it  is  fair  to  ask,  how  much  of  this  redundancy 
was  due  to  Zechariah  himself?  Take  the  Septuagint 
version.  The  Hebrew  text,  which  it  followed,  not  only 
included  a  number  of  repetitions  of  the  formulas,  and 
of  the  designations  of  the  personages  introduced  into 
the  Visions,  which  do  not  occur  in  the  Massoretic  text,' 


of  prophetic  preaching  before  the  Exile,  and  in  chap.  vii.  7-14  (ver.  8 
must  be  deleted)  is  given  a  summary  of  that  preaching ;  in  chap, 
viii.  ver.  3  echoes  Isa.  i.  21,  26,  city  oj  troth,  and  Jer.  xxxi.  23, 
Mountain  of  holiness  (there  is  really  no  connection,  as  Kuenen  holds, 
between  ver.  4  and  Isa.  Ixv.  20 ;  it  would  create  more  interesting 
questions  as  to  the  date  of  the  latter  if  there  were) ;  ver.  8  is  based 
on  Hosea  ii.  15  Heb.,  19  Eng.,  and  Jer,  xxxi.  33;  ver.  12  is  based 
on  Hosea  ii.  21  f.  (Heb.  23  f.);  with  ver.  13  compare  Jer.  xlii.  18, 
a  curst ;  vv.  21  flf.  with  Isa.  ii.  3  and  Micah  iv.  2. 

'  E.g.  vii.  5,  *JX  '•:rip"i'  for  'h  DnpV  :  cf.  Ewald,  Syntax,  §  3156. 
The  curious  use  of  the  ace.  in  the  following  verse  is  perhaps  only 
apparent ;  part  of  the  text  may  have  fallen  out. 

*  Though  there  are  not  wanting,  of  course,  echoes  here  as  in  the 
other  prophecies  of  older  writings,  e.g.  i.  12,  17. 

•  "IDXP,  saying,  ii.  8  (Gr.  ii.  4)  ;  iv.  5,  And  the  angel  who  spoke  with 
nte  said;  i,  17,  cf.  vi.  5.  All  is  inserted  in  i.  II,  iii.  9;  lord  in  ii.  2; 
of  hosts  {siheT  Jehovah)  viii.  17;  and  there  are  other  instances  oi 
palpable  expansion,  eg.  i.  6,  8,  ii.  4  bis,  6,  viii.  19. 


262  THE    TWELVE   PROPHETS 

but  omitted  some  which  are  found  in  the  Massoretic 
text.*  These  two  sets  of  phenomena  prove  that  from 
an  early  date  the  copiers  of  the  original  text  of  Zechariah 
must  have  been  busy  in  increasing  its  redundancies. 
Further,  there  are  still  earlier  intrusions  and  expan- 
sions, for  these  are  shared  by  both  the  Hebrew  and 
the  Greek  texts  :  some  of  them  very  natural  efforts  to 
clear  up  the  personages  and  conversations  recorded  in 
the  dreams,*  some  of  them  stupid  mistakes  in  under- 
standing the  drift  of  the  argument.'  There  must  of 
course  have  been  a  certain  amount  of  redundancy  in 
the  original  ti)  provoke  such  aggravations  of  it,  and  of 
obscurity  or  tortuousness  of  style  to  cause  them  to  be 
deemed  necessary.  But  it  would  be  very  unjust  to 
charge  all  the  faults  of  our  present  text  to  Zechariah 
himself,  especially  when  we  find  such  force  and  sim- 
plicity in  the  passages  outside  the  Visions.  Of  course 
the  involved  and  misty  subjects  of  the  latter  naturally 
forced  upon  the  description  of  them  a  laboriousness 
of  art,  to  which  there  was  no  provocation  in  directly 
exhorting  the  people  to  a  pure  life,  or  in  straight- 
forward predictions  of  the  M'jssianic  era. 

Beyond  the  corruptions  due  to  ,hese  causes,  the  text 
of  Zeciiariah  i. — viii.  has  not  suifered  more  than  that 
of  our  other  prophets.  There  are  one  or  two  clerical 
errors;*  an  occasional  preposition  or  person  of  a  verb 
needs  to  be  amended.     Here  and  there  the  text  has 


'  E^.  ii.  2,  iv.  2,  13,  V.  9,  vi,  12  bis,  vii.  8 :  cf.  also  vi.  13. 

"  1.  8  ff.,  iii.  4  ff. :  cf.  also  vi.  3  with  vv.  6  f. 

'  E.g.  (but  this  is  outside  the  Visio;  3)  the  very  flagrant   iiistnd<:r- 
standing  to  which  the  insertion  of  vii.  •  is  due. 

*  V.  6,  D3*J?  for  D3iy  as  in   LXX.,    nd  the  last  word     o£  v,    II 
perhaps  vi.  10;  and  almost  certai&^$    jii.  2a. 


THE  BOOK   OF  ZECHARIAH  {I.-VIII.)  263 

been  disarranged ;  *  and  as  already  noticed,  there  has 
been  one  serious  alteration  of  the  original.* 

From  the  foregoing  paragraphs  it  must  be  apparent 
what  help  and  hindrance  in  the  reconstruction  of  the 
text  is  furnished  by  the  Septuagint.  A  list  of  its  variant 
readings  and  of  its  mistranslations  is  appended.' 

'  Chap.  iv.  On  6a,  io3-i4  should  immediately  follow,  and  db-xoa 
come  after  14. 

*  vi.  1 1  ff.     See  below,  pp.  308  f. 

•  Chief  variants:  i.  8,  10;  ii.  15  ;  iii.  4;  iv.  7,  is;  v.  i,  3,  4,  9; 
vi.  10,  13;  vii.  3;  viii.  8,  9,  12,  20.  Obvious  mistranslations  or 
misreadings:  ii.  9,  iO,  15,  17;  iii.  4;  iv.  7,  10;  v.  i,  4,  9;  vi.  10 
cf.  14 ;  vii.  3. 


CHAPTER    XX 

ZECHARIAH   THE  PROPHET 
Zechariah  i,  1-6,  etc, ;  Ezra  v.  I,  vi.   14 

ZECHARIAH  is  one  of  the  prophets  whose  person- 
ality as  distinguished  from  their  message  exerts 
some  degree  of  fascination  on  the  student,  Tliis  is  not 
due,  however,  as  in  the  case  of  Hosea  or  Jeremiah, 
to  the  facts  of  his  hfe,  for  of  these  we  know  extremely 
little ;  but  to  certain  conflicting  symptoms  of  character 
which  appear  through  his  prophecies. 

His  name  was  a  very  common  one  in  Israel,  Zekher- 
Yah,  Jehovah  remembers}  In  his  own  book  he  is 
described  as  the  son  of  Berekh-Yah^  the  son  of  Iddo^  and 
in  the  Aramaic  document  of  the  Book  of  Ezra  as  the 
son  of  Iddo?  Some  have  explained  this  difference  by 
supposing  that  Berekhyah  was  the  actual  father  of  the 
prophet,  but  that  either  he  died  early,  leaving  Zechariah 
to  the  care  of  the  grandfather,  or  else  that  he  was  a 
man  of  no  note,  and  Iddo  was  more  naturally  mentioned 
as  the  head  of  the  family.  There  are  several  instances 
in  the  Old  Testament  of  men  being  called  the  sons  of 
their  grandfathers :  *  as  in  these  cases  the  grandfather 


« i.  I :  \^T\'^.  nj?ni-i3.   In  i,  7 :  Nnj;-)3  -injDn^. 

•  Ezra  V.  i,  vi.  14  :    Nl-^y-ia. 

*  Gen.  xxiv.  47,  cf.  xxix.  5;  i  Kings  xix.  16,  cf.  2  Kings  ix,  14,  20. 

264 


Zech.i.  1-6]         ZECHARIAH   THE  PROPHET  265 

was  the  reputed  founder  of  the  house,  so  in  that  of 
Zechariah  Iddo  was  the  head  of  his  family  when  it 
came  out  of  Babylon  and  was  anew  planted  in  Jerusa- 
lem. Others,  however,  have  contested  the  genuineness 
of  the  words  son  of  Berekh-Yah,  and  have  traced  their 
insertion  to  a  confusion  of  the  prophet  with  Zechariah 
son  of  Yebherekh-Yahu,  the  contemporary  of  Isaiah.^ 
This  is  precarious,  while  the  other  hypothesis  is  a 
very  natural  one.*  Whichever  be  correct,  the  prophet 
Zechariah  was  a  member  of  the  priestly  family  of  Iddo, 
that  came  up  to  Jerusalem  from  Babylon  under  Cyrus.* 
The  Book  of  Nehemiah  adds  that  in  the  high-priesthood 
of  Yoyakim,  the  son  of  Joshua,  the  head  of  the  house 
of  Iddo  was  a  Zechariah.*  If  this  be  our  prophet,  then 
he  was  probably  a  young  man  in  520,*  and  had  come 
up  as  a  child  in  the  caravans  from  Babylon.  The 
Aramaic  document  of  the  Book  of  Ezra  *  assigns  to 
Zechariah  a  share  with  Haggai  in  the  work  of  instigat- 
ing Zerubbabel  and  Jeshua  to  begin  the  Temple.  None 
of  his  oracles  is  dated  previous  to  the  beginning  of  the 
work  in  August  520,  but  we  have  seen  ^  that  among 
those  undated  there  are  one  or  two  which  by  refer- 
ring to  the  building  of  the  Temple  as  still  future  may 

'  Isa.  viii.  2  :  •in''D^5^"|5.  This  confusion,  which  existed  in  early 
Jewish  and  Christian  times,  Knobel,  Von  Ortcnberg,  Bleek,  Well- 
hausen  and  others  take  to  be  due  to  the  eflfort  to  find  a  second 
Zechariah  for  the  authorship  of  chaps,  ix.  ff. 

■^  So  Vatke,  KOnig  and  many  otl.ers.  Marti  prefers  it  (^Der 
Prophet  Sacharja,  p.  58).     See  also  Ryle  on  Ezra  v.  I. 

'  Neh.  xii.  4, 

*  lb.  16. 

*  This  is  not  proved,  as  Pusey,  Kanig  (Et'ttl.,  p.  364)  and  others 
think,  by  1^3^  or  young  man,  of  the  Third  Vision  (ii.  8  Heb., 
ii.  4  LXX.  and  Eng.).  Cf.  Wright,  Zechariah  and  his  Prophecies, 
p.zvi. 

"  V.  I,  vi.  14,  '  Above,  p.  260. 


266  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

contain  some  relics  of  that  first  stage  of  his  ministry. 
From  November  520  we  have  the  first  of  his  dated 
oracles;  his  Visions  followed  in  January  519,  and  his 
last  recorded  prophesying  in  December  518.* 

These  are  all  the  certain  events  of  Zechariah's 
history.  But  in  the  well-attested  prophecies  he  has 
left  we  discover,  besides  some  obvious  traits  of  char- 
acter, certain  problems  of  style  and  expression  which 
suggest  a  personality  of  more  than  usual  interest. 
Loyalty  to  the  great  voices  of  old,  the  temper  which 
appeals  to  the  experience,  rather  than  to  the  dogmas, 
of  the  past,  the  gift  of  plain  speech  to  his  own  times, 

'  More  than  this  we  do  not  know  of  Zechariah.  The  Jewish  and 
Christian  traditions  of  him  are  as  unfounded  as  those  of  other 
prophets.  According  to  the  Jews  he  was,  of  course,  a  member  of 
the  mythical  Great  Synagogue.  See  above  on  Haggai,  pp.  232  f.  As 
in  the  case  of  the  prophets  we  have  already  treated,  the  Christian 
traditions  of  Zechariah  are  found  in  (Pseud-)Epiphanius,  De  Vitis 
Prophetarum,  Dorotheus,  and  Hesychius,  as  quoted  above,  p.  80. 
They  amount  to  this,  that  Zechariah,  after  predicting  in  Babylon 
the  birth  of  Zerubbabel,  and  to  Cyrus  his  victory  over  Croesus  and 
his  treatment  of  the  Jews,  came  in  his  old  age  to  Jerusalem, 
prophesied,  died  and  was  buried  near  Beit-Jibrin — another  instance 
of  the  curious  relegation  by  Christian  tradition  of  the  birth  and  burial 
places  of  so  many  of  the  prophets  to  that  neighbourhood.  Compare 
Beit-Zakharya,  12  miles  from  Beit-Jibrin.  Hesychius  says  he  was 
born  in  Gilead.  Dorotheus  confuses  him,  as  the  Jews  did,  with 
Zechariah  of  Isa.  viii.  i.     See  above,  p.  265,  n.  I. 

Zechariah  was  certainly  not  the  Zechariah  whom  our  Lord  describes 
as  slain  between  the  Temple  and  the  Altar  (Matt,  xxiii.  35  ;  Lukexi.  51). 
In  the  former  passage  alone  is  this  Zechariah  called  the  son  of 
Barachiah.  In  the  Evang.  Nazar.  Jerome  read  the  son  of  Yehoyada. 
Both  readings  may  be  insertions.  According  to  2  Chron.  xxiv.  21, 
in  the  reign  of  Joash,  Zechariah,  the  son  of  Yehoyada  the  priest,  was 
stoned  in  the  court  of  the  Temple,  and  according  to  Josephus  (IV. 
Wars,  V,  4),  in  the  year  68  a.d.  Zechariah  son  of  Baruch  was 
assassinated  in  the  Temple  by  two  zealots.  The  latter  murder  may, 
as  Marti  remarks  (pp.  58  f.),  have  led  to  the  insertion  of  Barachiah 
into  Matt,  xxiii.  35. 


Zech.i.  1-6]  ZECHARIAH   THE  PROPHET  267 


a  wistful  anxiety  about  his  reception  as  a  prophet  - 
combined  with  the  absence  of  all  ambition  to  be 
original  or  anything  but  the  clear  voice  of  the  lessons 
of  the  past  and  of  the  conscience  of  to-day — these  are 
the  qualities  which  characterise  Zechariah's  orations 
to  the  people.  But  how  to  reconcile  them  with  the 
strained  art  and  obscure  truths  of  the  Visions — it  is 
this  which  invests  with  interest  the  study  of  his 
personality.  We  have  proved  that  the  obscurity  and 
redundancy  of  the  Visions  cannot  all  have  been  due 
to  himself.  Later  hands  have  exaggerated  the  repeti- 
tions and  ravelled  the  processes  of  the  original.  But 
these  gradual  blemishes  have  not  grown  from  nothing : 
the  original  style  must  have  been  sufficiently  involved 
to  provoke  the  interpolations  of  the  scribes,  and  it 
certainly  contained  all  the  weird  and  shifting  apparitions 
which  we  find  so  hard  to  make  clear  to  ourselves. 
The  problem,  therefore,  remains — how  one  who  had 
gift  of  speech,  so  straight  and  clear,  came  to  torture 
and  tangle  his  st34e ;  how  one  who  presented  with  all 
plainness  the  main  issues  of  his  people's  history  found 
it  laid  upon  him  to  invent,  for  the  further  expression 
of  these,  symbols  so  laboured  and  intricate. 

We  begin  with  the  oracle,  which  opens  his  book  and 
illustrates  those  simple  characteristics  of  the  man  that 
contrast  so  sharply  with  the  temper  of  his  Visions. 

In  the  cigldli  mouthy  in  the  second  year  of  Darius,  the 
word  of  Jehovah  came  to  the  prophet  Zechariah,  son  of 
Berekhyah,  son  of  Iddo^  saying:  fehovah  ivas  very 
wroth  ^  with  your  fathers.  And  thou  shalt  say  unto  them: 
Thus  saith  fehovah  of  Hosts  :   Turn  ye  to  Me — oracle  oj 

•  ii.  13,  15  ;  iv.  9;  vi.  15. 

•  LXX.  'A^So).     See  above,  p.  264. 

•  Heb.  angered  with  anger ;  Gr.  with  great  anger. 


268  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Jehovah  of  Hosts — that  I  may  turn  to  you,  saith  Jehovah 
of  Hosts  !  Be  not  like  your  fathers  ^  to  whom  the  former 
prophets  preached,  saying:  "  Thus  saith  fehovah  of  Hosts, 
Turn  now  from  your  evil  ways  and  from  ^  your  evil 
deeds^^  hut  they  hearkened  not,  and  paid  no  attention  to 
Me — oracle  of  Jehovah.  Your  fathers,  where  are  they? 
And  the  prophets,  do  they  live  for  ever  ?  But^  My  wojrds 
and  My  statutes,  with  ivhich  I  charged  My  servants  the 
prophets,  did  they  not  overtake  your  fathers  ?  till  these 
turned  and  said,  As  Jehovah  of  Hosts  did  purpose  to  do 
unto  us,  according  to  our  deeds  and  according  to  our 
ways,  so  hath  He  dealt  with  us. 

It  is  a  sign  of  the  new  age  which  we  have  reached, 
that  its  prophet  should  appeal  to  the  older  prophets 
with  as  much  solemnity  as  they  did  to  Moses  himself. 
The  history  which  led  to  the  Exile  has  become  to  Israel 
as  classic  and  sacred  as  her  great  days  of  deliverance 
from  Egypt  and  of  conquest  in  Canaan.  But  still 
more  significant  is  what  Zechariah  seeks  from  that 
past;  this  we  must  carefully  discover,  if  we  would 
appreciate  with  exactness  his  rank  as  a  prophet. 

The  development  of  religion  may  be  said  to  consist 
of  a  struggle  between  two  tempers,  both  of  which 
indeed  appeal  to  the  past,  but  from  very  opposite 
motives.  The  one  proves  its  devotion  to  the  older 
prophets  by  adopting  the  exact  formulas  of  their  doctrine, 
counts  these  sacred  to  the  letter,  and  would  enforce 
them  in  detail  upon  the  minds  and  circumstances 
of  the  new  generation.  It  conceives  that  truth  has 
been  promulgated  once  for  all  in  forms  as  enduring 
as  the  principles  they  contain.  It  fences  ancient  rites, 
cherishes  old  customs  and  institutions,  and  when  these 

•  As  in  LXX. 

•  LXX.  has  misunderstood  and  expanded  this  verse. 


Zech.i.  1-6]         ZECHARIAH   THE  PROPHET  269 

are  questioned  it  becomes  alarmed  and  even  savage. 
The  other  temper  is  no  whit  behind  this  one  in  its 
devotion  to  the  past,  but  it  seeks  the  ancient  prophets 
not  so  much  for  what  they  have  said  as  for  what  they 
have  been,  not  for  what  they  enforced  but  for  what 
they  encountered,  suffered  and  confessed.  It  aslcs  not 
for  dogmas  but  for  experience  and  testimony.  He 
who  can  thus  read  the  past  and  interpret  it  to  his  own 
day — he  is  the  prophet.  In  his  reading  he  finds  nothing 
so  clear,  nothing  so  tragic,  nothing  so  convincing  as 
the  working  of  the  Word  of  God.  He  beholds  how 
this  came  to  men,  haunted  them  and  was  entreated  by 
them.  He  sees  that  it  was  their  great  opportunity, 
which  being  rejected  became  their  judgment.  He  finds 
abused  justice  vindicated,  proud  wrong  punished,  and 
all  God's  neglected  commonplaces  achieving  in  time 
their  triumph.  He  reads  how  men  came  to  see  this,  and 
to  confess  their  guilt.  He  is  haunted  by  the  remorse 
of  generations  who  know  how  they  might  have  obeyed 
the  Divine  call,  but  wilfully  did  not.  And  though  they 
have  perished,  and  the  prophets  have  died  and  their 
formulas  are  no  more  applicable,  the  victorious  Word 
itself  still  lives  and  cries  to  men  with  the  terrible 
emphasis  of  their  fathers'  experience.  All  this  is  the 
vision  of  the  true  prophet,  and  it  was  the  vision  of 
Zechariah. 

His  generation  was  one  whose  chief  temptation  was 
to  adopt  towards  the  past  the  other  attitude  we  have 
described.  In  their  feebleness  what  could  the  poor 
remn'int  of  Israel  do  but  cling  servilely  to  the  former 
greatness?  The  vindication  of  the  Exile  had  stamped 
the  Divine  authority  of  the  earlier  prophets.  The 
habits,  which  the  life  in  Babylon  had  perfected,  of 
arranging  and  codifying  the  literature  of  the  past,  and 


270  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  employing  it,  in  place  of  altar  and  ritual,  in  the 
stated  service  of  God,  had  canonised  Scripture  and 
provoked  men  to  the  worship  of  its  very  letter.  Had 
the  real  prophet  not  again  been  raised,  these  habits 
might  have  too  early  produced  the  belief  that  the 
Word  of  God  was  exhausted,  and  must  have  fastened 
upon  the  feeble  life  of  Israel  that  mass  of  stiff  and 
stark  dogmas,  the  literal  application  of  which  Christ 
afterwards  found  crushing  the  liberty  and  the  force  of 
religion.  Zechariah  prevented  this — for  a  time.  He 
himself  was  mighty  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  past :  no 
man  in  Israel  makes  larger  use  of  them.  But  he 
employs  them  as  witnesses,  not  as  dogmas ;  he  finds 
in  them  not  authority,  but  experience.^  He  reads  their 
testimony  to  the  ever-living  presence  of  God's  Word 
with  men.  And  seeing  that,  though  the  old  forms  and 
figures  have  perished  with  the  hearts  which  shaped 
them,  the  Word  itself  in  its  bare  truth  has  vindicated 
its  life  by  fulfilment  in  history,  he  knows  that  it  lives 
still,  and  hurls  it  upon  his  people,  not  in  the  forms 
published  by  this  or  that  prophet  of  long  ago,  but  in 
its  essence  and  direct  from  God  Himself,  as  His  Word 
for  to-day  and  now.  The  fathers^  where  are  they  ? 
And  the  prophets,  do  they  live  for  ever?  But  Mv  words 
and  My  statutes,  with  which  I  charged  My  servants  the 
prophets,  have  they  not  overtaken  your  fathers  ?  Thus 
saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  Be  ye  not  like  your  fathers,  but 
turn  ye  to  Me  that  I  may  turn  to  you. 

The  argument  of  this  oracle  might  very  naturally 
have  been  narrowed  into  a  credential  for  the  prophet 
himself  as  sent    from    God.     About    his   reception    as 

'  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  Zechariah  appeals  to  the  Torah  of  the 
prophets,  and  does  not  mention  any  Torah  of  the  priests.  Cf.  Smend, 
A  T  Rel.  Gesch.,  pp.  I'jdi. 


Zech.i.  1-6]         ZECHARIAH   THE  PROPHET  ayi 


Jehovah's  messenger  Zechariah  shows  a  repeated 
anxiety.  Four  times  he  concludes  a  prediction  with 
the  words,  And  ye  shall  know  that  Jehovah  hath  sent 
me^  as  if  after  his  first  utterances  he  had  encountered 
that  suspicion  and  unbeUef  which  a  prophet  never 
failed  to  suffer  from  his  contemporaries.  But  in  this 
oracle  there  is  no  trace  of  such  personal  anxiety. 
The  oracle  is  pervaded  only  with  the  desire  to  prove 
the  ancient  Word  of  God  as  still  alive,  and  to  drive 
it  home  in  its  own  sheer  force.  Like  the  greatest  of 
his  order,  Zechariah  appears  vdth  the  call  to  repent : 
Turn  ye  to  Me— oracle  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts — that  I  may 
turn  to  you.  This  is  the  pivot  on  which  history  has 
turned,  the  one  condition  on  which  God  has  been  able 
to  help  men.  Wherever  it  is  read  as  the  conclusion 
of  all  the  past,  wherever  it  is  proclaimed  as  the  con- 
science of  the  present,  there  the  true  prophet  is  found 
and  the  Word  of  God  has  been  spoken. 

The  same  possession  by  the  ethical  spirit  reappears, 
as  we  shall  see,  in  Zechariah's  orations  to  the  people 
after  the  anxieties  of  building  are  over  and  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Temple  is  in  sight.  In  these  he  affirms 
again  that  the  whole  essence  of  God's  Word  by  the 
older  prophets  has  been  moral — to  judge  true  judgment, 
to  practise  mercy,  to  defend  the  widow  and  orphan,  the 
stranger  and  poor,  and  to  think  no  evil  of  one  another. 
For  the  sad  fasts  of  the  Exile  Zechariah  enjoins  gladness, 
with  the  duty  of  truth  and  the  hope  of  peace.  Again 
and  again  he  enforces  sincerity  and  the  love  without 
dissimulation.  His  ideals  for  Jerusalem  are  very  high, 
including  the  conversion  of  the  nations  to  her  God. 
But  warlike  ambitions  have  vanished  from  them,  and 

'  Page  267,  n.   i. 


272  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

his  pictures  of  her  future  condition  are  homely  and 
practical.  Jerusalem  shall  be  no  more  a  fortress,  but 
spread  village-wise  without  walls.^  Full  families,  unlike 
the  present  colony  with  its  few  children  and  its  men 
worn  out  in  middle  life  by  harassing  warfare  with 
enemies  and  a  sullen  nature;  streets  rife  with  children 
playing  and  old  folk  sitting  in  the  sun  ;  the  return  of 
the  exiles ;  happy  harvests  and  springtimes  of  peace , 
solid  gain  of  labour  for  every  man,  with  no  raiding 
neighbours  to  harass,  nor  the  mutual  envies  of  peasants 
in  their  selfish  struggle  with  famine. 

It  is  a  simple,  hearty,  practical  man  whom  such 
prophesying  reveals,  the  spirit  of  him  bent  on  justice 
and  love,  and  yearning  for  the  unharassed  labour  of 
the  field  and  for  happy  homes.  No  prophet  has  more 
beautiful  sympathies,  a  more  direct  word  of  righteous- 
ness, or  a  braver  heart.  Fast  not^  but  love  truth  and 
peace.  Truth  and  wholesome  justice  set  ye  up  in  your 
gates.  Be  not  afraid ;  strengthen  your  hands !  Old 
men  and  women  shall  yet  sit  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem, 
each  with  staff  in  hand  for  the  ftdness  of  their  years ;  the 
city's  streets  shall  be  rife  zvith  boys  and  girls  at  play. 


•  This  picture  is  given  in  one  of  the  Visions  :  the  Third. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE   VISIONS  OF  ZECHARIAhl 
Zechariah  i.  7 — vi. 

THE  Visions  of  Zechariah  do  not  lack  those  large 
and  simple  views  of  religion  which  we  have 
just  seen  to  be  the  charm  of  his  other  prophecies. 
Indeed  it  is  among  the  Visions  that  we  find  the  most 
spiritual  of  all  his  utterances  :  ^  Not  by  might,  and  not 
by  force y  but  by  My  Spirit,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts.  The 
Visions  express  the  need  of  the  Divine  forgiveness, 
emphasise  the  reality  of  sin,  as  a  principle  deeper  than 
the  civic  crimes  in  which  it  is  manifested,  and  declare 
the  power  of  God  to  banish  it  from  His  people.  The 
Visions  also  contain  the  remarkable  prospect  of  Jeru- 
salem as  the  City  of  Peace,  her  only  wall  the  Lord  Him- 
self.' The  overthrow  of  the  heathen  empires  is  predicted 
by  the  Lord's  own  hand,  and  from  all  the  Visions  there 
are  absent  both  the  turmoil  and  the  glory  of  war. 

We  must  also  be  struck  by  the  absence  of  another 
element,  which  is  a  cause  of  complexity  in  the  writ- 
ings of  many  prophets — the  polemic  against  idolatry. 
Zechariah  nowhere  mentions  the  idols.  We  have 
already  seen  what  proof  this  silence  bears  for  the  fact 
that  the    community  to  which  he  spoke  was  not  that 

'    iv.    6.     Unless    this    be    taken    as    an     earlier    prophecy.       See 
above,  p.  260. 

^  ii.  9,  10  Heb.,  5,  6  LXX.  and  Eng. 

VOL.  II.  273  18 


274  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

half-heathen  remnant  of  Israel  which  had  remained  in 
the  land,  but  was  composed  of  worshippers  of  Jehovah 
who  at  His  word  had  returned  from  Babylon.*  Here 
we  have  only  to  do  with  the  bearing  of  the  fact  upon 
Zechariah's  style.  That  bewildering  confusion  of  the 
heathen  pantheon  and  its  rites,  which  forms  so  much 
of  our  difficulty  in  interpreting  some  of  the  prophecies 
of  Ezekiel  and  the  closing  chapters  of  the  Book  of 
Isaiah,  is  not  to  blame  for  any  of  the  complexity  of 
Zechariah's  Visions. 

Nor  can  we  attribute  the  latter  to  the  fact  that  the 
Visions  are  dreams,  and  therefore  bound  to  be  more 
involved  and  obscure  than  the  words  of  Jehovah  which 
came  to  Zechariah  in  the  open  daylight  of  his  people's 
public  life.  In  chaps,  i.  7 — vi.  we  have  not  the  narra- 
tive of  actual  dreams,  but  a  series  of  conscious  and 
artistic  allegories — the  deliberate  translation  into  a 
carefully  constructed  symbolism  of  the  Divine  truths 
with  which  the  prophet  was  entrusted  by  his  God. 
Yet  this  only  increases  our  problem — why  a  man  with 
such  gifts  of  direct  speech,  and  such  clear  views  of 
his  people's  character  and  history,  should  choose  to 
express  the  latter  by  an  imagery  so  artificial  and 
involved?  In  his  orations  Zechariah  is  very  like  the 
prophets  whom  we  have  known  before  the  Exile, 
thoroughly  ethical  and  intent  upon  the  public  conscience 
of  his  time.  He  appreciates  what  they  were,  feels 
himself  standing  in  their  succession,  and  is  endowed 
both  with  their  spirit  and  their  style.  But  none  of 
them  constructs  the  elaborate  allegories  which  he  does, 
or  insists  upon  the  religious  symbolism  which  he  enforces 

'  See  above,  p.  214,  where  this  is  stated  as  an  argument  against 
Kosters'  theory  that  there  was  no  Return  from  Babylon  in  the  reign 
of  Cyrus. 


Zech.i.7-vi.l     THE    VISIONS   OF  ZECIIARIAH  275 

as  indispensable  to  the  standing  of  Israel  with  God. 
Not  only  are  their  visions  few  and  simple,  but  they 
look  down  upon  the  visionary  temper  as  a  rude  stage 
of  prophecy  and  inferior  to  their  own,  in  which  the 
Word  of  God  is  received  by  personal  communion  with 
Himself,  and  conveyed  to  His  people  by  straight  and 
plain  words.  Some  of  the  earlier  prophets  even  con- 
demn all  priesthood  and  ritual ;  none  of  them  regards 
these  as  indispensable  to  Israel's  right  relations  with 
Jehovah ;  and  none  employs  those  superhuman 
mediators  of  the  Divine  truth,  by  whom  Zechariah 
is  instructed  in  his  Visions, 

I.  The  Influences  which  Moulded  the  Visions. 

The  explanation  of  this  change  that  has  come  over 
prophecy  must  be  sought  for  in  certain  habits  which 
the  people  formed  in  exile.  During  the  Exile  several 
causes  conspired  to  develop  among  Hebrew  writers 
the  tempers  both  of  symbolism  and  apocalypse.  The 
chief  of  these  was  their  separation  from  the  realities  of 
civic  life,  with  the  opportunity  their  political  leisure 
afforded  them  of  brooding  and  dreaming.  Facts  and 
Divine  promises,  which  had  previously  to  be  dealt  with 
by  the  conscience  of  the  moment,  were  left  to  be  worked 
out  by  the  imagination.  The  exiles  were  not  respon- 
sible citizens  or  statesmen,  but  dreamers.  They  were 
inspired  by  mighty  hopes  for  the  future,  and  not 
fettered  by  the  practical  necessities  of  a  definite 
historical  situation  upon  which  these  hopes  had  to  be 
immediately  realised.  They  had  a  far-off  horizon  to 
build  upon,  and  they  occupied  the  whole  breadth  of  it. 
They  had  a  long  time  to  build,  and  they  elaborated  the 
minutest  details  of  their  architecture.  Consequently 
their   construction    of  the  future  of  Israel,   and  their 


276  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

description  of  the  processes  by  which  it  was  to  be 
reached,  became  colossal,  ornate  and  lavishly  symbolic. 
Nor  could  the  exiles  fail  to  receive  stimulus  for  all  this 
from  the  rich  imagery  of  Babylonian  art  by  which  they 
were  surrounded. 

Under  these  influences  there  were  three  strong 
developments  in  Israel.  One  was  that  development  of 
Apocalypse  the  first  beginnings  of  v/hich  we  traced  in 
Zephaniah — the  representation  of  God's  providence  of 
the  world  and  of  His  people,  not  by  the  ordinary 
political  and  military  processes  of  history,  but  by  awful 
convulsions  and  catastrophes,  both  in  nature  and  in 
politics,  in  which  God  Himself  appeared,  either  alone 
in  sudden  glory  or  by  the  mediation  of  heavenly 
armies.  The  second — and  it  was  but  a  part  of  the 
first — was  the  development  of  a  belief  in  Angels : 
superhuman  beings  who  had  not  only  a  part  to  play 
in  the  apocalyptic  wars  and  revolutions ;  but,  in  the 
growing  sense,  which  characterises  the  period,  of  God's 
distance  and  awfulness,  were  believed  to  act  as  His 
agents  in  the  communication  of  His  Word  to  men. 
And,  thirdly,  there  was  the  development  of  the  Ritual. 
To  some  minds  this  may  appear  the  strangest  of  all 
the  effects  of  the  Exile.  The  fall  of  the  Temple,  its 
hierarchy  and  sacrifices,  might  be  supposed  to  enforce 
more  spiritual  conceptions  of  God  and  of  His  communion 
with  His  people.  And  no  doubt  it  did.  The  impos- 
sibility of  the  legal  sacrifices  in  exile  opened  the  mind 
of  Israel  to  the  belief  that  God  was  satisfied  with  the 
sacrifices  of  the  broken  heart,  and  drew  near,  without 
mediation,  to  all  who  were  humble  and  pure  of  heart. 
But  no  one  in  Israel  therefore  understood  that  these 
sacrifices  were  for  ever  abolished.  Their  interruption 
was  regarded  as  merely  temporary  even  by  the  most 


Zee  .i.7-vi.]     THE   VISIONS  OF  ZECHARIAH  a;? 

spiritual  of  Jewish  writers.  The  Fifty-First  Psalm,  for 
instance,  which  declares  that  the  sacrifices  of  God  are 
a  broken  spirit;  a  broken  and  a  contrite  hearty  O  Lord, 
Thou  wilt  not  despise,  immediately  follows  this  declara- 
tion by  the  assurance  that  ivhen  God  builds  again  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem,  He  will  once  more  take  delight  in 
the  legal  sacrifices:  burnt  offering  and  whole  burnt 
offering,  the  oblation  of  bullocks  upon  Thine  altar}  For 
men  of  such  views  the  ruin  of  the  Temple  was  not  its 
abolition  with  the  whole  dispensation  which  it  repre- 
sented, but  rather  the  occasion  for  its  reconstruction 
upon  wider  lines  and  a  more  detailed  system,  for  the 
planning  of  which  the  nation's  exile  afforded  the  leisure 
and  the  carefulness  of  art  described  above.  The  ancient 
liturgy,  too,  was  insufficient  for  the  stronger  convic- 
tions of  guilt  and  need  of  purgation,  which  sore 
punishment  had  impressed  upon  the  people.  Then, 
scattered  among  the  heathen  as  they  were,  they  learned 
to  require  stricter  laws  and  more  drastic  ceremonies 
to  restore  and  preserve  their  holiness.  Their  ritual, 
therefore,  had  to  be  expanded  and  detailed  to  a  degree 
far  beyond  what  we  find  in  Israel's  earlier  systems  of 
worship.  With  the  fall  of  the  monarchy  and  the 
absence  of  civic  life  the  importance  of  the  priesthood 
was  proportionately  enhanced  ;  and  the  growing  sense 
of  God's  aloofness  from  the  world,  already  alluded  to, 
made  the  more  indispensable  human,  as  well  as  super- 
human, mediators  between  Himself  and  His  people. 
Consider  these  things,  and  it  will  be  clear  why  prophecy, 
which  with  Amos  had  begun  a  war  against  all  ritual, 
and  with  Jeremiah  had  achieved  a  religion  absolutely 
independent  of  priesthood  and  Temple,  should  reappear 

'  Vv.  17  and  19. 


THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 


after  the  Exile,  insistent  upon  the  building  of  the 
Temple,  enforcing  the  need  both  of  priesthood  and 
sacrifice,  and  while  it  proclaimed  the  Messianic  King 
and  the  High  Priest  as  the  great  feeders  of  the  national 
life  and  worship,  finding  no  place  beside  them  for  the 
Prophet  himself/ 

The  force  of  these  developments  of  Apocalypse, 
Angelology  and  the  Ritual  appears  both  in  Ezekiel 
and  in  the  exilic  codification  of  the  ritual  which  forms 
so  large  a  part  of  the  Pentateuch.  Ezekiel  carries 
Apocalypse  far  beyond  the  beginnings  started  by 
Zephaniah.  He  introduces,  though  not  under  the 
name  of  angels,  superhuman  mediators  between  himself 
and  God.  The  Priestly  Code  does  not  mention  angelSj, 
and  has  no  Apocalypse  ;  but  like  Ezekiel  it  develops, 
to  an  extraordinary  degree,  the  ritual  of  Israel.  Both 
its  author  and  Ezekiel  base  on  the  older  forms,  but 
build  as  men  who  are  not  confined  by  the  lines  of  an 
actually  existing  system.  The  changes  they  make, 
the  innovations  they  introduce,  are  too  numerous  to 
mention  here.  To  illustrate  their  influence  upon 
Zechariah,  it  is  enough  to  emphasise  the  large  place 
they  give  in  the  ritual  to  the  processes  of  propitiation 
and  cleansing  from  sin,  and  the  increased  authority 
with  which  they  invest  the  priesthood.  In  Ezekiel 
Israel  has  still  a  Prince,  though  he  is  not  called  King. 
He  arranges  the  cultus,^  and  sacrifices  are  offered  for 
him  and  the  people,^  but  the  pritsts  teach  and  judge 
the  people.*  In  the  Priestly  Code^  the  priesthood  is 
more  rigorously  fenced  than  by  Ezekiel  from  the  laity, 

'  See  Zechariah's  Fifth  Vision.         *  xlv.  22, 

*  xliv.  I  fif.  *  xliv.  23,  24. 

*  Its  origin  was  the  Exile,  whether   its   date   be  before  or  after 
the   First  Return  under  Cj'rus  in  537  B.C. 


Zech.  i.  7-vi.]     THE   VISIONS   OF  ZECHARIAH  279 

and  more  regularly  graded.  At  its  head  appears  a 
High  Priest  (as  he  does  not  in  Ezekiel),  and  by  his 
side  the  civil  rulers  are  portrayed  in  lesser  dignity  and 
power.  Sacrifices  are  made,  no  longer  as  with  Ezekiel 
for  Prince  and  People,  but  for  Aaron  and  the  Con- 
gregation ;  and  throughout  the  narrative  of  ancient 
history,  into  the  form  of  which  this  Code  projects  its 
legislation,  the  High  Priest  stands  above  the  captain  of 
the  host,  even  when  the  latter  is  Joshua  himself.  God's 
enemies  are  defeated  not  so  much  by  the  wisdom  and 
valour  of  the  secular  powers,  as  by  the  miracles  of 
Jehovah  Himself,  mediated  through  the  priesthood. 
Ezekiel  and  the  Priestly  Code  both  elaborate  the 
sacrifices  of  atonement  and  sanctification  beyond  all 
the  earlier  uses. 

2.  General  Features  of  the  Visions. 

It  was  beneath  these  influences  that  Zechariah  grew 
up,  and  to  them  we  may  trace,  not  only  numerous 
details  of  his  Visions,  but  the  whole  of  their  involved 
symbolism.  He  was  himself  a  priest  and  the  son  of 
a  priest,  born  and  bred  in  the  very  order  to  which  we 
owe  the  codification  of  the  ritual,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  those  ideas  of  guilt  and  uncleanness  that 
led  to  its  expansion  and  specialisation.  The  Visions 
in  which  he  deals  with  these  are  the  Third  to  the 
Seventh.  As  with  Haggai  there  is  a  High  Priest,  in 
advance  upon  Ezekiel  and  in  agreement  with  the  Priestly 
Code.  As  in  the  latter  the  High  Priest  represents  the 
people,  and  carries  their  guilt  before  God.*  He  and 
his  colleagues  are  pledges  and  portents  of  the  coming 
Messiah.     But  the  civil  power  is  not  yet  diminished 


'  Fourth  Vision,  chap.  iii. 


e8o  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

before  the  sacerdotal,  as  in  the  Priestly  Code.  We 
shall  find  indeed  that  a  remarkable  attempt  has  been 
made  to  alter  the  original  text  of  a  prophecy  appended 
to  the  Visions/  in  order  to  divert  to  the  High  Priest 
the  coronation  and  Messianic  rank  there  described. 
But  any  one  who  reads  the  passage  carefully  can  see 
for  himself  that  the  crown  (a  single  crown,  as  the 
verb  which  it  governs  proves')  which  Zechariah  was 
ordered  to  make  was  designed  for  Another  than  the 
priest,  that  the  priest  was  but  to  stand  at  this  Other's 
right  hand,  and  that  there  was  to  be  concord  between 
the  two  of  them.  This  Other  can  only  have  been  the 
Messianic  King,  Zerubbabel,  as  was  already  proclaimed 
by  Haggai.'  The  altered  text  is  due  to  a  later  period, 
when  the  High  Priest  became  the  civil  as  well  as  the 
religious  head  of  the  community.  To  Zechariah  he 
was  still  only  the  right  hand  of  the  monarch  in  govern- 
ment ;  but,  as  we  have  seen,  the  religious  life  of  the 
people  was  already  gathered  up  and  concentrated  in 
him.  It  is  the  priests,  too,  who  by  their  perpetual 
service  and  holy  life  bring  on  the  Messianic  era.^ 
Men  come  to  the  Temple  to  propitiate  Jehovah,  for 
which  Zechariah  uses  the  anthropomorphic  expression 
to  make  smooth  or  placid  His  face.^  No  more  than  this 
is  made  of  the  sacriticial  system,  which  was  not  in  full 
course  when  the  Visions  were  announced.  But  the 
symbolism  of  the  Fourth  Vision  is  drawn  from  the 
furniture  of  the  Temple.  It  is  interesting  that  the  great 
candelabrum  seen  by  the  prophet  should  be  like,  not 


'  vi.  9-15.  •  ii.  20-23. 

*  See  ver.  Ii.  *  iii.  8. 

*  nilT'  *3Q"DX  n^n.  The  verb  (Piel)  originally  means  to  make 
weak  or  flaccid  (the  Kal  means  to  be  sick),  and  so  to  soften  or 
weaken  by  flattery,     i  Sam.  xiii.   12  ;  i   Kings  xiii.  6,  etc. 


Zech.i.7-vi.]     THE    VISIONS   OF  ZECHARIAH  281 

the  ten  lights  of  the  old  Temple  of  Solomon,  but  the 
seven-branched  candlestick  described  in  the  Priestly 
Code.  In  the  Sixth  and  Seventh  Visions,  the  strong 
convictions  of  guilt  and  uncleanness,  which  were  en- 
gendered in  Israel  by  the  Exile,  are  not  removed  by  the 
sacrificial  means  enforced  in  the  Priestly  Code,  but  by 
symbolic  processes  in  the  style  of  the  visions  of  Ezekiel. 
The  Visions  in  which  Zechariah  treats  of  the  outer 
history  of  the  world  are  the  first  two  and  the  last,  and 
in  these  we  notice  the  influence  of  the  Apocalypse 
developed  during  the  Exile,  In  Zechariah's  day  Israel 
had  no  stage  for  their  history  save  the  site  of  Jerusalem 
and  its  immediate  neighbourhood.  So  long  as  he  keeps 
to  this  Zechariah  is  as  practical  and  matter-of-fact  as 
any  of  the  prophets,  but  when  he  has  to  go  beyond  it 
to  describe  the  general  overthrow  of  the  heathen,  he  is 
unable  to  project  that,  as  Amos  or  Isaiah  did,  in  terms 
of  historic  battle,  and  has  to  call  in  the  apocalyptic.  A 
people  such  as  that  poor  colony  of  exiles,  with  no  issue 
upon  history,  is  forced  to  take  refuge  in  Apocalypse, 
and  carries  with  it  even  those  of  its  prophets  whose 
conscience,  like  Zechariah's,  is  most  strongly  bent  upon 
the  practical  present.  Consequently  these  three  his- 
torical Visions  are  the  most  vague  of  the  eight.  They 
reveal  the  whole  earth  under  the  care  of  Jehovah  and 
the  patrol  of  His  angels.  They  definitely  predict  the 
overthrow  of  the  heathen  empires.  But,  unlike  Amos 
or  Isaiah,  the  prophet  does  not  see  by  what  political 
movements  this  is  to  be  effected.  The  world  is  still 
quiet  and  at  peace}  The  time  is  hidden  in  the  Divine 
counsels  ;  the  means,  though  clearly  symbolised  in  four 
smiths  who  come   forward  to  smite  the  horns   of  the 

'  First  Vision,  chap.  i.  11. 


282  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

heathen,^  and  in  a  chariot  which  carries  God's  wrath 
to  the  North,^  are  obscure.  The  prophet  appears  to 
have  intended,  not  any  definite  individuals  or  political 
movements  of  the  immediate  future,  but  God's  own 
supernatural  forces.  In  other  words,  the  Smiths  an^l 
Chariots  are  not  an  allegory  of  history,  but  powers 
apocalyptic.  The  forms  of  the  symbols  were  derived 
by  Zechariah  from  different  sources.  Perhaps  that  of 
the  smiths  who  destroy  the  horns  in  the  Second  Vision 
was  suggested  by  the  smiths  of  destruction  threatened 
upon  Ammon  by  Ezekiel.'  In  the  horsemen  of  the 
First  Vision  and  the  chariots  of  the  Eighth,  Ewald 
sees  a  reflection  of  the  couriers  and  posts  which  Darius 
organised  throughout  the  empire ;  they  are  more  pro- 
bably, as  we  shall  see,  a  reflection  of  the  military 
bands  and  patrols  of  the  Persians.  But  from  whatever 
quarter  Zechariah  derived  the  exact  aspect  of  these 
Divine  messengers,  he  found  many  precedents  for  them 
in  the  native  beliefs  of  Israel.  They  are,  in  short, 
angels,  incarnate  as  Hebrew  angels  always  were,  and 
in  fashion  like  men.  But  this  brings  up  the  whole 
subject  of  the  angels,  whom  he  also  sees  employed 
as  the  mediators  of  God's  Word  to  him ;  and  that 
is  large  enough  to  be  left  to  a  chapter  by  itself* 

We  have  now  before  us  all  the  influences  which  led 
Zechariah  to  the  main  form  and  chief  features  of  his 
Visions. 

3.  Exposition  of  the  Several  Visions. 

For  all  the  Visions  there  is  one  date,  in  the  twenty-fourth 
day  of  the  eleventh  month,  the  month  Shebat,  in  the  second 

'  Second  Vision,  ii.  1-4  Heb.,  i.  18-21  LXX.  and  Eng. 

'  Eighth  Vision,  chap.  vi.  1-8. 

'  xxi.  36  Heb.,  31  Eng. :  skil/ul  to  destroy,         *  See  next  chapter. 


Zech.i.7-vi.]     THE   VISIONS  OF  ZECHARIAH  283 

year  of  Darius^  that  is  January  or  February  519;  and 
one  Divine  impulse,  the  Word  of  Jehovah  came  to  the 
prophet  Zekharyah,  son  of  Berekhyahu,  son  of  Iddo,  as 
follows. 

The  First  Vision  :  The  Angel-Horsemen  (i.  7-17). 

The  seventy  years  which  Jeremiah  had  fixed  for  the 
duration  of  the  Babylonian  servitude  were  drawing 
to  a  close.  Four  months  had  elapsed  since  Haggai 
promised  that  in  a  little  while  God  would  shake  all 
nations.*  But  the  world  was  not  shaken  :  there  was 
no  political  movement  which  promised  to  restore  her 
glory  to  Jerusalem.  A  very  natural  disappointment 
must  have  been  the  result  among  the  Jews.  In  this 
situation  of  affairs  the  Word  came  to  Zechariah,  and 
both  situation  and  Word  he  expressed  by  his  First 
Vision. 

It  was  one  of  the  myrtle-covered  glens  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Jerusalem :  *  Zechariah  calls  it  the  Glen 
or  Valley- Bottom,  either  because  it  was  known  under 
that  name  to  the  Jews,  or  because  he  was  himself  WQnt 
to  frequent  it  for  prayer.  He  discovers  in  it  what 
seems  to  be  a  rendezvous  of  Persian  cavalry-scouts,^ 
the  leader  of  the  troop  in  front,  and  the  rest  behind 
him,  having  just  come  in  with  their  reports.  Soon, 
however,  he  is  made  aware  that  they  are  angels,  and 
with   that   quick,  dissolving  change   both  of  function 


'  Jer.  XXV.  12;  Hag.  ii.  7. 

*  Myrtles  were  once  common  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  have  been 
recently  found  (Hasselquist,  Travels).  For  their  prevalence  near 
Jerusalem  see  Neh.  viii.  15.  They  do  not  appear  to  have  any 
symbolic  value  in  the  Vision. 

'  For  a  less  probable  explanation  see  above,  p.  282. 


284  THE    riVELVE  PROPHETS 

and  figure,  which  marks  all  angelic  apparitions/  the) 
explain  to  him  their  mission.  Now  it  is  an  angel- 
interpreter  at  his  side  who  speaks,  and  now  the  angel 
on  the  front  horse.  They  are  scouts  of  God  come  in 
from  their  survey  of  the  whole  earth.  The  world  lies 
quiet.  Whereupon  the  angel  of  Jehovah  asks  Him  hov» 
long  His  anger  must  rest  on  Jerusalem  and  nothing 
be  done  to  restore  her ;  and  the  prophet  hears  a  kino 
and  comforting  answer.  The  nations  have  done  more 
evil  to  Israel  than  God  empowered  them  to  do.  Their 
aggravations  have  changed  His  wrath  against  her  to 
pity,  and  in  pity  He  is  come  back  to  her.  She  shall 
soon  be  rebuilt  and  overflow  with  prosperity. 

The  only  perplexity  in  all  this  is  the  angels'  report 
that  the  whole  earth  lies  quiet.  How  this  could  have 
been  in  519  is  difficult  to  understand.  The  great 
revolts  against  Darius  were  then  in  active  progress,  the 
result  was  uncertain  and  he  took  at  least  three  more 
years  to  put  them  all  down.  They  were  confined,  it 
is  true,  to  the  east  and  north-east  of  the  empire,  but 
some  of  them  threatened  Babylon,  and  we  can  hardly 
ascribe  the  report  of  the  angels  to  such  a  limitation  of 
the  Jews'  horizon  at  this  time  as  shut  out  Mesopotamia 
or  the  lands  to  the  north  of  her.  There  remain  two 
alternatives.  Either  these  far-away  revolts  made  only 
more  impressive  the  stagnancy  of  the  tribes  of  the  rest 
of  the  empire,  and  the  helplessness  of  the  Jews  and 
their  Syrian  neighbours  was  convincingly  shown  by 
their  inability  to  take  advantage  even  of  the  desperate 
straits  to  which  Darius  was  reduced ;  or  else  in  that 
month  of  vision  Darius  had  quelled  one  of  the  rebellions 
against  him,  and  for  the  moment  there  was  quiet  in 
the  world. 

'  See  pp.  311,  313,  etc. 


Zech.i.7-vi.]     THE    VISIONS  OF  ZECHARIAH  285 

By  night  I  had  a  vision,  and  behold !  a  man  riding  a 
brown  horse^  and  he  was  standing  between  the  myrtles 
that  are  in  the  Glen;^  and  behind  him  horses  brown, 
bay '  and  white.  And  I  said,  What  are  these,  my  lord  ? 
And  the  angel  who  talked  with  me  said,  I  will  show  you 
what  these  are.  And  the  man  who  was  standing  among 
the  myrtles  answered  and  said,  These  are  they  whom 
Jehovah  hath  sent  to  go  to  and  fro  through  the  earth. 
And  they  answered  the  angel  of  Jehovah  who  stood 
among  the  myrtles,*'  and  said.  We  have  gone  up  and 
down  through  the  earth,  and  lo  !  the  whole  earth  is  still 
and  at  peace. ^  And  the  angel  of  Jehovah  answered  and 
said,  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  how  long  hast  Thou  no  pity  for 
Jerusalem  and  the  cities  of  Judah,  with  which  ^  Thou  hast 
been  wroth  these  seventy  years?  And  Jehovah  answered 
the  angel  who  talked  with  me,''  kind  words  and  comforting. 
And  the  angel  who  talked  with  me  said  to  me,  Proclaim 
now  as  follows :  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  I  am 
zealous  for  Jerusalem  and  for  Zion,  with  a  great  zeal; 
but  with  great  wrath  am  I  wroth  against  the  arrogant 
Gentiles.     For  I  was  but  a  little  angry  with  Israel,  but 


'  Ewald  omits  riding  a  brown  horse,  as  "  marring  the  lucidity  of  the 
description,  and  added  from  a  misconception  by  an  early  hand."  But 
we  must  not  expect  lucidity  in  a  phantasmagoria  like  this. 

•  n?VP,  MesuUah,  either  shadow  from  77^,  or  for  n>1^Pj  ravine, 
or  else  a  proper  name.  The  LXX,  which  uniformly  for  D^DHn^ 
myrtles,  reads  D"*")!!,  njountairis,  renders  HT'VDS  ■^t^'N  by  ruv  Karaffduv 
Ewald  and  Hitzig  read  ri?yPj  Arab,  mizhallah,  shadowing  or  tent. 

•  Heb.  DpItJ',  only  here.  For  this  LXX.  gives  two  kinds,  koI  yj/apol 
Kal  toikIXoi,  and  dappled  and  piebald.  Wright  gives  a  full  treatment 
of  the  question,  pp.  531  ff.  He  points  out  that  the  cognate  word  in 
Arabic  means  sorrel,  or  yellowish  red. 

•  Who  stood  among  the  myrtles  omitted  by  Nowack, 

•  Isa.  xxxvii.  29 ;  Jer.  xlviii.  1 1  ;  Psalm  cxxiii.  4 ;  Zeph.  L  19. 

•  Or  for. 

Who  talked  with  me  omitted  by  Nowack. 


286  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 


they  aggravated  the  evil}  Therefore  thus  saith  Jehovah, 
I  am  returned  to  Jerusalem  with  mercies.  My  house 
shall  be  built  in  her — oracle  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts — and  the 
measuring  line  shall  be  drawn  over  Jerusalem.  Proclaim 
yet  again,  saying:  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  My 
cities  shall  yet  overflow  with  prosperity,  and  Jehovah  shall 
again  comfort  Zion,  and  again  make  choice  of  Jerusalem. 
Two  things  are  to  be  noted  in  this  oracle.  No 
political  movement  is  indicated  as  the  means  of  Jeru- 
salem's restoration  :  this  is  to  be  the  effect  of  God's  free 
grace  in  returning  to  dwell  in  Jerusalem,  which  is  the 
reward  of  the  building  of  the  Temple.  And  there  is 
an  interesting  explanation  of  the  motive  for  God's  new 
grace :  in  executing  His  sentence  upon  Israel,  the 
heathen  had  far  exceeded  their  commission,  and  now 
themselves  deserved  punishment.  That  is  to  say,  the 
restoration  of  Jerusalem  and  the  resumption  of  the 
worship  are  not  enough  for  the  future  of  Israel.  The 
heathen  must  be  chastised.  But  Zechaiiah  does  not 
predict  any  overthrow  of  the  world's  power,  either  by 
earthly  or  by  heavenly  forces.  This  is  entirely  in 
harmony  with  the  insistence  upon  peace  which  dis- 
tinguishes him  from  other  prophets. 

The  Second  Vision  :  The  Four  Horns  and  the 
Four  Smiths  (ii.  1-4  Heb.,  i.  18-21  Eng.). 

The  Second  Vision  supplies  what  is  lacking  in  the 
First,  the  destruction  of  the  tyrants  who  have  oppressed 
Israel.  The  prophet  sees  four  horns,  which,  he  is  told 
by  his  interpreting  angel,  are  the  powers  that  have 
scattered  Judah.  The  many  attempts  to  identify  these 
with    four    heathen    nations  ai-e    ingenious    but    futile. 

'  Heb.  helped  for  evil,  or  till  it  became  a  calamity. 


Zech.  i.  7-vi.]     THE   VISIONS   OF  ZECHARIAH  287 

"Four  horns  were  seen  as  representing  the  totahty  of 
Israel's  enemies — her  enemies  from  all  quarters."  ^  And 
to  destroy  these  horns  four  smiths  appear.  Because  in 
the  Vision  the  horns  are  of  iron,  in  Israel  an  old  symbol 
of  power,  the  first  verb  used  of  the  action  can  hardly 
be,  as  in  the  Hebrew  text,  to  terrify.  The  Greek  reads 
sharpen,  and  probably  some  verb  meaning  to  cut  or 
chisel  stood  in  the  original.* 

And  I  lifted  mine  eyes  and  looked,  and  lo  !  four 
horns.  And  I  said  to  the  angel  who  spoke  with  me, 
What  are  these  ?  And  he  said  to  me,  These  are  the 
horns  which  have  scattered  Judah,  Israel  and  Jerusalem} 
And  Jehovah  shoived  me  four  smiths.  And  I  said,  What 
are  these  coming  to  do  ?  And  He  spake,  saying.  These 
are  the  horns  which  scattered  Judah,  so  that  none  lifted  up 
his  head;  *  and  these  are  come  to  .  .  .^  them,  to  strike  down 
the  horns  of  the  nations,  that  lifted  the  horn  against  the 
land  of  Judah  to  scatter  it. 

The  Third  Vision  :  The  City  of  Peace 
(ii.   5-9  Heb.,  ii.   1-5   Eng.). 

Like  the  Second  Vision,  the  Third  follows  from  the 
First,  another,  but  a  still  more  significant,  supplement. 

'  Marcus  Dods,  Hag.,  Zech.  and  Mai.,  p.  71.  Orelli :  "  In  distinction 
from  Daniel,  Zechariah  is  fond  ot  a  simultaneous  survey,  not  the 
presenting  of  a  succession." 

'  For  the  symbolism  of  iron  horns  see  Micah  iv.  13,  and  compare 
Orelli's  note,  in  which  it  is  pointed  out  that  the  destroyers  must  be 
smiths  as  in  Isa.  xliv.  12,  uioikmen  of  iron,  and  not  as  in  LXX. 
carpenters. 

^  Wellhausen  and  Nowack  delete  Israel  avd  Jerusalem;  the  latter 
does  not  occur  in  Codd.  A,  Q,  of  Septuagint. 

*  Wellhausen  reads,  after  Mai.  ii.  9,  ^"'X  ""SD,  so  that  it  lifted  not 
its  head;  but  in  that  case  we  should  not  find  ICi^l,  but  ni?'Kn. 

*  Tiinn,  but  LXX.  rend  ^*^^^,  and  either  that  or  some  verb  of 
cutting  must  be  read. 


238  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

The  First  had  promised  the  rebuilding  of  Jerusalem, 
and  now  the  prophet  beholds  a  young  man — by  this 
term  he  probably  means  a  servant  or  apprentice — who 
is  attempting  to  define  the  limits  of  the  new  city. 
In  the  light  of  what  this  attempt  encounters,  there  can 
be  little  doubt  that  the  prophet  means  to  symbolise  by 
it  the  intention  of  building  the  walls  upon  the  old  lines, 
so  as  to  make  Jerusalem  again  the  mountain  fortress 
she  had  previously  been.  Some  have  considered  that 
the  young  man  goes  forth  only  to  see,  or  to  show, 
the  extent  of  the  city  in  the  approaching  future.  But 
if  this  had  been  his  motive,  there  would  have  been  no 
reason  in  interrupting  him  with  other  orders.  The 
point  is,  that  he  has  narrow  ideas  of  what  the  city 
should  be,  and  is  prepared  to  define  it  upon  its  old 
fines  of  a  fortress.  For  the  interpreting  angel  who 
comes  forward^  is  told  by  another  angel  to  run  and 
tell  the  young  man  that  in  the  future  Jerusalem  shall  be 
a  large  unwalled  town,  and  this,  not  only  because  of 
the  multitude  of  its  population,  for  even  then  it  might 
still  have  been  fortified  like  Niniveh,  but  because 
Jehovah  Himself  shall  be  its  wall.  The  young  man 
is  prevented,  not  merely  from  making  it  small,  but 
from  making  it  a  citadel.  And  this  is  in  conformity 
with  all  the  singular  absence  of  war  from  Zechariah's 
Visions,  both  of  the  future  deliverance  of  Jehovah's 
people  and  of  their  future  duties  before  Him.  It  is 
indeed  remarkable  how  Zechariah  not  only  develops 
none  of  the  warlike  elements  of  earlier  Messianic  pro- 
phecies, but  tells  us  here  of  how  God  Him  sell  actually 
prevented  their  repetition,  and  insists  again  and  again 

'  The  Hebrew,  literally  comes  forth,  is  the  technical  term  through- 
out the  Visions  for  the  entrance  of  the  figures  upon  the  stage  o£ 
vision. 


Zech.  i.  7-vi.]      THE   VISIONS   OF  ZECHARIAH  2S9 

only  on  those  elements  of  ancient  prediction  which  had 
filled  the  future  of  Israel  with  peace. 

Arid  I  lifted  mine  eyes  and  looked,  and  la!  a  man 
with  a  measuring  rope  in  his  hand.  So  I  said,  Whither 
art  thou  going  ?  And  he  said  to  me,  To  measure  Jeru- 
salem :  to  see  how  much  its  breadth  and  how  much  its 
length  should  be.  And  lo  !  the  angel  who  talked  with 
me  came  forward,^  and  another  angel  came  forward  to 
meet  him.  And  he  said  to  him.  Run  and  speak  to  yonder 
voung  man  thus :  Like  a  number  of  open  villages  shall 
Jerusalem  remain,  because  of  the  multitude  of  men  and 
cattle  in  the  midst  of  her.  And  I  Myself  will  be  to  her — 
oracle  of  Jehovah — a  wall  of  fire  round  about,  and  for 
glory  will  I  be  in  her  midst. 

In  this  Vision  Zechariah  gives  us,  with  his  pro- 
phecy, a  lesson  in  the  interpretation  of  prophecy.  His 
contemporaries  believed  God's  promise  to  rebuild  Jeru- 
salem, but  they  defined  its  limits  by  the  conditions  of 
an  older  and  a  narrower  day.  They  brought  forth  their 
measuring  rods,  to  measure  the  future  by  the  sacred 
attainments  of  the  past.  Such  literal  fulfilment  of  His 
Word  God  prevented  by  that  ministry  of  angels  which 
Zechariah  beheld.  He  would  not  be  bound  by  those 
forms  which  His  Word  had  assumed  in  suitableness  to 
the  needs  of  ruder  generations.  The  ideal  of  many  of 
the  returned  exiles  must  have  been  that  frowning  citadel, 
those  gates  of  everlastingness,^  which  some  of  them  cele- 
brated in  Psalms,  and  from  which  the  hosts  of  Senna- 
cherib had  been  broken  and  swept  back  as  the  angry 
sea  is  swept  from  the  fixed  line  of  Canaan's  coast.^ 
What   had    been   enough   for  David  and   Isaiah    was 

•  LXX.  lo-njKet,  stood  up  :  adopted  by  Nowack. 

•  Psalm  xxiv.  •  Isa.  xvii.  I2'I4. 
VOL.  II.  19 


290  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

enough  for  them,  especially  as  so  many  prophets  of  the 
Lord  had  foretold  a  Messianic  Jerusalem  that  should 
be  a  counterpart  of  the  historical.  But  God  breaks  the 
letter  of  His  Word  to  give  its  spirit  a  more  glorious 
fulfilment.  Jerusalem  shall  not  be  builded  as  a  city  that 
is  compact  together,^  but  open  and  spread  abroad  village- 
wise  upon  her  high  mountains,  and  God  Himself  her 
only  wall. 

The  interest  of  this  Vision  is  therefore  not  only 
historical.  For  ourselves  it  has  an  abiding  doctrinal 
value.  It  is  a  lesson  in  the  method  of  applying 
prophecy  to  the  future.  How  much  it  is  needed  we 
must  feel  as  we  remember  the  readiness  of  men  among 
ourselves  to  construct  the  Church  of  God  upon  the 
lines  His  own  hand  drew  for  our  fathers,  and  to  raise 
again  the  bulwarks  behind  which  they  sufficiently 
sheltered  His  shrine.  Whether  these  ancient  and 
sacred  defences  be  dogmas  or  institutions,  we  have  no 
right,  God  tells  us,  to  cramp  behind  them  His  powers 
for  the  future.  And  the  great  men  whom  He  raises 
to  remind  us  of  this,  and  to  prevent  by  their  ministry 
the  timid  measurements  of  the  zealous  but  servile 
spirits  who  would  confine  everything  to  the  exact  letter 
of  ancient  Scripture — are  they  any  less  His  angels  to 
us  than  those  ministering  spirits  whom  Zechariah 
beheld  preventing  the  narrow  measures  of  the  poor 
apprentice  of  his  dream  ? 

To  the  Third  Vision  there  has  been  appended  the 
only  lyrical  piece  which  breaks  the  prose  narrative  of 
the  Visions.  We  have  already  seen  that  it  is  a  piece 
of  earlier  date.  Israel  is  addressed  as  still  scattered  to 
the  four  winds  of  heaven,  and  still  inhabiting  Babylon. 

'  Psalm  cxxii.  3. 


Zech.i.7-vi.]      THE   VISIONS   OF  ZECHARIAH  291 

While  in  Zechariah's  own  oracles  and  visions  Jehovah 
has  returned  to  Jerusalem,  His  return  according  to  this 
piece  is  still  future.  There  is  nothing  about  the 
Temple :  God's  holy  dwelling  from  which  He  has 
roused  Himself  is  Heaven.  The  piece  was  probably 
inserted  by  Zechariah  himself :  its  lines  are  broken 
by  what  seems  to  be  a  piece  of  prose,  in  v^.'hich  the 
prophet  asserts  his  mission,  in  words  he  twice  uses 
elsewhere.     But  this  is  uncertain. 

//o,    ho !      Flee   from    the    Land    of   the    North 

{oracle  of  Jehovali)  ; 
For  as  the  four  winds  have  I  spread  you  abroad^ 

{oracle  of  Jehovah^. 
Ho  !  to  Zion  escape,  thou  inhabitres-^  of  Babel? 
For  thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts  ^  to  the  nations  that 
plunder  you  {for  he  that  toucheth  you  toucheth  the  apple 
of  His  eye\  that,  lo  !  I  am  about  to  wave  My  hand  over 
them,  and  they  shall  be  plunder  to  their  own  servants,  and 
ye  shall  know  that  Jehovah  of  Hosts  hath  sent  me. 
Sing  out  and  rejoice,  O  daughter  of  Zion  ; 
For,  lo  !  I  come,  and  will  dwell  in  thy  midst  {oracle 

of  Jehovah). 
And  many  nations  shall  join  themselves  to  Jehovah 

in  that  day, 
And  shall  be  to  Him  *  a  people. 

'  Some  codd.  read  with  the  four  winds.  UK^,  from  the  four  winds 
will  I  gather  you  (<rwd^w  u/xas),  and  this  is  adopted  by  Wellhauscn 
and  Nowack.  But  it  is  probably  a  later  change  intended  to  adapt  the 
poem  to  its  new  context. 

*  Dweller  of  the  daughter  of  Babel.  But  713,  daughter,  is  mere 
dittography  of  the  termination  of  the  preceding  word. 

'  A  curious  phrase  here  occurs  in  the  Heb.  and  versions,  After 
glory  hath  He  sent  me,  which  we  are  probably  right  in  omitting. 
In  any  case  it  is  a  parenthesis,  and  ought  to  go  not  with  sent  me  but 
with  iaith  Jehovah  of  Hosts.  *  So  LXX.     Heb.  to  me. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


And  I  will  divell  in  thy  midst 

{And  thou  shall  know  that  Jehovah  of  Hosts  hath 

sent  me  to  thee). 
And  Jehovah  will  make  Judah  His  heritage^ 
His  portion  shall  be  upon  holy  soil, 
And  make  choice  once  more  of  Jerusalem. 
Silence,  all  flesh,  before  Jehovah  ;  ^ 
For  He  hath  roused  Himself  up  from   His  holy 

dwelling. 

The  Fourth  Vision  :  The  High  Priest  and  the 
Satan  (Chap.  iii.). 

The  next  Visions  deal  with  the  moral  condition  of 
Israel  and  their  standing  before  God.  The  Fourth  is 
a  judgment  scene.  The  Angel  of  Jehovah,  who  is  not 
to  be  distinguished  from  Jehovah  Himself,^  stands  for 
judgment,  and  there  appear  before  him  Joshua  the 
High  Priest  and  the  Satan  or  Adversary  who  has 
come  to  accuse  him.  Now  those  who  are  accused  by 
the  Satan — see  next  chapter  of  this  volume  upon  the 
Angels  of  the  Visions — are,  according  to  Jewish  belief, 
those  who  have  been  overtaken  by  misfortune.  The 
people  who  are  standing  at  God's  bar  in  the  person 
of  their  High  Priest  still  suffer  from  the  adversity 
in  which  Haggai  found  them,  and  the  continuance  of 
which  so  disheartened  them  after  the  Temple  had 
begun.  The  evil  seasons  and  poor  harvests  tormented 
their  hearts  with  the  thought  that  the  Satan  still 
slandered  them  in   the  court  of  God.     But  Zechariah 

•  Cf.  Zeph.  i.  7  ;  Hab.  ii.  20.  "  Among  the  Arabians,  after  the 
slaughter  of  the  sacrificial  victim,  the  participants  stood  for  some 
time  in  silence  about  the  altar.  That  was  the  moment  in  which  the 
Deity  approached  in  order  to  take  His  share  in  the  sacrifice " 
(Smend,  A.   T.  Rel.   Gesch.,  p.   124).  *  Cf.  vv.  I  and  2. 


Zech.  i.  7-vi.]      THE   VISIONS  OF  ZECHARIAH  20^ 


comforts  them  with  the  vision  of  the  Satan  rebuked. 
Israel  has  indeed  been  sorely  beset  by  calamity,  a 
brand  much  burned,  but  now  of  God's  grace  plucked 
from  the  fire.  The  Satan's  role  is  closed,  and  he 
disappears  from  the  Vision.*  Yet  something  remains  : 
Israel  is  rescued,  but  not  sanctified.  The  nation's 
troubles  are  over  :  their  uncleanness  has  still  to  be 
removed.  Zechariah  sees  that  the  High  Priest  is 
clothed  in  filthy  garments,  while  he  stands  before  the 
Angel  of  Judgment.  The  Angel  orders  his  servants, 
those  that  stand  before  him^  to  give  him  clean  festal 
robes.  And  the  prophet,  breaking  out  in  sympathy 
with  what  he  sees,  for  the  first  time  takes  part  in  the 
Visions.  Then  1  said,  Let  them  also  put  a  clean  turban 
on  his  head — the  turban  being  the  headdress,  in  Ezekiel 
of  the  Prince  of  Israel,  and  in  the  Priestly  Code  of  the 
High  Priest.'  This  is  done,  and  the  national  effect 
of  his  cleansing  is  explained  to  the  High  Priest. 
If  he  remains  loyal  to  the  law  of  Jehovah,  he,  the 
representative  of  Israel,  shall  have  right  of  entry  to 
Jehovah's  presence  among  the  angels  who  stand  there. 
But  more,  he  and  his  colleagues  the  priests  are  a 
portent  of  the  coming  of  the  Messiah — the  Servant  of 
fehovah,  the  Branch,  as  he  has  been  called  by  many 
prophets.*     A  stone  has  already  been  set  before  Joshua, 

'  See  below,  p.  318. 

*  In  this  Vision  the  verb  to  stand  before  is  used  in  two  technical 
senses  :  (a)  of  the  appearance  of  plaintiff  and  defendant  before  their 
judge  (w.  1  and  3) ;  {b)  of  servants  before  their  masters  (vv.  4  and  7). 

*  See  below,  p.  294,  n.  7. 

*  Isa.  iv.  2,  xi.  l;  Jer.  xxiii.  5,  xxxiii.  15;  Isa.  liii.  2.  Stade 
(Geseh.des  Volkcs  Isr.,  II.  125),  followed  by  Marti  {Der  Proph.  Sack., 
85  n.),  suspects  the  clause  /  will  bring  in  My  Servant  the  Branch  as  a 
later  interpolation,  entangling  the  construction  and  finding  in  this 
section  no  further  justification. 


f94  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

with  seven  eyes  upon  it.  God  will  engrave  it  with 
inscriptions,  and  on  the  same  day  take  away  the  guilt 
of  the  land.  Then  shall  be  the  peace  upon  which 
Zechariah  loves  to  dwell. 

And  he  showed  me  Joshua,  the  high  priest,  standing 
before  the  Angel  of  Jehovah,  and  the  Satan  ^  standing 
at  his  right  hand  to  accuse  him}  And  Jehovah '  said 
to  the  Satan :  Jehovah  rebuke  thee,  O  Satan  !  Jehovah 
who  makes  choice  of  Jerusalem  rebuke  thee !  Is  not 
this  a  brand  saved  from  the  fire  ?  But  Joshua  was 
clothed  in  foul  garments  while  he  stood  before  the  Angel. 
And  he — the  Angel — answered  and  said  to  those  who 
stood  in  his  presence.  Take  the  foul  garments  from  off  him 
{and  he  said  to  him,  See,  I  have  made  thy  guilt  to  pass 
away  from  thee),*  and  clothe  him  ^  in  fresh  clothing. 
And  I  said,^  Let  them  put  a  clean  turban ''  on  his  head. 

'  Or  Adversary)  see  p.  317. 
'  To  Satan  him  :  slander,  or  accuse,  ht'ytt. 

'  That  is  iiie  Angel  0/  Jehovah,  which  Wellhausen  and  Novvack 
read  ;  but  see  below,  p.  314. 

*  This  clause  interrupts  the  Angel's  speech  to  the  servants. 
Wellh.  and  Nowack  omit  it.     "lUyPI  J   cf.  2  Sam.  xii.  13;  Job  vii.  21. 

*  So  LXX.  Heb.  has  a  degraded  grammatical  form,  clothe  thyself 
which  has  obviously  been  made  to  suit  the  intrusion  of  the  previous 
clause,  and  is  therefore  an  argument  against  the  authenticity  of  the 
latter. 

*  LXX.  omits  /  said  and  reads  Let  them  put  as  another  imperative, 
Do  ye  put,  following  on  the  two  of  the  previous  verse.  Wellhausen 
adopts  this  (reading  1D"'K'  for  ItTfCJ'^).  Though  it  is  difficult  to  see 
bow  "1DN1  dropped  out  of  the  text  if  once  there,  it  is  equally  so  to 
understand  why  if  not  original  it  was  inserted.  The  whole  passage 
has  been  tampered  with.  If  we  accept  the  Massoretic  text,  then  we 
have  a  sympathetic  interference  in  the  vision  of  the  dreamer  himself 
which  is  very  natural;  and  he  speaks,  as  is  proper,  not  in  the  direct, 
but  indirect,  imperative.  Let  them  put. 

'  ^yi  the  headdress  of  rich  women  (Isa.  iii.  23),  as  of  eminent 
men  (Job  xxix.  14),  means  something  wound  round  and  round  the 
bead  (cf.  the  use  of  f]3V   to  form    like  a  ball  in    Isa.    xxii.   18,  and 


Zech.  i.  7-vi.]      THE   VISIONS  OF  ZECHARIAH  2% 

And  they  put  the  clean  turban  upon  his  head,  and  clothed, 
him  with  garments^  the  Angel  of  Jehovah  standing  up 
the  while.'  And  the  Angel  of  Jehovah  certified  unto 
Joshua,  saying:  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  If  in  My 
ways  thou  ivalkest,  and  if  My  charges  thou  keepest  in 
charge,  then  thou  also  shalt  judge  My  house,  and  have 
charge  of  My  courts,  and  I  will  give  thee  entry  *  atnong 
these  who  stand  in  My  presence.  Hearken  now,  O 
Joshua,  high  priest,  thou  and  thy  fellows  who  sit  before 
thee  are  men  of  omen,  that,  lo !  I  am  about  to  bring 
My  servant.  Branch.  For  see  the  stone  which  I  have 
set  before  Joshua,  one  stone  with  seven  eyes?  Lo,  I  will 
etch  the  engraving  upon  it  {oracle  of  Jehovah),  and  I 
will  wash  nzvay  the  guilt  of  that  land  in  one  day.  In 
that  day  (oracle  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts)  ye  will  invite  one 
another  in  under  vine  and  under  fig-tree. 

The  theological  significance  of  the  Vision  is  as  clear 
as  its  consequences  in  the  subsequent  theology  and 
symbolism  of  Judaism.  The  uncleanness  of  Israel 
which  infests  their  representative  before  God  is  not 
defined.      Some*   hold    that   it   includes   the   guilt   of 

the  use  of  {J*3n  (to  wind)  to  express  the  putting  on  of  the  head- 
dress (Ezek.  xvi.  lo,  etc.).  Hence  tuiban  seems  to  be  the  proper 
rendering.  Another  form  from  the  same  root,  riDJVD,  is  the  name 
of  the  headdress  of  the  Prince  of  Israel  (Ezek.  xxi.  31) ;  and  in  the 
Priestly  Codex  of  the  Pentateuch  the  headdress  of  the  high  priest 
(Exod.  xxviii.  37,  etc.). 

'  Wellhausen  takes  the  last  words  of  ver.  5  with  ver.  6,  reads  10V 
and  renders  And  the  Angel  of  Jehovah  stood  up  or  stepped  forward. 
But  even  if  IDV  be  read,  the  order  of  the  words  would  require 
translation  in  the  pluperfect,  which  would  come  to  the  same  as  the 
original  text.  And  if  Wellhausens  proposal  were  correct  the  words 
Angel  of  Jehovah  in  ver.  6  would  be  superfluous. 

*  Read  D^P^HD  (Smend,  A.  T.  Rel.  Gesch.,  p.  324,  n.  2). 

*  Or  facets. 

*  E.g.  Marti,  Der  Prophet  Sacharja,  p.  83. 


296  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Israel's  idolatry.  But  they  have  to  go  back  to  Ezekiel 
for  this,  and  we  have  seen  that  Zechariah  nowhere 
mentions  or  feels  the  presence  of  idols  among  his 
people.  The  Vision  itself  supplies  a  better  explanation. 
Joshua's  filthy  garments  are  replaced  by  festal  and 
official  robes.  He  is  warned  to  walk  in  the  whole  law 
of  the  Lord,  ruling  the  Temple  and  guarding  Jehovah's 
court.  The  uncleanness  was  the  opposite  of  all  this. 
It  was  not  ethical  failure :  covetousness,  greed,  immor- 
ality. It  was,  as  Haggai  protested,  the  neglect  of  the 
Temple,  and  of  the  whole  worship  of  Jehovah.  If  this 
be  now  removed,  in  all  fidelity  to  the  law,  the  High 
Priest  shall  have  access  to  God,  and  the  Messiah  will 
come.  The  High  Priest  himself  shall  not  be  the  Messiah 
— this  dogma  is  left  to  a  later  age  to  frame.  But 
before  God  he  will  be  as  one  of  the  angels,  and  himself 
and  his  faithful  priesthood  omens  of  the  Messiah.  We 
need  not  linger  on  the  significance  of  this  for  the 
place  of  the  priesthood  in  later  Judaism.  Note  how 
the  High  Priest  is  already  the  religious  representative 
of  his  people :  their  uncleanness  is  his ;  when  he  is 
pardoned  and  cleansed,  the  uncleanness  of  the  land 
is  purged  away.  In  such  a  High  Priest  Christian 
theology  has  seen  the  prototype  of  Christ. 

The  stone  is  very  difficult  to  explain.  Some  have 
thought  of  it  as  the  foundation-stone  of  the  Temple, 
which  had  already  been  employed  as  a  symbol  of  the 
Messiah  and  which  played  so  important  a  part  in  later 
Jewish  symbolism.^  Others  prefer  the  top-stone  of 
the  Temple,  mentioned  in  chap.  iv.  7,^  and  others  an 
altar  or  substitute  for  the  ark.^     Again,  some  take  it 

•  Hitzig,  Wright  and  many  others.     On  the  place  of  this  stone  in 

the  legends  of  Judaism  see  Wright,  pp.  75  1. 

*  Ewald,  Marcus  Dods.  '  Yon  Orelli,  Volck. 


Zech.  i.  7-vi.]      THE    VISIONS   OF  ZECHARIAH  297 

to  be  a  jewel,  either  on  the  breastplate  of  the  High 
Priest/  or  upon  the  crown  afterwards  prepared  for 
Zerubbabel.*  To  all  of  these  there  are  objections. 
It  is  difficult  to  connect  with  the  foundation-stone 
an  engraving  still  to  be  made  ;  neither  the  top-stone 
of  the  Temple,  nor  a  jewel  on  the  breastplate  of  the 
priest,  nor  a  jewel  on  the  king's  crown,  could  properly 
be  said  to  be  set  before  the  High  Priest.  We  must 
rather  suppose  that  the  stone  is  symbolic  of  the  finished 
Temple.'  The  Temple  is  the  full  expression  of  God's 
providence  and  care — His  seven  eyes.  Upon  it  shall 
His  will  be  engraved,  and  by  its  sacrifices  the  unclean- 
ness  of  the  land  shall  be  taken  away. 

The   Fifth   Vision  :   The    Temple    Candlestick  and 
THE  Two  Olive-Trees  (Chap.  iv.). 

As  the  Fourth  Vision  unfolded  the  dignity  and 
significance  of  the  High  Priest,  so  in  the  Fifth  we  find 
discovered  the  joint  glory  of  himself  and  Zerubbabel,  the 
civil  head  of  Israel.  And  to  this  is  appended  a  Word 
for  Zerubbabel  himself.  In  our  present  text  this  Word 
has  become  inserted  in  the  middle  of  the  Vision, 
vv.  6b-ioa)  in  the  translation  which  follows  it  has 
been  removed  to  the  end  of  the  Vision,  and  the  reasons 
for  this  will  be  found  in  the  notes. 

The  Vision  is  of  the  great  golden  lamp  which  stood 
in  the  Temple.  In  the  former  Temple,  light  was 
supplied  by  ten  several  candlesticks.*  But  the  Levitical 
Code  ordained  one  seven-branched  lamp,  and  such 
appears    to   have    stood    in    the   Temple    built   while 

'  Bredenkamp. 

*  Wellhausen,  in  loco,  and  Smend,  A.  T.  Rel.  Gesch.,  345, 
»  So  Marti,  p.  88. 

*  I  Kings  vii.  49. 


298  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Zechariah  was  prophesying.^  The  lamp  Zechariah 
sees  has  also  seven  branches,  but  differs  in  other 
respects,  and  especially  in  some  curious  fantastic  details 
only  possible  in  dream  and  symbol.  Its  seven  lights 
were  fed  by  seven  pipes  from  a  bowl  or  reservoir  of 
oil  which  stood  higher  than  themselves,  and  this  was 
fed,  either  directly  from  two  olive-trees  which  stood  to 
the  right  and  left  of  it,  or,  if  ver.  12  be  genuine, 
by  two  tubes  which  brought  the  oil  from  the  trees. 
The  seven  lights  are  the  seven  eyes  of  Jehovah — if, 
as  we  ought,  we  run  the  second  half  of  ver.  10  on  to 
the  first  half  of  ver.  6.  The  pipes  and  reservoir  are 
given  no  symbolic  force;  but  the  olive-trees  which 
feed  them  are  called  the  two  sons  of  oil  which  stand 
before  the  Lord  of  all  the  earth.  These  can  only  be  the 
two  anointed  heads  of  the  community — Zerubbabel, 
the  civil  head,  and  Joshua,  the  religious  head.  Theirs 
was  the  equal  and  co-ordinate  duty  of  sustaining  the 
Temple,  figured  by  the  whole  candelabrum,  and  ensuring 
the  brightness  of  the  sevenfold  revelation.  The  Temple, 
that  is  to  say,  is  nothing  without  the  monarchy  and 
the  priesthood  behind  it ;  and  these  stand  in  the  imme- 
diate presence  of  God.  Therefore  this  Vision,  which  to 
the  superficial  eye  might  seem  to  be  a  glorification  of 
the  mere  machinery  of  the  Temple  and  its  ritual,  is 
rather  to  prove  that  the  latter  derive  all  their  power  from 
the  national  institutions  which  are  behind  them,  from  the 
two  representatives  of  the  people  who  in  their  turn  stand 
before  God  Himself  The  Temple  so  near  completion 
will  not  of  itself  reveal  God :  let  not  the  Jews  put  their 
trust  in  it,  but  in  the  life  behind  it.  And  for  ourselves 
the  lesson  of  the  Vision  is  that  which  Christian  theology 

'  I  Mace.  i.  21  ;  iv.  49,  50.     Josephus,  XIV.  Ant.  iv.  4. 


Zcch.  i.  7-vi.]      THE   VISIONS  OF  ZECHARIAH  395 

has  been  so  slow  to  learn,  that  God's  revelation  under 
the  old  covenant  shone  not  directly  through  the 
material  framework,  but  was  mediated  by  the  national 
life,  whose  chief  men  stood  and  grew  fruitful  in  His 
presence. 

One  thing  is  very  remarkable.  The  two  sources  of 
revelation  are  the  King  and  the  Priest.  The  Prophet 
is  not  mentioned  beside  them.  Nothing  could  prove 
more  emphatically  the  sense  in  Israel  that  prophecy 
was  exhausted. 

The  appointment  ot  so  responsible  a  position  for 
Zerubbabel  demanded  for  him  a  special  promise  of 
grace.  And  therefore,  as  Joshua  had  his  promise  in 
the  Fourth  Vision,  we  find  Zerubbabel's  appended  to 
the  Fifth.  It  is  one  of  the  gicat  sayings  of  the  Old 
Testament :  there  is  none  more  spiritual  and  more 
comforting.  Zerubbabel  shall  complete  the  Temple, 
and  those  who  scoffed  at  its  small  beginnings  in  the 
day  of  small  things  shall  frankly  rejoice  when  they 
see  him  set  the  top-stone  by  plummet  in  its  place. 
As  the  moral  obstacles  to  the  future  were  removed 
in  the  Fourth  Vision  by  the  vindication  of  Joshua 
and  by  his  cleansing,  so  the  political  obstacles,  all  the 
hindrances  described  by  the  Book  of  Ezra  in  the 
building  of  the  Temple,  shall  disappear.  Before  Zerub- 
babel the  great  mountain  shall  become  a  plain.  And 
this,  because  he  shall  not  work  by  his  own  strength, 
but  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts  shall  do  everything. 
Again  we  find  that  absence  ot  expectation  in  human 
means,  and  that  full  trust  in  God's  own  direct  action, 
which  characterise  all  the  prophesying  of  Zechariah. 

Then  the  angel  who  talked  with  mc  returned  and  roused 
me  like  a  man  roused  out  of  his  sleep.  And  he  said  to 
me,  What  seest  thou  ?     And  I  said,  I  see,  and  lo !  a 


300  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

candlestick  all  of  gold,  and  its  bowl  upon  the  top  of  it, 
and  its  seven  lamps  on  it,  and  seven  ^  pipes  to  the  lamps 
which  are  upon  it.  And  two  olive-trees  stood  over  against 
it,  one  on  the  right  of  the  boivl,^  and  one  on  the  left. 
And  I  began  '  and  said  to  the  angel  who  talked  zvith  me,* 
What  be  these,  my  lord?  And  the  angel  who  talked 
with  me  answered  and  said,  Knowest  thou  not  what 
these  be  ?  And  I  said,  No,  my  lord  !  And  he  ansivered 
and  said  to  me,^  These  seven  are  the  eyes  of  Jehovah, 
which  sweep  through  the  whole  earth.  And  I  asked  and 
said  to  him.  What  are  these  two  olive-trees  on  the  right 
of  the  candlestick  and  on  its  left?  And  again  I  asked 
and  said  to  him,  What  are  the  two  olive-branches  which 
are  beside  the  two  golden  tubes  that  pour  forth  the  oil^ 
from  them  ?''  And  he  said  to  me,  Knowest  thou  not  what 
these  be?  And  I  said,  No,  my  lord!  And  he  said, 
These  are  the  two  sons  of  oil  which  stand  before  the  Lord 
of  all  the  earth. 

This  is  Jehovah's    Word  to  Zerubbabel,  and  it  says :  ® 
Not  by  might,  and  not  by  force,  but  by  My  Spirit,  saiih 

*  LXX.     Heb.  has  seven  sevens  of  pipes. 

*  Wellhausen  reads  its  right  and  deletes  the  bowl. 

*  tVNI-  n^y  is  not  only  to  answer,  but  to  take  part  in  a  conversation, 
whether  by  starting  or  continuing  it.     LXX.  rightly  iirrjptorriffa. 

*  Heb.  saying. 

*  In  the  Hebrew  text,  followed  by  the  ancient  and  modem  versions, 
including  the  English  Bible,  there  here  follows  6b-ioa,  the  Word  to 
Zerubbabel.  They  obviously  disturb  the  narrative  of  the  Vision,  and 
Wellhausen  has  rightly  transferred  them  to  the  end  of  it,  where  they 
come  in  as  naturally  as  the  word  of  hope  to  Joshua  comes  in  at  the 
end  of  the  preceding  Vision.  Take  them  away,  and,  as  can  be  seen 
above,  ver.  lob  follows  quite  naturally  upon  6a. 

'  Heb.  gold.     So  LXX. 

'  Wellhausen  omits  the  whole  of  this  second  question  (ver.  12)  as 
intruded  and  unnecessary.  So  also  Smend  as  a  doublet  on  ver.  II 
(A.  T.  Rel,  Gesch.,  343  n.).     So  also  Nowack. 

'  Heb.  saying. 


Zech.  i.  7-vi.]      THE   VISIONS   OF  ZECHARIAH  301 

Jehovah  of  Hosts.  What  art  thou,  O  great  mountain  ? 
Before  Zerubbabel  be  thou  level  I  And  he  ^  shall  bring 
forth  the  top-stone  with  sho7iti>}gs,  Grace,  grace  to  it!^ 
And  the  Word  of  Jehovah  came  to  me,  saying,  The  hands 
of  Zerubbabel  have  founded  this  house,  and  his  hands 
shall  complete  it,  and  thou  shalt  know  that  Jehovah  of 
Hosts  hath  sent  me  to  you.  For  whoever  hath  despised 
the  day  of  small  things,  they  shall  rejoice  when  they  see 
the  plummet^  in  the  hand  of  Zerubbabel. 

The  Sixth  Vision  :  The  Winged  Volume 
(Chap.  V.  1-4). 

The  religious  and  political  obstacles  being  now 
removed  from  the  future  of  Israel,  Zechariah  in  the 
next  two  Visions  beholds  the  land  purged  of  its  crime 
and  wickedness.  These  Visions  are  very  simple,  if 
somewhat  after  the  ponderous  fashion  of  Ezekiel. 

The  first  of  them  is  the  Vision  of  the  removal  of  the 
curse  brought  upon  the  land  by  its  civic  criminals, 
especially  thieves  and  perjurers — the  two  forms  which 
crime  takes  in  a  poor  and  rude  community  like  the 
colony  of  the  returned  exiles.  The  prophet  tells  us 
he  beheld  a  roll  flying.  He  uses  the  ordinary  Hebrew 
name  for  the  rolls  of  skin  or  parciiment  upon  which 
v^riting  was  set  down.  But  the  proportions  of  its 
colossal  size — twenty  cubits  by  ten — prove  that  it  was 
not  a  cylindrical  but  an  oblong  shape  v/hich  he  saw. 
It  consisted,  therefore,  of  sheets  laid  on  each  other  like 

'  LXX.  I. 

■  Or  Fair,  fair  is  tt !    Nowack. 

•  The  stone,  the  leaden.  Marti,  St.  u,  Kr.,  1892,  p.  213  n,,  takes  the 
leaden  for  a  gloss,  and  reads  simply  the  sfci?",  i.e.  the  top-stone;  but 
the  plummet  is  the  last  thing  laid  to  the  building  to  test  the  straight- 
ness  of  the  top-stone. 


302  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

our  books,  and  as  our  word  "  volume,"  which  originally 
meant,  like  his  own  term,  a  roll,  means  now  an  oblong 
article,  we  may  use  this  in  our  translation.  The  volume 
is  the  record  of  the  crime  of  the  land,  and  Zechariah 
sees  it  flying  from  the  land.  But  it  is  also  the  curse 
upon  this  crime,  and  so  again  he  beholds  it  entering 
every  thief's  and  perjurer's  house  and  destroying  it. 
Smend  gives  a  possible  explanation  of  this :  "  It 
appears  that  in  ancient  times  curses  were  written  on 
pieces  of  paper  and  sent  down  the  wind  into  the 
houses "  ^  of  those  against  whom  they  were  directed. 
But  the  figure  seems  rather  to  be  of  birds  of  prey. 

And  I  turned  and  lifted  my  eyes  and  looked,  and  lo  I 
a  volume^  flying.  And  he  said  unto  me,  What  dost  thou 
see?  And  I  said,  I  see  a  volume  flying,  its  length 
twenty  cubits  and  its  breadth  ten.  And  he  said  unto 
me,  This  is  the  curse  that  is  going  out  upon  the  face 
of  all  the  land.  For  every  thief  is  hereby  purged  away 
from  hence^  and  every  perjurer  is  hereby  purged  away 

•  A.  T.  Pel.  Gesch.,  312  n. 

*  on? 3D,  roll  or  volume.     LXX.  Sphravov,  sickle,  7|D. 

'  A  group  of  difficult  expressions.  The  verb  ni?3  Is  Ni.  of  a 
root  which  originally  had  the  physical  meaning  to  clean  out  of  a 
place,  and  this  Ni.  is  so  used  of  a  plundered  town  in  Isa.  iii.  26. 
But  its  more  usual  meaning  is  to  be  spoken  free  from  guilt  (Psalm 
xix.  14,  etc.).  Most  commentators  take  it  here  in  the  physical  sense, 
Hitzig  quoting  the  use  of  KaOapl^ut  in  Mark  vii.  19.  '"JIDD  Htp 
are  variously  rendered.  HtD  is  mostly  understood  as  locative,  hence, 
i.e.  from  the  land  just  mentioned,  but  some  take  it  with  steal  (Hilzig), 
some  with  cleaned  out  (Ewald,  Orelli,  etc.).  i^l'^?  's  rendered  like  il 
— the  flying  roll  (Ewald,  Orelli),  which  cannot  be,  since  the  roll  flies 
upon  the  face  of  the  land,  and  the  sinner  is  to  be  purged  out  of  it; 
or  in  accordance  with  the  roll  or  its  curse  (Jerome,  Kohler).  But 
Wellhausen  reads  n?35  "^.tP,  and  takes  n|?3  in  its  usual  meaning 
and  in  the  past  tense,  and  renders  Every  thiej  has  for  long  remained 
unpunished;  and  so  in  the  next  clause.  So,  too,  Nowack.  LXX, 
Every  thief  shall  be  condemned  to  death,  ^tos  Oavarov  eVSt^vJtreTai, 


Zech.i.7-vi.]      THE   VISIONS   OF  ZECHARIAH  303 

from  hence.  I  have  sent  it  forth — oracle  of  Jehovah  oj 
Hosts — and  it  shall  enter  the  thief  s  house,  and  the 
house  of  him  that  hath  sworn  falsely  by  My  name,  and 
it  shall  roost  ^  in  the  midst  of  his  house  and  consume  it, 
with  its  beams  and  its  stones} 

The  Seventh  Vision  :    The  Woman   in   the  Barrel 
(Chap.  V.  5-1 1 ). 

It  is  not  enough  that  the  curse  fly  from  the  land 
after  destroying  every  criminal.  The  living  principle 
of  sin,  the  power  of  temptation,  must  be  covered  up 
and  removed.  This  is  the  subject  of  the  Seventh 
Vision. 

The  prophet  sees  an  ephah,  the  largest  vessel  in  use 
among  the  Jews,  of  more  than  seven  gallons  capacity, 
and  round  ^  like  a  barrel.  Presently  the  leaden  top  is 
lifted,  and  the  prophet  sees  a  woman  inside.  This  is 
Wickedness,  feminine  because  she  figures  the  power 
of  temptation.  She  is  thrust  back  into  the  barrel, 
the  leaden  lid  is  pushed  down,  and  the  whole  carried 
oft'  by  two  other  female  figures,  winged  like  the  strong, 
far-flying  stork,  into  the  land  of  Shin'ar,  "which  at 
that  time  had  the  general  significance  of  the  counter- 
part of  the  Holy  Land,"  *  and  was  the  proper  home 
of  all  that  was  evil. 

And  the  angel  of  Jehovah  who  spake  with  me  came 


'  Heb.  lodge,  pass  the  night :  cf.  Zeph.  ii.  14  (above,  p.  65),  pelican 
and  bittern  shall  roost  upon  the  capitals. 

^  Sinend  sees  a  continuation  of  Ezekiel's  idea  of  the  guilt  of  man 
overtaking  him  (iii.  20,  xxxiv.).     Here  God's  curse  does  all. 

*  This  follows  from  the  shape  of  the  disc  that  fits  into  it.  Seven 
gallons  are  seven-eighths  of  the  English  bushel :  that  in  use  in 
Canada  and  the  United  States  is  somewhat  smaller. 

*  Ewald. 


304  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

forward'^  and  said  to  me,  Lift  now  thine  eyes  and  see 
what  this  is  that  comes  forth.  And  I  said,  What  is  it  ? 
And  he  said.  This  is  a  bushel  coming  forth.  And  he  said, 
This  is  their  transgression  ^  in  all  the  land?  And  behold  I 
the  round  leaden  top  was  lifted  up,  and  lo  1^  a  woman 
sitting  inside  the  bushel.  And  he  said,  This  is  the 
Wickedness,  and  he  thrust  her  back  itito  the  bushel,  and 
thrust  the  leaden  disc  upon  the  mouth  of  it.  And  I  lifted 
mine  eyes  and  looked,  and  lo  !  two  women  came  forth  with 
the  wind  in  their  wings,  f 07  they  had  wings  like  storks' 
wings,  and  they  bore  the  bushel  betwixt  earth  and  heaven. 
And  I  said  to  the  angel  that  talked  with  me,  Whither  do 
they  carry  the  bushel  ?  And  he  said  to  me,  To  build  it 
a  house  in  the  land  of  Shinar,  that  it  may  be  fixed  and 
brought  to  rest  there  on  a  place  of  its  own? 

We  must  not  allow  this  curious  imagery  to  hide 
from  us  its  very  spiritual  teaching.  If  Zechariah  is 
weighted  in  these  Visions  by  the  ponderous  fashion 
of  Ezekiel,  he  has  also  that  prophet's  truly  moral  spirit. 
He  is  not  contented  with  the  ritual  atonement  for  sin, 

'  Upon  the  stage  of  vision. 

*  For  Heb.  D3*y  read  D^iy  with  LXX. 

*  By  inserting  PIS^N  after  no  in  ver.  5,  and  deleting  nXWH 
.  .  .  "IJDX''1  in  ver.  6,  Wellhausen  secures  the  more  concise  text : 
And  see  what  this  bushel  is  that  comes  forth.  Attd  I  said,  What  is  it? 
And  he  said,  Thai  is  the  evil  of  the  people  in  the  whole  land.  But  to 
reduce  the  1  edundancies  of  the  Visions  is  to  delete  the  most  character- 
istic feature  of  their  style.  Besides,  Wellhausen's  result  gives  no 
sense.  The  prophet  would  not  be  asked  to  see  what  a  bushel  is : 
the  angel  is  there  to  tell  him  this.  So  Wellhausen  in  his  translation 
has  to  omit  the  HD  of  ver.  5,  while  telling  us  in  his  note  to  replace 
nS''Nn  after  it.  His  emendation  is,  therefore,  to  be  rejected.  Nowack, 
however,  accepts  it. 

*  LXX.     Heb.  this. 

*  In  the  last  clause  the  verbal  forms  are  obsj<-.e  if  not  corrupt. 
LXX.  KoL  troijjLaaai  Kal  O.^aovaiv  avro  iKU  «=  D^  nn^^HI  P^np  •  but 
see  Ewaldf  .Syntax,  131  of 


Zcch.  i.  7-vi.]      THE   VISIONS  OF  ZECHARIAH  305 

nor  with  the  legal  punishment  of  crime.  The  living 
power  of  sin  must  be  banished  from  Israel ;  and  this 
cannot  be  done  by  any  efiforts  of  men  themselves,  but 
by  God's  action  only,  which  is  thorough  and  effectual. 
If  the  figures  by  which  this  is  illustrated  appear  to  us 
grotesque  and  heavy,  let  us  remember  how  they  would 
suit  the  imagination  of  the  prophet's  own  day.  Let  us 
lay  to  heart  their  eternally  valid  doctrine,  that  sin  is 
not  a  formal  curse,  nor  only  expressed  in  certain  social 
crimes,  nor  exhausted  by  the  punishment  of  these,  but, 
as  a  power  of  attraction  and  temptation  to  all  men,  it 
must  be  banished  from  the  heart,  and  can  be  banished 
only  by  God. 

The  Eighth  Vision  :  The  Chariots  of  the  Four 
Winds  (Chap.  vi.  1-8). 

As  the  series  of  Visions  opened  with  one  of  the  uni- 
versal providence  of  God,  so  they  close  with  another  of 
the  same.  The  First  Vision  had  postponed  God's  over- 
throw of  the  nations  till  His  own  time,  and  this  the 
Last  Vision  now  describes  as  begun,  the  religious  and 
moral  needs  of  Israel  having  meanwhile  been  met  by 
the  Visions  which  come  between,  and  every  obstacle  to 
God's  action  for  the  deliverance  of  His  people  being 
removed. 

The  prophet  sees  four  chariots,  with  horses  of  dif- 
ferent colour  in  each,  coming  out  from  between  two 
mountains  of  brass.  The  horsemen  of  the  First 
Vision  were  bringing  in  reports  :  these  chariots  are 
coming  forth  with  their  commissions  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord  of  all  the  earth.  They  are  the  four  winds 
of  heaven,  servants  of  Him  who  maketh  the  winds  His 
angels.  They  are  destined  for  diifcrtnt  quarters  of 
the  world.     The   prophet   has   not   been   admitted   to 

VOL.  II.  20 


3o6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  Presence,  and  does  not  know  what  exactly  they 
have  been  commissioned  to  do ;  that  is  to  say, 
Zechariah  is  ignorant  of  the  actual  political  processes 
by  which  the  nations  are  to  be  overthrown  and  Israel 
glorified  before  them.  But  his  Angel-interpreter  tells 
him  that  the  black  horses  go  north,  the  white  west, 
and  the  dappled  south,  while  the  horses  of  the  fourth 
chariot,  impatient  because  no  direction  is  assigned  to 
them,  are  ordered  to  roam  up  and  down  through  the 
earth.  It  is  striking  that  none  are  sent  eastward.^ 
This  appears  to  mean  that,  in  Zechariah's  day,  no 
power  oppressed  or  threatened  Israel  from  that  direc- 
tion ;  but  in  the  north  there  was  the  centre  of  the 
Persian  Empire,  to  the  south  Egypt,  still  a  possible 
master  of  the  world,  and  to  the  west  the  new  forces 
of  Europe  that  in  less  than  a  generation  were  to  prove 
themselves  a  match  for  Persia.  The  horses  of  the 
fourth  chariot  are  therefore  given  the  charge  to  exercise 
supervision  upon  the  whole  earth — unless  in  ver.  7  we 
should  translate,  not  earth,  but  land,  and  understand 
a  commission  to  patrol  the  land  of  Israel.  The  centre 
of  the  world's  power  is  in  the  north,  aiid  therefore  the 
black  horses,  which  are  dispatched  in  that  direction, 
are  explicitly  described  as  charged  to  bring  God's 
spirit,  that  is  His  anger  or  His  power,  to  bear  on  that 
quarter  of  the  world. 

And  once  more  ^  I  lifted  mine  eyes  and  looked,  and  lo  ! 
four  chariots  coming  forward  from  between  two  moun- 
tains, and  the  mountains  were  mountains  of  brass.     In 


'  Wellhausen  suggests  that  in  the  direction  assigned  to  the  white 
horses,  D^'^"1^X  (ver.  6),  which  we  have  rendered  wcs!wanJ,  we  might 
read  DTpH  yn^',  laud  of  the  east;  and  that  from  ver.  7  the  west  has 
probably  fallen  out  after  they  go  forth, 

*  Heb.  /  turned  again  and. 


Zech.  i.  7-vi.]      THE   VISIONS   OF  ZECHARIAH  307 

the  first  chariot  were  brown  horses,  and  in  the  second 
chariot  black  horses,  and  in  the  third  chariot  white 
horses,  and  in  the  fourth  chariot  dappled  ...  *  horses. 
And  I  broke  in  and  said  to  the  angel  who  talked  with 
me,  What  are  these,  my  lord?  And  the  angel  answered 
and  said  to  me,  These  be  the  four  winds  of  heaven  that 
come  forth  from  presenting  themselves  before  the  Lord  oj 
all  the  earth?  That  with  the  black  horses  goes  forth  to 
the  land  of  the  north,  while  the  white  go  out  west^  (?),  and 
the  dappled  go  to  the  land  of  the  south.  And  the  .  .  .  ^ 
go  forth  and  seek  to  go,  to  march  up  and  down  on  the 
earth.  And  he  said.  Go,  march  up  and  down  on  the 
earth;  and  they  marched  up  and  down  on  the  earth. 
And  he  called  me  and  spake  to  me,  saying,  See  they  that 
go  forth  to  the  land  of  the  north  have  brought  my  spirit 
to  bear '  on  the  land  of  the  north. 

The  Result  of  the  Visions  :  The  Crowning  of  the 
King  of  Israel  (Chap.  vi.  9-15). 

The  heathen  being  overthrown,  Israel  is  free,  and 
may  have  her  king  again.  Therefore  Zechariah  is 
ordered — it  would  appear  on  the  same  day  as  that  on 
which  he  received  the  Visions — to  visit  a  certain 
deputation  from  the  captivity  in  Babylon,  Heldai, 
Tobiyah  and  Yedayah,  at  the  house  of  Josiah  the  son 

•  Hebrew  reads  D''^*p^^,  strong;  LXX.  \l/apol,  dappled,  and  for  the 
previous  DHl?,  spot ied  or  dappled,  it  reads  woidXm,  piebald.  Perhaps 
we  should  read  D^V^DH  (cf.  Isa.  Ixiii.  l),  dark  red  or  sorrel,  with  grey 
spots.     So  Ewald  and  Orelli.     Wright  keeps  strong. 

•  Wellhausen,  supplying  -p  before  y2"lX,  renders  These  go  forth 
to  the  four  winds  of  heaven  after  tlity  have  presented  themselves,  etc 

•  Heb.  behind  them. 

•  D'i'QN,  the  second  epithet  of  the  horses  of  the  fourth  chariot, 
ver.  3.     See  note  there. 

•  Or  anger  to  bear,  Heb.  rest. 


3o8  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  Zephaniah,  where  they  have  just  arrived  ;  and  to 
select  from  the  gifts  they  have  brought  enough  silver 
and  gold  to  make  circlets  for  a  crown.  The  present 
text  assigns  this  crown  to  Joshua,  the  high  priest,  but 
as  we  have  already  remarked,  and  will  presently  prove 
in  the  notes  to  the  translation,  the  original  text  assigned 
it  to  Zerubbabel,  the  civil  head  of  the  community,  and 
gave  Joshua,  the  priest,  a  place  at  his  right  hand — the 
two  to  act  in  perfect  concord  with  each  other.  The 
text  has  suffered  some  other  injuries,  which  it  is  easy 
to  amend  ;  and  the  end  of  it  has  been  broken  off  in 
the  middle  of  a  sentence. 

And  the  Word  oj  Jehovah  came  to  me,  saying :  Take 
from  the  Golah^  from  Heldai  *  and  front  Tobiyah  and 
from  Yeda*yah  ;  and  do  thou  go  on  the  same  day,  yea,  go 
thou  to  the  house  of  Yosiyahu,  son  of  ^ephanyah,  whither 
they  have  arrived  from  Babylon?  And  thou  shalt  take 
silver  and  gold,  and  make  a  crown,  and  set  it  on  the  head 
of .  ,  .*     And  say  to  him  :  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts, 

*  The  collective  name  for  the  Jews  in  exile. 

*  LXX.  xopd  tG)v  apx6vTwv.  D"'"inp  j  but  since  an  accusative  is 
wanted  to  express  the  articles  taken,  Hitzig  proposes  to  read  '^^PlliP 
My  precious  things.  The  LXX.  reads  the  other  two  names  Kal  vapa. 
tQw  xpV'^^f-'^''  CL^TTji  Kal  Trapa  twv  iTreyv UKbruv  avTrjv. 

'  The  construction  of  ver.  lo  is  very  clumsy;  above  it  is  rendered 
literally.  Wellhausen  proposes  to  delete  and  do  thou  go  .  ,  .  to  the 
house  of,  and  take  Yosiyahu's  name  as  simply  a  fourth  with  the  others, 
reading  the  last  clause  who  have  come  from  Babylon.  This  is  to  cut, 
not  disentargle,  the  knot. 

*  The  Hebrew  text  here  has  Joshua  son  o/Jehosadak,  the  high  prtest, 
but  there  is  good  reason  to  suppose  that  the  crown  was  meant  for 
Zerubbabel,  but  that  the  name  of  Joshua  was  inserted  instead  in  a 
later  age,  when  the  high  priest  was  also  the  king — see  below,  note. 
For  these  reasons  Ewald  had  previously  supposed  that  the  whole  verse 
was  genuine,  but  that  there  had  fallen  out  of  it  the  words  and  on  the 
head  of  Zerubbabel.  Ewald  found  a  proof  of  this  in  the  plural  form 
nntOy,    which    he    rendered    crotvns.      (So    also  Wildeboer,   A.   T. 


Zech.  i.  7-vi.]      THE   VISIONS  OF  ZECHARIAH  30c 

Lo  !  a  man  called  Branch;  from  his  roots  shall  a  branch 
come,  and  he  shall  build  the  Temple  of  Jehovah.  Yea,  he 
shall  build  JehovaKs  Temple^  and  he  shall  wear  the  royai 
majesty  and  sit  and  rule  upon  his  throne,  and  Joshua  ^ 
shall  be  priest  on  his  right  hand,^  atid  there  will  be  a  counsel 
of  peace  between  the  two  of  them}  And  the  crown  shall 
be  for  Heldai^  and  Tobiyah  and  Yedayah,  and  for  the 
courtesy'^  of  the  son  of  Sephanyah,  for  a  memorial  in 
the  Temple  of  Jehovah.  And  the  far-away  shall  come 
and  build  at  the  Temple  of  Jehovah,  and  ye  shall  know 
that  Jehovah  of  Hosts  hath  sent  me  to  you;  and  it  shall 
be  if  ye  hearken  to  the  voice  of  Jehovah  your  God .  .  .' 

Litteratur,  p.  297.)     But  TTllDy  is  to  be  rendered  crown  ;  see  ver.  II 
where   it  is   followed  by  a  singular  verb.     The   plural  form  refers 
to  the  several  circlets  of  which  it  was  woven. 
'  Some  critics  omit  the  repetition. 

•  So  Wellhausen  proposes  to  insert.  The  name  was  at  least  under- 
stood in  the  original  text. 

^  So  LXX.     Heb.  on  his  throne. 

•  With  this  phrase,  vouched  for  by  both  the  Heb.  and  the  Sept., 
the  rest  of  the  received  text  cannot  be  harmonised.  There  were  two : 
one  is  the  priest  just  mentioned  who  is  to  be  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
crowned.  The  received  text  makes  this  crowned  one  to  be  the  high 
priest  Joshua.  But  if  there  are  two  and  the  priest  is  only  secondary, 
the  crowned  one  must  be  Zerubbabel,  whom  Haggai  has  already 
designated  as  Messiah.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  see  why,  in  a  later  age, 
when  the  high  priest  was  sovereign  in  Israel,  Joshua's  name  should 
have  been  inserted  in  place  of  Zerubbabel's,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
phrase />»"/«s^  at  his  right  hand,  to  which  the  LXX.  testifies  in  harmony 
with  the  two  of  them,  should  have  been  altered  to  the  reading  of  tlio 
received  text,  priest  upon  his  throne.  With  the  above  agree  Smend, 
A.  T.  Rel.  Gesch.,  343  n.,  and  Nowack. 

•  Heb.  DPn^  Helem,  but  the  reading  Heldai,  '•^?^,  is  proved  by  the 
previous  occurrence  of  the  name  and  by  the  LXX.  reading  here,  rots 
viroixivovaLV,  i.e.  from  root  "ITTI,  to  last. 

'  in,  but  Wellhausen  and  others  take  it  as  abbreviation  or  mis- 
reading for  the  name  of  Yosiyahu  (see  ver.   lo). 

'  Here  the  verse  and  paragraph  break  suddenly  off  in  the  middle 
of  a  sentence.     On  the  passage  see  Sinend,  343  and  345. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  ANGELS  OF  THE  VISIONS 
Zechariah  i.  7 — vi.  8 

AMONG  the  influences  of  the  Exile  which  contributed 
the  material  of  Zechariah's  Visions  we  included 
a  considerable  development  of  Israel's  belief  in  Angels. 
The  general  subject  is  in  itself  so  large,  and  the  Angels 
play  so  many  parts  in  the  Visions,  that  it  is  necessary 
to  devote  to  them  a  separate  chapter. 

From  the  earliest  times  the  Hebrews  had  conceived 
their  Divine  King  to  be  surrounded  by  a  court  of 
ministers,  who  besides  celebrating  His  glory  went  forth 
from  His  presence  to  execute  His  will  upon  earth.  In 
this  latter  capacity  they  were  called  Messengers, 
Male'akim,  which  the  Greeks  translated  Angeloi,  and 
so  gave  us  our  Angels.  The  origin  of  this  conception  is 
wrapt  in  obscurity.  It  may  have  been  partly  due  to 
a  belief,  shared  by  all  early  peoples,  in  the  existence 
of  superhuman  beings  inferior  to  the  gods,^  but  even 
without  this  it  must  have  sprung  up  in  the  natural 
tendency  to  provide  the  royal  deity  of  a  people  with  a 
court,  an  army  and  servants.  In  the  pious  minds  of 
early  Israel  there  must  have  been  a  kind  of  necessity 
to  believe  and  develop  this — a  necessity  imposed //r^/Zv 
by  the  belief  in  Jehovah's  residence  as  confined  to  one 

'  So  Robertson  Smith,  art.  "Angels"  in  the  Encyc.  Brit.,  9th  ed. 
310 


Zech.  i.  7-vi.  8]      THE  ANGELS  OF  THE   VISIONS  311 

spot,  Sinai  or  Jerusalem,  from  which  He  Himself  went 
forth  only  upon  great  occasions  to  the  deliverance  of 
His  people  as  a  whole  ;  and  secondly  by  the  unwilling- 
ness to  conceive  of  His  personal  appearance  in  missions 
of  a  menial  nature,  or  to  represent  Him  in  the  human 
form  in  which,  according  to  primitive  ideas,  He  could 
alone  hold  converse  with  men. 

It  can  easily  be  understood  how  a  religion,  which  was 
above  all  a  religion  of  revelation,  should  accept  such 
popular  conceptions  in  its  constant  record  of  the  appear- 
ance of  God  and  His  Word  in  human  life.  Accordingly, 
in  the  earliest  documents  of  the  Hebrews,  we  find  angels 
who  bring  to  Israel  the  blessings,  curses  and  commands  of 
Jehovah.^  Apart  from  this  duty  and  their  human  appear- 
ance, these  beings  are  not  conceived  to  be  endowed 
either  with  character  or,  if  we  may  judge  by  their  name- 
lessness,^  with  individuality.  They  are  the  Word  of 
God  personified.  Acting  as  God's  mouthpiece,  they  are 
merged  in  Him,  and  so  completely  that  they  often  speak 
of  themselves  by  the  Divine  I.^  "  The  fimction  of  an 
Angel  so  overshadows  his  personality  that  the  Old  Testa- 
ment does  not  ask  who  or  what  this  Angel  is,  but  what  he 
does.  And  the  answer  to  the  last  question  is,  that  he 
represents  God  to  man  so  directly  and  fully  that  when 
he  speaks  or  acts  God  Himself  is  felt  to  speak  or  act."  * 
Besides  the  carriage  of  the  Divine  Word,  angels  bring 
back  to  their  Lord  report  of  all  that  happens  :  kings  are 
said,  in  popular  language,  to  be  as  wise  as  the  wisdom  of 
an  angel  of  God,  to  know  all  the  things  that  are  in  the  earth!' 
They  are  also  employed  in  the  deliverance  and  discipline 

'  So  already  in  Deborah's  Song,  Judg.  v.  23,  and  throughout  both 
T  and  E. 
"  Cf.  especially  Gen.  xxxii.  29.  «  Robertson  Smith,  as  above. 

•  Judg.  vi.  12  ff.  »  2  Sam.  xiv.  20. 


312  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  His  people.^  By  them  come  the  pestilence,^  and  the 
restraint  of  those  who  set  themselves  against  God's 
will' 

Now  the  prophets  before  the  Exile  had  so  spiritual 
a  conception  of  God,  worked  so  immediately  from  His 
presence,  and  above  all  were  so  convinced  of  His 
personal  and  practical  interest  in  the  affairs  of  His 
people,  that  they  felt  no  room  for  Angels  between  Him 
and  their  hearts,  and  they  do  not  employ  Angels,  except 
when  Isaiah  in  his  inaugural  vision  penetrates  to  the 
heavenly  palace  and  court  of  the  Most  High.*  Even 
when  Amos  sees  a  plummet  laid  to  the  walls  of  Jerusalem, 
it  is  by  the  hands  of  Jehovah  Himself,^  and  we  have 
not  encountered  an  Angel  in  the  mediation  of  the  Word 
to  any  of  the  prophets  whom  we  have  already  studied. 
But  Angels  reappear,  though  not  under  the  name,  in  the 
visions  of  Ezekiel,  the  first  prophet  of  the  Exile.  They 
are  in  human  form,  and  he  calls  them  Men.  Some  execute 
God's  wrath  upon  Jerusalem,®  and  one,  whose  appear- 
ance is  as  the  appearance  of  brass,  acts  as  the  interpreter 
of  God's  will  to  the  prophet,  and  instructs  him  in  the 
details  of  the  building  of  City  and  Temple.'  When  the 
glory  of  Jehovah  appears  and  Jehovah  Himself  speaks 
to  the  prophet  out  of  the  Temple,  this  Man  stands  by 
the  prophet,*  distinct  from  the  Deity,  and  afterwards 
continues  his  work  of  explanation.  "  Therefore,"  as 
Dr.  Davidson  remarks,  "  it  is  not  the  sense  of  distance 


'  Exod.  xiv.  19  (?),  xxiii.  20,  etc. ;  Josh.  v.  13. 

*  2  Sam.  xxiv.  16,  17;  2  Kings  xix.  35;  Exod.  xii.  23.  In  Eccles. 
V.  6  this  destroying  angel  is  the  minister  of  God  :  cf.  Psalm Ixxviii.  49A, 
hurt/ul  angels— Cheyne,  Origin  of  Psalter,  p.  157. 

*  Balaam  :  Num.  xxii.  23,  31.         *  ix, 

*  vi.  2-6.  '  xl.  3  C 

*  Vol.  I.,  p.  114.  '  xliii.  6. 


Zech.  i.  7-vi.  8]      THE  ANGELS   OF  THE   VISIONS  313 


to  which  God  is  removed  that  causes  Ezekiel  to  create 
these  intermediaries."  The  necessity  for  them  rather 
arises  from  the  same  natural  feeh'ng,  which  we  have 
suggested  as  giving  rise  to  the  earhest  conceptions 
of  Angels  :  the  unwillingness,  namely,  to  engage  the 
Person  of  God  Himself  in  the  subordinate  task  of 
explaining  the  details  of  the  Temple.  Note,  too,  how 
the  Divine  Voice,  which  speaks  to  Ezekiel  out  of  the 
Temple,  blends  and  becomes  one  with  the  Man  standing 
at  his  side.  Ezekiel's  Angel-interpreter  is  simply  one 
function  of  the  Word  of  God. 

Many  of  the  features  of  Ezekiel's  Angels  appear  in 
those  of  Zechariah.  The  four  smiths  or  smiters  of  the 
four  horns  recall  the  six  executioners  of  the  wicked  in 
Jerusalem.^  Like  Ezekiel's  Interpreter,  they  are  called 
Men^  and  like  him  one  appears  as  Zechariah's  instructor 
and  guide :  he  who  talked  with  me?  But  while  Zechariah 
calls  these  beings  Men^  he  also  gives  them  the  ancient 
name,  which  Ezekiel  had  not  used,  of  Male'akim,  mes- 
sengers^ angels.  The  Instructor  is  the  Angel  who  talked 
with  me.  In  the  First  Vision,  the  Man  riding  the  brown 
hone,  the  Man  that  stood  among  the  myrtles,  is  the  Angel 
of  Jehovah  that  stood  among  the  myrtles}  The  Inter- 
preter is  also  called  the  Angel  of  Jehovah,  and  if  our  text 
of  the  First  Vision  be  correct,  the  two  of  them  are 
curiously  mingled,  as  if  both  were  functions  of  the  same 
Word  of  God,  and  in  personality  not  to  be  distin- 
guished from  each  other.  The  Reporting  Angel  among 
the   myrtles   takes   up    the    duty   of  the    Interpreting 

•  Zech.  i.  18  fl. ;  Ezek.  ix.  I  flF. 

'  Zech.  i.  8 :  so  even  in  the   Book  of  Daniel  we  have   the   man 
viabriel — ix.  2i, 

•  i.  9,  19 ;  ii.  3  ;  iv.  i,  4,  5  ;  v.  5,10 ;  vi.  4.    But  see  above,  pp.  261  i. 

•  i.  8,  10^  II, 


314  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Angel  and  explains  the  Vision  to  the  prophet.  In  the 
Fourth  Vision  this  dissolving  view  is  carried  further, 
and  the  Angel  of  Jehovah  is  interchangeable  with 
Jehovah  Himself;*  just  as  in  the  Vision  of  Ezekiel  the 
Divine  Voice  from  the  Glory  and  the  Man  standing 
beside  the  prophet  are  curiously  mingled.  Again  in 
the  Fourth  Vision  we  hear  of  those  ivho  stand  in  the 
presence  of  Jehovah^  and  in  the  Eighth  of  executant 
angels  coming  out  from  His  presence  with  commissions 
upon  the  whole  earth.' 

In  the  Visions  of  Zechariah,  then,  as  in  the  earlier 
books,  we  see  the  Lord  of  all  the  earth,  surrounded  by 
a  court  of  angels,  whom  He  sends  forth  in  human  form 
to  interpret  His  Word  and  execute  His  will,  and  in 
their  doing  of  this  there  is  the  same  indistinctness  of 
individuality,  the  same  predominance  of  function  over 
personality.  As  with  Ezekiel,  one  stands  out  more 
clearly  than  the  rest,  to  be  the  prophet's  interpreter, 
whom,  as  in  the  earlier  visions  of  angels,  Zechariah 
calls  my  lord,^  but  even  he  melts  into  the  figures  of 
the  rest.  These  are  the  old  and  borrowed  elements  in 
Zechariah's  doctrine  of  Angels.  But  he  has  added  to 
them  in  several  important  particulars,  which  make  his 
Visions  an  intermediate  stage  between  the  Book  of 
Ezekiel  and  the  very  intricate  angelology  of  later 
Judaism. 

In  the  first  place,  Zechariah  is  the  earhest  prophet 
who  introduces  orders  and  ranks  among  the  angels. 
In  his  Fourth  Vision  the  Angel  of  Jehovah  is  the  Divine 
Judge  before  whom^  Joshua  appears  with  the  Adversary. 

'  iii.  I  compared  with  2.  *  vi.  5. 

*  iii.  6,  7.  *  i.  9,  etc. 

•  iii.  I.  Stand  before  is  here  used  forensically :  cf.  the  N.T.  phrases 
to  stand  before  God,  Rev.  xx.  12;  before  the  jitJginmt-scat  of  Cliris', 
Rom.  xiv.  10;  and  be  acquilted,  Luke  xxi.  36. 


Zech.  i.  7-vi.  8]      THE  ANGELS   OF   THE    VISIONS  315 

He  also  has  others  standing  before  him  ^  to  execute  his 
sentences.  In  the  Third  Vision,  again,  the  Interpreting 
Angel  does  not  communicate  directly  with  Jehovah,  but 
receives  his  words  from  another  Angel  who  has  come 
forth.*  All  these  are  symptoms,  that  even  with  a 
prophet,  who  so  keenly  felt  as  Zechariah  did  the  ethical 
directness  of  God's  word  and  its  pervasiveness  through 
public  life,  there  had  yet  begun  to  increase  those 
feelings  of  God's  sublimity  and  awfulness,  which  in 
the  later  thought  of  Israel  lifted  Him  to  so  far  a 
distance  from  men,  and  created  so  complex  a  host  of 
intermediaries,  human  and  superhuman,  between  the 
worshipping  heart  and  the  Throne  of  Grace.  We  can 
best  estimate  the  difference  in  this  respect  between 
Zechariah  and  the  earUer  prophets  whom  we  have 
studied  by  remarking  that  his  characteristic  phrase 
talked  with  me,  literally  spake  in  or  by  me,  which  he  uses 
of  the  Interpreting  Angel,  is  used  by  Habakkuk  of  God 
Himself.'  To  the  same  awful  impressions  of  the  God- 
head is  perhaps  due  the  first  appearance  of  the  Angel 
as  intercessor.  Amos,  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah  themselves 
directly  interceded  with  God  for  the  people ;  but  with 
Zechariah  it  is  the  Interpreting  Angel  who  intercedes, 
and  who  in  return  receives  the  Divine  comfort.*  In  this 
angelic  function,  the  first  of  its  kind  in  Scripture,  we 
see  the  small  and  expHcable  beginnings  of  a  belief 
destined  to  assume  enormous  dimensions  in  the 
development  of  the  Church's  worship.  The  supplica- 
tion of  Angels,  the  faith  in  their   intercession  and  in 

'  iii.  4.     Here  the  phrase  is  used  domestically  of  servants  in  the 
presence  of  their  master.     See  above,  p.  293,  n.  2. 

'  Ji-  3.  4. 

•  Hab.  ii.  i :  of.  also  Num.  xii.  6-9. 

*  First  Virion,  i.  12. 


;i6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

:he  prevailing  prayers  of  the  righteous  dead,  which 
has  been  so  egregiously  multiplied  in  certain  sections 
of  Christendom,  may  be  traced  to  the  same  increasing 
sense  of  the  distance  and  awfulness  of  God,  but  is 
to  be  corrected  by  the  faith  Christ  has  taught  us  of 
the  nearness  of  our  Father  in  Heaven,  and  of  His 
immediate  care  of  His  every  human  child. 

The  intercession  of  the  Angel  in  the  First  Vision  is 
also  a  step  towards  that  identification  of  special  Angels 
with  different  peoples  which  we  find  in  the  Book  ot 
Daniel.  This  tells  us  of  heavenly  princes  not  only 
for  Israel — Michael,  your  prince,  the  great  prince  which 
standeth  up  for  the  children  of  thy  people  ^ — but  for  the 
heathen  nations,  a  conception  the  first  beginnings 
of  which  we  see  in  a  prophecy  that  was  perhaps 
not  far  from  being  contemporaneous  with  Zechariah.^ 
Zechariah's  Vision  of  a  hierarchy  among  the  angels  was 
also  destined  to  further  development.  The  head  of  the 
patrol  among  the  myrtles,  and  the  Judge- Angel  before 
whom  Joshua  appears,  are  the  first  Archangels.  We 
know  how  these  were  further  specialised,  and  had  even 
personalities  and  names  given  them  by  both  Jewish  and 
Christian  writers.' 

Among  the  Angels  described  in  the  Old  Testament, 
we  have  seen  some  charged  with  powers  of  hindrance 
and  destruction — a  troop  of  angels  of  evil}  They  too 
are  the  servants  of  God,  who  is  the  author  of  all  evil 
as  well  as  good,^  and  the  instruments  of  His  wrath. 


'  z.  21,  zii.  I. 

•  Isa.  xxiv.  21. 

•  Book  of  Daniel  x.,  xii.  ;  Tobit  xii.   15  ;  Book  of  Enoch  passim; 
Jude  9 ;  Rev.  viii.  2,  etc. 

*  Psalm  Ixxviii.  49.     See  above,  p.  312,  n.  i, 

*  Amos  iii.  6. 


Zech.  i.  7-vi.  8]      THE  ANGELS  OF  THE   VISIONS  317 

But  the  temptation  of  men  is  also  part  of  His 
Providence.  Where  wilful  souls  have  to  be  misled, 
the  spirit  who  does  so,  as  in  Ahab's  case,  comes  from 
Jehovah's  presence.*  All  these  spirits  are  just  as 
devoid  of  character  and  personality  as  the  rest  of  the 
angelic  host.  They  work  evil  as  mere  instruments  : 
neither  malice  nor  falseness  is  attributed  to  themselves. 
They  are  not  rebel  nor  fallen  angels,  but  obedient  to 
Jehovah.  Nay,  like  Ezekiel's  and  Zechariah's  Angels 
of  the  Word,  the  Angel  who  tempts  David  to  number 
the  people  is  interchangeable  with  God  Himself^ 
Kindred  to  the  duty  of  tempting  men  is  that  of  dis- 
cipline, in  its  forms  both  of  restraining  or  accusing 
the  guilty,  and  of  vexing  the  righteous  in  order  to  test 
them.  For  both  of  these  the  same  verb  is  used,  "  to 
satan,"'  in  the  general  sense  of  withstanding,  or  an- 
tagonising. The  Angel  of  Jehovah  stood  in  Balaam's 
way  to  satan  him}  The  noun,  the  Satan,  is  used 
repeatedly  of  a  human  foe.®  But  in  two  passages, 
of  which  Zechariah's  Fourth  Vision  is  one,  and  the 
other  the  Prologue  to  Job,*  the  name  is  given  to  an 
Angel,  one  of  the  sons  of  Elohim,  or  Divine  powers 
who  receive  their  commission  from  Jehovah.  The 
noun  is  not  yet,  what  it  afterwards  became,''  a  proper 
name  ;  but  has  the  definite  article,  the  Adversary  or 
Accuser — that    is,   the    Angel    to   whom  that    function 

'  I  Kings  xxii.  20  ff. 

'  2  Sam.  xxiv.  I  ;   I  Chron.  xxi.  I.     Though  here  difference  ot  age 
between  the  two  documents  may  have  caused  the  difference  of  view. 

*  There  are  two  forms  of  the  verb,  jO'J',  satan,  and  DL3b',  satam,  the 
latter  apparently  the  older. 

*  Num.  xxii.  22,  32. 

*  I  Sam.  xxix.  4;  2  Sam.  xix.  23  Heb.,  22  Eng. ;  I  Kings  v.  18 
xi.  14,  etc. 

*  Zech.  iii.  i  ff. ;  Job  i.  6  3.       '  i  Chron.  xxi.  i. 


ji8  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

was  assigned.  With  Zechariah  his  business  is  the 
official  one  of  prosecutor  in  the  supreme  court  of 
Jehovah ,  and  when  his  work  is  done  he  disappears. 
Yet,  before  he  does  so,  we  see  for  the  first  time  in 
connection  with  any  angel  a  gleam  of  character.  This 
is  revealed  by  the  Lord's  rebuke  of  him.  There 
is  something  blameworthy  in  the  accusation  of 
Joshua :  not  indeed  false  witness,  for  Israel's  guilt 
is  patent  in  the  foul  garments  of  their  High  Priest, 
but  hardness  or  malice,  that  would  seek  to  prevent 
the  Divine  grace.  In  the  Book  of  Job  the  Satan  is 
also  a  function,  even  here  not  a  fallen  or  rebel 
angel,  but  one  of  God's  court,*  the  instrument  of 
discipline  or  chastisement.  Yet,  in  that  he  himself 
suggests  his  cruelties  and  is  represented  as  forward 
and  officious  in  their  infliction,  a  character  is  imputed 
to  him  even  more  clearly  than  in  Zechariah's  Vision. 
But  the  Satan  still  shares  that  identification  with  his 
function  which  we  have  seen  to  characterise  all  the 
angels  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  therefore  he  dis- 
appears from  the  drama  so  soon  as  his  place  in  its 
high  argument  is  over.* 

In  this  description  of  the  development  of  Israel's 
doctrine  of  Angels,  and  of  Zechariah's  contributions 
to  it,  we  have  not  touched  upon  the  question  whether 
the  development  was  assisted  by  Israel's  contact  with 
the  Persian  religion  and  with  the  system  of  Angels  which 

>  i.  66. 

■  See  Davidson  in  Cambridge  Bible  for  Schools  on  Job  L  6-12, 
especially  on  ver.  9:  "The  Satan  of  this  book  may  show  the  begin- 
nings of  a  personal  malevolence  against  man,  but  he  is  still  rigidly 
subordinated  to  Heaven,  and  in  all  he  does  subserves  its  interests. 
H  s  function  is  as  the  minister  of  God  to  try  the  sincerity  of  man  ; 
hence  when  his  work  of  trial  is  over  he  is  no  more  found,  and  no 
place  is  given  him  among  the  dramatis  personce  of  the  poem." 


Zech,  i.  7-vi.  8j      THE  ANGELS  OF  THE   VISIONS  319 


^he  latter  contains.  For  several  reasons  the  question 
s  a  difficult  one.  But  so  far  as  present  evidence  goes, 
t  makes  for  a  negative  answer.  Scholars,  who  are  in 
no  way  prejudiced  against  the  theory  of  a  large  Persian 
influence  upon  Israel,  declare  that  the  religion  of 
Persia  afifc.cted  the  Jewish  doctrine  of  Angels  "  only  in 
secondary  points,"  such  as  their  "  number  and  person- 
ality, and  the  existence  of  demons  and  evil  spirits."^ 
Our  own  discussion  has  shown  us  that  Zechariah's 
Angels,  in  spite  of  the  new  features  they  introduce, 
are  in  substance  one  with  the  Angels  of  pre-exilic 
Israel.  Even  the  Satan  is  primarily  a  function,  and 
one  of  the  servants  of  God.  If  he  has  developed  an 
immoral  character,  this  cannot  be  attributed  to  the 
influence  of  Persian  belief  in  a  Spirit  of  evil  opposed 
to  the  Spirit  of  good  in  the  universe,  but  may  be 
explained  by  the  native,  or  selfish,  resentment  of  Israel 
against  their  prosecutor  before  the  bar  of  Jehovah. 
Nor  can  we  fail  to  remark  that  this  character  of  evil 
appears  in  the  Satan,  not,  as  in  the  Persian  religion,  in 
general  opposition  to  goodness,  but  as  thwarting  that 
saving  grace  which  was  so  peculiarly  Jehovah's  own. 
And  Jehovah  said  to  the  Satan,  Jehovah  rebuke  thee, 
O  SataUy  yea,  Jehovah  who  hath  chosen  Jerusalem  rebuke 
thee  !     Is  not  this  a  brand  plucked  Jrom  the  burning  ? 


'  Cheyne,  The  Origin  of  the  Psalter,  p.  272.     Read  carefully  on  this 
point  the  very  important  remarks  on  pp.  270  ft  and  281  L 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

**THE  SEED  OF  PEACE* 
Zechariah  vii.,  viiL 

THE  Visions  have  revealed  the  removal  of  the  guilt 
of  the  land,  the  restoration  of  Israel  to  their 
standing  before  God,  the  revival  of  the  great  national 
institutions,  and  God's  will  to  destroy  the  heathen  forces 
of  the  world.  With  the  Temple  built,  Israel  should 
be  again  in  the  position  which  she  enjoyed  before  the 
Exile,  Zechariah,  therefore,  proceeds  to  exhort  his 
people  to  put  away  the  fasts  which  the  Exile  had 
made  necessary,  and  address  themselves,  as  of  old,  to 
the  virtues  and  duties  of  the  civic  life.  And  he  intro- 
duces his  orations  to  this  end  by  a  natural  appeal  to 
the  experience  of  the  former   days. 

The  occasion  came  to  him  when  the  Temple  had 
been  building  for  two  years,  and  when  some  of  its 
services  were  probably  resumed.^  A  deputation  oi"  Jews 
appeared  in  Jerusalem  and  raised  the  question  of  the 
continuance  of  the  great  Fasts  of  the  Exile.  Who  the 
deputation  were  is  not  certain  :  probably  we  ought  to 
delete  Bethel  from  the  second  verse,  and  read  either 
El-sar'eser  sent  Regem-Melekh  and  his  men  to  the  house 
of  Jehovah  to  propitiate  Jehovah,  or  else  the  house  of 
El-sar'eser  sent  Regem-Melekh  and  his  men  to  propitiate 

'  Cf.  chap.  vii.  3 :  the  priests  which  were  of  the  house  of  Jehovah. 
^20 


Zech.  vu.,  wvii.]        "  THE  SEED  OF  PEACE'  321 


Jehovah.  It  has  been  thought  that  they  came  from 
the  Jews  in  Babylon  :  this  would  agree  with  their  arrival 
in  the  ninth  month  to  inquire  about  a  fast  in  the  fifth 
month.  But  Zechariah's  answer  is  addressed  to  Jews 
in  Judaea.  The  deputation  limited  their  inquiry  to 
the  fast  of  the  fifth  month,  which  commemorated  the 
burning  of  the  Temple  and  the  City,  now  practically 
restored.  But  with  a  breadth  of  viev/  which  reveals 
the  prophet  rather  than  the  priest,  Zechariah  replies, 
in  the  following  chapter,  upon  all  the  fasts  by  which 
Israel  for  seventy  years  had  bewailed  her  ruin  and 
exile.  He  instances  two,  that  of  the  fifth  month, 
and  that  of  the  seventh  month,  the  date  of  the  murder 
of  Gedaliah,  when  the  last  poor  remnant  of  a  Jewish 
state  was  swept  away.*  With  a  boldness  which 
recalls  Amos  to  the  very  letter,  Zechariah  asks  his 
people  whether  in  those  fasts  they  fasted  at  all  to 
their  God.  Jehovah  had  not  charged  them,  and  in 
fasting  they  had  fasted  for  themselves,  just  as  in 
eating  and  drinking  they  had  eaten  and  drunken  to 
themselves.  They  should  rather  hearken  to  the  words 
He  really  sent  them.  In  a  passage,  the  meaning  of 
which  has  been  perverted  by  the  intrusion  of  the  eight'i 
verse,  that  therefore  ought  to  be  deleted,  Zechariah 
recalls  what  those  words  of  Jehovah  had  been  in  the 
former  times  when  the  land  was  inhabited  and  the 
national  life  in  full  course.  They  v/ere  not  ceremonial ; 
they  were  ethical :  they  commanded  justice,  kindness, 
and  the  care  of  the  helpless  and  the  poor.  And  it 
was  in  consequence  of  the  people's  disobedience  to 
those  words  that  all  the  ruin  came  upon  them  for 
which  they  now  annually  mourned.  The  moral  is 
obvious  if  unexpressed.     Let  them  drop   their   fasts, 

'  Jer.  xli.  2 ;  2  Kings  xxv.  25. 
VOL.  IL  21 


322  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

and  practise  the  virtues  the  neglect  of  which  had  made 
their  fasts  a  necessity.  It  is  a  sane  and  practical 
word,  and  make?  us  feel  how  much  Zechariah  has 
inherited  of  the  temper  of  Amos  and  Isaiah.  He  rests, 
as  before,  upon  the  letter  of  the  ancient  oracles,  but 
only  so  as  to  bring  out  their  spirit.  With  such  an 
example  of  the  use  of  ancient  Scripture,  it  is  deplorable 
that  so  many  men,  both  among  the  Jews  and  the 
Christians,  should  have  devoted  themselves  to  the 
letter  at  the  expense  of  th**  spirit. 

And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  fourth  year  of  Darius  the 
king,  that  the  Word  of  Jehovah  came  to  Zechariah  on  the 
fourth  of  the  ninth  month,  Kislev.  For  there  sent  to 
the  house  of  Jehovah,  El-sar'eser  and  Regem-Melekh 
and  his  men^  to  propitiate  ^Jehovah,  to  ask  of  the  priests 
which  were  in  the  house  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts  and  of  the 
prophets  as  follows :  Shall  I  weep  in  tht  fifth  month 
with  fasting  as  I  have  now  done  so  many  years?  And 
ilie  Word  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts  came  to  me :  Speak  now 
to  all  the  people  of  the  land,  and  to  the  priests,  saying : 
When  ye  fasted  and  mourned  in  the  fifth  and  in  the 
seventh  month^  and  this  for  seventy  years,  did  ye  fast  at 
all  to  Me  ?  And  when  ye  eat  and  when  ye  drivk,  are  not 
ye  the  eaters  and  ye  the  drinkers  ?     Are  not  these  *  the 

'  The  Hebrew  text  is  difficult  if  not  impossible  to  construe:  For 
Bethel  sent  Sareser  (without  sign  of  accusative)  a^tri  Regein-Melekh 
and  his  men.  Wellhausen  points  out  that  Sar'eser  is  a  defective 
name,  requiring  the  name  or  title  of  deity  in  front  of  it,  and  Marti 
proposes  to  find  this  in  the  last  syllable  of  Bethel,  and  to  read 
'El-sar'eser.  It  is  tempting  to  find  in  the  first  syllable  of  Bethel  the 
remnant  of  the  phrase  to  the  house  of  Jehovah. 

*  To  stroke  the  face  of. 

*  The  fifth  month  Jerusalem  fell,  the  seventh  month  Gedaliah  was 
murdered  :  Jer.  lii.  12  f. ;  2  Kings  xxv.  8  f.,  25. 

*  So  LXX.  Heb.  has  ace.  sign  before  words,  perhaps  implying 
Is  it  not  rather  necessary  to  do  tJie  words  ?  etc 


Zech.  vii.,  viii.]        "  THE  SEED   OF  PEACE"  323 

words  which  Jehovah  proclaimed  by  the  hand  of  the  former 
prophets,  when  Jerusalem  was  inhabited  and  at  peace, 
ivith  her  cities  round  about  her,  and  the  Negeb  and  the 
Shephelah  were  inhabited? 

^  Thus  spake  Jehovah  of  Hosts  :  Judge  true  judgment, 
and  practise  towards  each  other  kindness  and  mercy ; 
oppress  neither  widow  nor  orphan,  stranger  nor  poor,  and 
think  not  evil  in  your  hearts  tozvards  one  another.  But 
they  refused  to  hearken,  and  turned  a  rebellious  shoulder^" 
and  their  ears  they  dulled  from  listening.  And  their 
heart  they  made  adamant,  so  as  not  to  hear  the  Torah 
and  the  words  which  Jehovah  of  Hosts  sent  through  His 
Spirit  by  the  hand  of  the  former  prophets;  and  there 
was  great  wrath  from  Jehovah  of  Hosts.  And  it  came 
to  pass  that,  as  He  had  called  and  they  heard  not,  so 
they  shall  call  and  I  will  not  hear,  said  Jehovah  of 
Hosts,  but  I  will  whirl  ^  them  away  among  nations 
zvhom  they  know  not.  And  the  land  was  laid  waste 
behind  them,  without  any  to  pass  to  and  fro,  and  they 
made  the  pleasant  land  desolate. 

There  follow  upon  this  deliverance  ten  other  short 
oracles  :  chap.  viii.  Whether  all  of  this  decalogue  are 
to  be  dated  from  the  same  time  as  the  answer  to  the 
deputation  about  the  fasts  is  uncertain.  Some  of  them 
appear  rather  to  belong  to  an  earlier  date,  for  they 
reflect  the  situation,  and  even  the  words,  of  Haggai's 
oracles,  and  represent  the  advent  of  Jehovah  to 
Jerusalem  as   still  future.      But   they   return    to   the 


'  Omit  here  ver.  8,  And  the  Word  of  Jehovah  came  to  Zechariah,  say- 
ing. It  is  obviously  a  gloss  by  a  scribe  who  did  not  notice  that  the 
^DX  HD  of  ver.  9  is  God's  statement  by  the  former  prophets. 

*  Cf.  the  phrase  with  one  shoulder,  i.e.  unanimously. 

•  So  Heb.  and  LXX. ;  but  perhaps  we  ought  to  point  and  I 
whirled  thcni  away,  taking  the  clause  with  the  next. 


324  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

question  of  the  fasts,  treating  it  still  more  compre- 
hensively than  before,  and  they  close  with  a  promise, 
fitly  spoken  as  the  Temple  grew  to  completion,  of  the 
coming  of  the  heathen  to  worship  at  Jerusalem. 

We  have  already  noticed  the  tender  charm  and 
strong  simplicity  of  these  prophecies,^  and  there  is  little 
now  to  add  except  the  translation  of  them.  As  with 
the  older  prophets,  and  especially  the  great  Evangelist 
of  the  Exile,  they  start  from  the  glowing  love  of 
Jehovah  for  His  people,  to  which  nothing  is  impos- 
sible ;  ^  they  promise  a  complete  return  of  the 
scattered  Jews  to  their  land,  and  are  not  content 
except  with  the  assurance  of  a  world  converted  to 
the  faith  of  their  God.  With  Haggai  Zechariah 
promises  the  speedy  end  of  the  poverty  of  the  little 
colony ;  and  he  adds  his  own  characteristic  notes  of 
a  reign  of  peace  to  be  used  for  hearty  labour,  bring- 
ing forth  a  great  prosperity.  Only  let  men  be  true 
and  just  and  kind,  thinking  no  evil  of  each  other, 
as  in  those  hard  days  when  hunger  and  the  fierce 
rivalry  for  sustenance  made  every  one's  neighbour 
his  enemy,  and  the  petty  life,  devoid  of  large  interests 
for  the  commonweal,  filled  their  hearts  with  envy  and 
malice.  For  ourselves  the  chief  profit  of  these  beau- 
tiful oracles  is  their  lesson  that  the  remedy  for  the 
sordid  tempers  and  cruel  hatreds,  engendered  by  the 
fierce  struggle  for  existence,  is  found  in  civic  and 
religious  hopes,  in  a  noble  ideal  for  the  national 
life,  and  in  the  assurance  that  God's  Love  is  at  the 
back  of  all,  with  nothing  impossible  to  it.  Amid 
these  glories,  however,  the  heart  will  probably  thank 
Zechariah    most    for    his    immortal    picture    of   the 

*  See  above,  pp.  271  .  ■  Cf.  especially  Isa.  xl.  flF. 


Zech. vii„ viii.]        "THE  SEED  OF  PEACE"  325 

Streets  of  the  new  Jerusalem :  old  men  and  women 
sitting  in  the  sun,  boys  and  girls  playing  in  all  the 
open  places.  The  motive  of  it,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  found  in  the  circumstances  of  his  own  day. 
Like  many  another  emigration,  for  religion's  sake,  from 
the  heart  of  civilisation  to  a  barren  coast,  the  poor 
colony  of  Jerusalem  consisted  chiefly  of  men,  young 
and  in  middle  Hfe.  The  barren  years  gave  no  en- 
couragement to  marriage.  The  constant  warfare  with 
neighbouring  tribes  allowed  few  to  reach  grey  hairs. 
It  was  a  rough  and  a  hard  society,  unblessed  by  the 
two  great  benedictions  of  life,  childhood  and  old  age. 
But  this  should  all  be  changed,  and  Jerusalem  filled 
with  placid  old  men  and  women,  and  with  joyous  boys 
and  girls.  The  oracle,  we  say,  had  its  motive  in 
Zechariah's  day.  But  what  an  oracle  for  these  times 
of  ours !  Whether  in  the  large  cities  of  the  old  world, 
where  so  few  of  the  workers  may  hope  for  a  quiet  old 
age,  sitting  in  the  sun,  and  the  children's  days  of  play 
are  shortened  by  premature  toil  and  knowledge  of  evil ; 
or  in  the  newest  fringes  of  the  new  world,  where  men's 
hardness  and  coarseness  are,  in  the  struggle  for  gold, 
unawed  by  reverence  for  age  and  unsoftened  by  the 
fellowship  of  childhood, — Zechariah's  great  promise 
is  equally  needed.  Even  there  shall  it  be  fulfilled 
if  men  will  remember  his  conditions — that  the  first 
regard  of  a  community,  however  straitened  in  means, 
be  the  provision  of  religion,  that  truth  and  whole- 
hearted justice  abound  in  the  gates,  with  love  and 
loyalty  in  every  heart  towards  every  other. 

And  the  Word  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts  came,  saying: — 
I.  Thus  saith  Jehovah   of  Hosts :  I  am  jealous  for 
Zion  with  a  great  jealousy,  and  with  great  anger  am  I 
jealous  for  her. 


326  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

2.  Thus  saith  Jehovah :  I  am  reUinicd  to  Zi'on,  and 
I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  Jerusalem,  and  Jerusalem  shall 
be  called  the  City  of  Troth, ^  and  the  mountain  of  Jehovah 
of  Hosts  the  Holy  Mountain. 

3.  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts :  Old  men  and  old 
women  shall  yet  sit  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  each  with 
staff  in  hand,  for  ftdness  of  days;  and  the  streets  of 
the  city  shall  be  full  of  boys  and  girls  playing  in  her 
streets. 

4.  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts :  Because  it  seems  too 
wonderful  to  the  remnant  of  this  people  in  those  days, 
shall  it  also  seem  too  wonderful  to  Me  ? — oracle  of  Jehovah 
of  Hosts. 

5.  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts:  Lot  I  am  about  to 
save  My  people  out  of  the  land  of  the  rising  and  out  of 
the  land  of  the  setting  of  the  sun;  and  I  will  bring  them 
home,  and  they  shall  dwell  in  the  midst  of  Jerusalem,  and 
they  shall  be  to  Me  for  a  people^  and  I  will  be  to  them 
for  God,  in  troth  and  in  righteousness. 

6.  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts :  Strengthen  your 
hands,  O  ye  who  have  heard  in  such  days  such  words 
from  the  mouth  of  the  prophets,  since '  the  day  ivhen  the 
House  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts  was  founded:  the  sanc- 
tuary was  to  be  built !  For  before  those  days  there  was 
no  gain  for  man,*  and  none  to  be  made  by  cattle;  and 
neither  for  him  that  went  out  nor  /or  him  that  came  in  was 
there  any  peace  from  the  adversary,  and  I  set  every  man's 
hand  against  his  neighbour.     But  not  now  as  in  the  past 


>  Isa.  i.  26. 

*  Not  merely  My  people  (Wellhausen),  but  their  return  shall  con- 
stitute them  a  people  once  more.     The  quotation  is  from  Hosea  ii.  2$. 

»  So  LXX. 

*  But  he  that  made  wages  made  them  to  put  them  into  a  bag  with 
holes,  Haggai  i.  6. 


Zech. vii., viii.]        *'THE  SEED  OF  PEACE"  ja? 

days  am  I  towards  the  remnant  of  this  people — oracle  of 
Tehovah  of  Hosts.  For  I  am  sowing  the  seed  of  peace} 
The  vine  shall  yield  her  fruit,  and  the  land  yield  her 
increase,  and  the  heavens  yield  their  dew,  and  I  mil 
give  them  all  for  a  heritage  to  the  remnant  of  this  people. 
And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  as  ye  have  been  a  curse 
among  the  nations,  O  house  offudah  and  house  of  Israel, 
so  will  I  save  you  and  ye  shall  be  a  blessing !  Be  not 
afraid,  strengthen  your  hands  ! 

7.  For  thus  saith  fehovah  of  Hosts  :  As  I  have  planned 
to  do  evil  to  you,  for  the  provocation  your  fathers  gave 
Me,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  and  did  not  relent,  so  have  I 
turned  and  planned  in  these  days  to  do  good  to  Jerusalem 
and  the  house  offudah.  Be  not  afraid  I  These  are  the 
things  which  ye  shall  do :  Speak  truth  to  one  another; 
truth  and  wholesome  judgment  decree  ye  in  your  gates; 
and  plan  no  evil  to  each  other  in  your  hearts,  nor  take 
pleasure  in  false  swearing :  for  it  is  all  these  that  I  hate — 
oracle  of  Jehovah. 

And  the  Word  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts  came  to  me, 
saying : — 

8.  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts:  The  fast  of  the 
fourth  month,  and  the  fast  of  the  fifth,  and  the  fast  of 
the  seventh,  and  the  fast  of  the  tenth,  shall  become  to  the 
house  of  fudah  joy  and  gladness  and  happy  feasts?  But 
love  ye  truth  and  peace. 

9.  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts :  There  shall  yet  come 
peoples  and  citizens  of  great  cities;   and  the  citizens  of 

'  Read  m^t^'n  nriTX  '•a  for  D)^L"n  y-ir  ^3  of  the  text, /or  the  seed 
of  peace.  The  LXX.  makes  yiT  a  verb.  Cf.  Hosea  ii.  23  ff.,  which  the 
next  clauses  show  to  be  in  the  mind  of  our  prophet.  Klostermann 
and  Nowack  prefer  Di?::'  i^yit,  her  {the  remnant's)  seed  shall  be  peace. 

*  In  the  tenth  month  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  had  begun  (2  Kings 
XXV.    l);   on   the  ninth   of  the    fourth   month  Jerusalem  was  taken 


328  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

one  city  *  will  go  to  another  city^  saying :  "  Let  us  go  to 
bropitiate  Jehovah,  and  to  seek  Jehovah  of  Hosts ! " 
''  /  will  go  too  !  "  A  nd  many  peoples  and  strong  nations 
shall  come  to  seek  Jehovah  of  Hosts  in  Jerusalem  and 
to  propitiate  Jehovah. 

lO.  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts :  In  those  days  ten 
men,  of  all  languages  of  the  nations,  shall  take  hold  of 
the  skirt  of  a  few  and  say,  We  will  go  with  you,  for  we 
have  heard  that  God  is  with  you. 


(Jer.  xxxix,  2) ;  on  the  seventh  of  the  fifth  City  and  Temple  were 
burnt  down  (2  Kings  xxv,  8) ;  m  the  seventh  month  Gedaliah  was 
assassinated  and  the  poor  relics  of  a  Jewish  state  swept  from  th« 
land  (Jer.  xli.).     See  above,  pp.  30  ff. 

'  LXX.  tht  citisens  of  five  cities  will  go  to  om. 


•MALACHM^ 


:29 


Have  we  not  all  Om  Father  ?  Why  then  are  we  unfaithful  to  each 
other  ? 

The  lips  of  a  Priest  guard  knowledge,  and  men  seek  instruction  fvof^ 
his  mouth,  for  he  is  the  Angel  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 


330 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE  BOOK  OF  "MALACHI" 

THIS  book,  the  last  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
prophetic  canon,  bears  the  title ;  Burden  or 
Oracle  of  the  Word  of  Jehovah  to  Israel  by  the  hand  of 
male'akhi.  Since  at  least  the  second  century  of  our 
era  the  word  has  been  understood  as  a  proper  name, 
Malachi  or  Malachias.  But  there  are  strong  objections 
to  this,  as  well  as  to  the  genuineness  of  the  whole  title, 
and  critics  now  almost  universally  agree  that  the  book 
was  originally  anonymous. 

It  is  true  that  neither  in  form  nor  in  meaning  is 
there  any  insuperable  obstacle  to  our  understanding 
"  malS'akhi "  as  the  name  of  a  person.  If  so,  however, 
it  cannot  have  been,  as  some  have  suggested,  an  abbre- 
viation of  Male  'akhiyah,  for,  according  to  the  analogy 
of  other  names  of  such  formation,  this  could  only 
express  the  impossible  meaning  Jehovah  is  Angel} 
But,  as  it  stands,  it  might  have  meant  My  Angel 
or  Messenger f   or   it   may    be   taken   as   an   adjective, 

'  n*3N^D  or  in^3X^0.  To  judge  from  the  analogy  of  other  cases 
of  the  same  formation  {e.g.  Abiyah  =  Jehovah  is  Father,  and  not 
Father  of  Jehovah),  this  name,  if  ever  extant,  could  not  have  borne 
the  meaning,  which  Robertson  Smith,  Cornill,  Kirkpatrick,  etc,  suppose 
it  must  have  done,  oi  Angel  of  Jehovah.  These  scholars,  it  should  be 
added,  oppose,  for  various  reasons,  the  theory  that  it  is  a  proper 
aaae. 

331 


332  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Angelicus}  Either  of  these  meanings  would  form  a 
natural  name  for  a  Jewish  child,  and  a  very  suitable 
one  for  a  prophet.  There  is  evidence,  however,  that 
some  of  the  earliest  Jewish  interpreters  did  not  think 
of  the  title  as  containing  the  name  of  a  person. 
The  Septuagint  read  by  the  hand  of  His  messenger,^ 
"  male'akho  "  ;  and  the  Targum  of  Jonathan,  while  re- 
taining "  male'akhi,"  rendered  it  My  messenger,  adding 
that  it  was  Ezra  the  Scribe  who  was  thus  designated.^ 
This  opinion  was  adopted  by  Calvin. 

Recent  criticism  has  shown  that,  whether  the  word 
was  originally  intended  as  a  personal  name  or  not,  it 
was  a  purely  artificial  one  borrowed  from  chap.  iii.  i, 
Behold,  I  send  My  messenger,  "  male  'akhi,"  for  the  title, 
which  itself  has  been  added  by  the  editor  of  the  Twelve 
Prophets  in  the  form  in  which  we  now  have  them. 
The  peculiar  words  of  the  title,  Burden  or  Oracle  of  the 
IVord  of  Jehovah,  occur  nowhere  else  than  in  the  titles 
of  the  two  prophecies  which  have  been  appended  to 
the  Book  of  Zechariah,  chap.  ix.  i  and  chap.  xii.  i,  and 
immediately  precede  this  Book  of  "  Malachi."  In  chap, 
ix.  I  the  Word  of  Jehovah  belongs  to  the  text ;  Burden 
or  Oracle  has  been  inserted  before  it  as  a  title  ;  then  the 
whole  phrase  has  been  inserted  as  a  title  in  chap,  xii  I. 
These  two  pieces  are  anonymous,  and  nothing  is  more 
likely  than  that  another   anonymous  prophecy  should 


'  Cf.  the  suggested  meaning  of  Haggai,  Festus.     Above,  p.  231. 

*  And  added  the  words,  lay  it  to  your  hearts:  ivx^'^P^  dyyiXovairrov' 
diffdt  h^  4wl  rcls  KapSlas  iifiQy.  Bachmann  (A.  T.  Utiiersttc/t.,  Berlin, 
1894,  pp.  109  ff.)  takes  this  added  clause  as  a  translation  of  2p2  -liD^b'!, 
and  suggests  that  it  may  be  a  corruption  of  an  original  272  ID^-l 
and  his  name  was  Kaleb.  But  the  reading  3^3  •ID^B'^  is  not  the 
exact  equivalent  of  the  Greek  phrase. 

» ^s'^M  H-iry  n"WK>  nipnn  "nxVp 


THE  BOOK  OF  "MALACHJ"  333 

have  received,  when  attached  to  them,  the  same  heading.* 
The  argument  is  not  final,  but  it  is  the  most  probable 
explanation  of  the  data,  and  agrees  with  the  other  facts. 
The  cumulative  force  of  all  that  we  have  stated — the 
improbability  of  male'akhi  being  a  personal  name,  the 
fact  that  the  earliest  versions  do  not  treat  it  as  such, 
the  obvious  suggestion  for  its  invention  in  the  male'akhi 
of  chap.  iii.  i,  the  absence  of  a  father's  name  and  place 
of  residence,  and  the  character  of  the  whole  title — is 
enough  for  the  opinion  rapidly  spreading  among  critics 
that  our  book  was,  like  so  much  more  in  the  Old 
Testament,  originally  anonymous.'  The  author  attacks 
the  religious  authorities  of  his  day ;  he  belongs  to  a 
pious  remnant  of  his  people,  who   are  overborne  and 

'  See    Stade,   Z.A.T.W.,    1881,    p.    14;    1882,    p.   308;    Cornill, 

Einleitimg,  4th  ed.,  pp.  207  f. 

'  So  (besides  Calvin,  who  takes  it  as  a  title)  even  Hengstenberg  in 
his  Christology  of  the  O.  T.,  Ewald,  Kuenen,  Reuss,  Stade,  Rob.  Smith, 
Cornill,  Wellhausen,  Kirkpatrick  (probably),  Wildeboer,  Nowack.  On 
the  other  side  Hitzig,  Vatke,  Nagelsbach  and  Volck  (in  Herzog),  Von 
Orelli,  Piisey  and  Robertson  hold  it  to  be  a  personal  name — Pusey  with 
this  qualification,  "that  the  prophet  may  have  framed  it  for  himself," 
similarly  Orelli.  They  support  their  opinion  by  the  fact  that  even 
the  LXX.  entitle  the  book  Mo\ax*as;  that  the  word  was  regarded 
as  a  proper  name  in  the  early  Church,  and  that  it  is  a  possible  name 
for  a  Hebrew.  In  opposition  to  the  hypothesis  that  it  was  borrowed 
from  chap.  iii.  I,  Hitzig  suggests  the  converse  that  in  the  latter  the 
prophet  plays  upon  his  own  name.  None  of  these  critics,  however, 
meets  the  objections  to  the  name  drawn  from  the  peculiar  character  of 
the  title  and  its  relations  to  Zech.  ix.  i,  xii.  i.  The  supposed  name 
of  the  prophet  gave  rise  to  the  legend  supported  by  many  of  the 
Fathers  that  Malachi,  like  Haggai  and  John  the  Baptist,  was  an 
incarnate  angel.  This  is  stated  and  condemned  by  Jerome,  Comtn,  ad 
Hag.  i.  13,  but  held  by  Origen,  Tertullian  and  others.  The  existence 
of  such  an  opinion  is  itself  proof  for  the  impersonal  character  of  the 
name.  As  in  the  case  of  the  rest  of  the  prophets.  Christian  tradition 
furnishes  the  prophet  with  the  outline  of  a  biography.  See  (Pseud-) 
Epiphanius  and  other  writers  quoted  above,  p.  232. 


334  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

perhaps  oppressed  by  the  majority.^  In  these  facts, 
which  are  all  we  know  of  his  personality,  he  found 
sufficient  reason  for  not  attaching  his  name  to  his 
prophecy. 

The  book  is  also  undated,  but  it  reflects  its  period 
almost  as  clearly  as  do  the  dated  Books  of  Haggai  and 
Zechariah.  The  conquest  of  Edom  by  the  Nabateans, 
which  took  place  during  the  Exile,'  is  already  past.^ 
The  Jews  are  under  a  Persian  viceroy.*  They  are  in 
touch  with  a  heathen  power,  which  does  not  tyrannise 
over  them,  for  this  book  is  the  first  to  predict  no 
judgment  upon  the  heathen,  and  the  first,  moreover,  to 
acknowledge  that  among  the  heathen  the  true  God  is 
worshipped  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  of  the  sun.^ 
The  only  judgment  predicted  is  one  upon  the  false 
and  disobedient  portion  of  ^Israel,  whose  arrogance  and 
success  have  cast  true  Israelites  into  despair.'  All 
this  reveals  a  time  when  the  Jews  were  favourably 
treated  by  their  Persian  lords.  The  reign  must  be 
that  of  Artaxerxes  Longhand,  464 — ^424. 

The  Temple  has  been  finished,'^  and  years  enough 
have  elapsed  to  disappoint  those  fervid  hopes  with 
which  about  518  Zechariah  expected  its  completion. 
The  congregation  has  grown  worldly  and  careless.  In 
particular  the  priests  are  corrupt  and  partial  in  the 
administration  of  the  Law."     There  have  been  many 


'  iii.  16  fi. 

•  See   above   on    Obadiah,   p.    169,   and    below  on   the  passage 
itself. 

•  i.  2-S.  *  i.  8. 

•  i.  II  :  the  verbs  here  are  to  be  taken  in  the  present,  not  as  is 
A.V.  in  the  future,  tense. 

•  Passim  :  especially  iii.  13  ff.,  24. 

i.  10;  iii.  X,  10.  '  ii.  i-g. 


THE  BOOK  OF  " MALACHJ"  335 

marriages  with  the  heathen  women  of  the  land ;  *  and 
the  laity  have  failed  to  pay  the  tithes  and  other  dues 
to  the  Temple.^  These  are  the  evils  against  which  we 
find  strenuous  measures  directed  by  Ezra,  who  returned 
from  Babylon  in  458,^  and  by  Nehemiah,  who  visited 
Jerusalem  as  its  governor  for  the  first  time  in  445  and 
for  the  second  time  in  433.  Besides,  "  the  rehgious 
spirit  of  the  book  is  that  of  the  prayers  of  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah.  A  strong  sense  of  the  unique  privileges  of 
the  children  of  Jacob,  the  objects  of  electing  love,*  the 
children  of  the  Divine  Father,*  is  combined  with  an 
equally  strong  assurance  of  Jehovah's  righteousness 
amidst  the  many  miseries  that  pressed  on  the  unhappy 
inhabitants  of  Judaea.  .  .  .  Obedience  to  the  Law  is 
the  sure  path  to  blessedness."'  But  the  question  still 
remains  whether  the  Book  of  "  Malachi "  prepared 
for,  assisted  or  followed  up  the  reforms  of  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah.  An  ancient  tradition  already  alluded  to^ 
assigned  the  authorship  to  Ezra  himself. 

Recent  criticism  has  been  divided  among  the  years 
immediately  before  Ezra's  arrival  in  458,  those  imme- 
diately before  Nehemiah's  first  visit  in  445,  those 
between  his  first  government  and  his  second,  and 
those  after  Nehemiah's  disappearance  from  Jerusalem. 
But  the  years  in  which  Nehemiah  held  office  may  be 
excluded,  because  the  Jews  are  represented  as  bringing 
gifts  to  the  governor,  which  Nehemiah  tells  us  he  did 
not  allow  to  be  brought  to  him.*     The  whole  question 

•  ii.  10-16.  *  i.  2. 

•  iii,  7-12.  •  ii.  la 

•  See  above,  pp.  195  f. 

•  ii.  17— iiL   12;  iii.  23  f.,  Eng.  iv.     The  above  sentences  are  from 
Robertson  Smith,  art.  "  Malachi,"  Encyc.  Brit.,  9th  ed. 

•  Above,  p.  332,  n.  3.  »  "Mai."  i.  8;  Neb.  v. 


336  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

depends  upon  what  Law  was  in  practice  in  Israel  when 
the  book  was  written.  In  445  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  by 
solemn  covenant  between  the  people  and  Jehovah,  insti- 
tuted the  code  which  we  now  know  as  the  Priestly  Code 
of  the  Pentateuch.  Before  that  year  the  ritual  and 
social  life  of  the  Jews  appear  to  have  been  directed  by 
the  Deuteronomic  Code.  Now  the  Book  of  **  Malachi  " 
enforces  a  practice  with  regard  to  the  tithes,  which 
agrees  more  closely  with  the  Priestly  Code  than  it 
does  with  Deuteronomy.  Deuteronomy  commands 
that  every  third  year  the  whole  tithe  is  to  be  given  to 
the  Levites  and  the  poor  who  reside  within  the  gates  01 
the  giver,  and  is  there  to  be  eaten  by  them.  "Malachi" 
commands  that  the  whole  tithe  be  brought  into  the 
storehouse  of  the  Temple  for  the  Levites  in  service 
there;  and  so  does  the  Priestly  Code.^  On  this 
ground  many  date  the  Book  of  "  Malachi "  after  445.^ 
But  "  Malachi's  "  divergence  from  Deuteronomy  on  this 
point  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  in  his  time 
there  were  practically  no  Levites  outside  Jerusalem  ; 
and  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  he  joins  the  tithe  with  the 
terumah  or  heave-offering  exactly  as  Deuteronomy 
does.'  On  other  points  of  the  Law  he  agrees  rather 
with  Deuteronomy  than  with  the  Priestly  Code.  He 
follows  Deuteronomy  in  calling  the  priests  sons  of 
Levi^  while  the  Priestly  Code  limits  the  priesthood  to 
I  lie  sons  of  Aaron.     He  seems  to  quote  Deuteronomy 


'  Deut.  xii.  Il,  xxvi.  12;  "Mai."  iii.  8,  10;  Num.  xviii.  21  flf.  (P). 

*  Vatke  (contemporaneous  with  Nehemiah),  Schrader,  Keil, 
Kuenen  (perhaps  in  second  governorship  of  Nehemiah,  but  see  above, 
p.  335,  for  a  decisive  reason  against  this),  Kohler,  Driver,  Von  Orelli 
(between  Nehemiah's  first  and  second  visit),  Kirkpatrick,  Robertson. 

•  Deut.  xii.  II.  In  P  terumah  is  a  due  paid  to  priests  as  distinct 
from  Levites.  *  ii.  4-8  :  cf.  Deut,  xxxiii.  8. 


THE  BOOK  OF  "  MA  LA  CHI"  337 

when  forbidding  the  oblation  of  blind,  lame  and  sick 
beasts;^  appears  to  diflfer  from  the  Priestly  Code 
which  allows  the  sacrificial  beast  to  be  male  or  female, 
when  he  assumes  that  it  is  a  male ;'  follows  the  expres- 
sions of  Deuteronomy  and  not  those  of  the  Priestly 
Code  in  detailing  the  sins  of  the  people ; '  and  uses  the 
Deuteronomic  phrases  the  Law  of  Moses,  My  servant 
Moses,  statutes  and  judgments,  and  Horeb  for  the  Mount  of 
the  Law.*  For  the  rest,  he  echoes  or  implies  only  Ezekiel 
and  that  part  of  the  Priestly  Code  ®  which  is  regarded 
as  earlier  than  the  rest,  and  probably  from  the  first 
years  of  exile.  Moreover  he  describes  the  Torah  as 
not  yet  fully  codified.*  The  priests  still  deliver  it  in  a 
way  improbable  after  445.  The  trouble  of  the  heathen 
marriages  with  which  he  deals  (if  indeed  the  verses  on 
this  subject  be  authentic  and  not  a  later  intrusion^) 
was  that  which  engaged  Ezra's  attention  on  his  arrival 
in  458,  but  Ezra  found  that  it  had  already  for  some 
time  been  vexing  the  heads  of  the  community.  While, ^1 
therefore,  we  are  obliged  to  date  the  Book  of  "Malachi" 
before  445  b.c,  it  is  uncertain  whether  it  preceded  or 
^-^— ^^— — ^^— ^— — — ^-^^— — — ^-^^— ^^— — ^-^— —  ^— ^— __^^_^__- 1 

•  i.  8;  Deut.  xv.  21.  *  L  14 ;  Lev.  iii.  i,  6. 

•  iii.  5  ;  Deut.  v.  il  ff.,  xviii.  10,  xxiv.  17  ff.;  Lev.  xix.  31,  33  f., 
zx.  6. 

•  iii.  22  Heb.,  iv.  4  Eng.  Law  of  Moses  and  Moses  My  servant  are 
found  only  in  the  Deuteronomistic  portions  of  the  Hexateuch  and 
historical  books  and  here.  In  P  Sinai  is  the  Mount  of  the  Law.  To 
the  above  may  be  added  segullah,  iii.  17,  which  is  found  in  the 
Pentateuch  only  outside  P  and  in  Psalm  cxxxv.  4.  All  these  resem- 
blances between  "  Malachi  "and  Deuteronomy  and  "  Malachi's  "  diver- 
gences from  P  are  given  in  Robertson  Smith's  Old  Test,  in  the  Jewish 
Church,  2nd  ed.,  425  fiF. :  of.  444  if. 

•  Lev.  xvii. — xxvi.  From  this  and  Ezekiel  he  received  the  concep- 
tion of  the  profanation  of  the  sanctuary  by  the  sins  of  the  people— 
ii.  II:  cf.  also  ii.  2,  iii.  3,  4,  for  traces  of  Ezekiel's  influence. 

•  ii.  6  flf.  '  See  below,  pp.  340,  363,  365. 
VOL.  II,  22 


338  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

followed    Ezra's    attempts    at    reform    in   458.       Most 
critics  now  think  that  it  preceded  them.^ 

The  Book  of  "  Malachi "  is  an  argument  with  the 
prophet's  contemporaries,  not  only  with  the  wicked 
among  them,  who  in  forgetfulness  of  what  Jehovah  is 
corrupt  the  ritual,  fail  to  give  the  Temple  its  dues, 
abuse  justice,  marry  foreign  wives,^  divorce  their  own, 
and  commit  various  other  sins ;  but  also  with  the 
pious,  who,  equally  forgetful  of  God's  character,  are 
driven  by  the  arrogance  of  the  wicked  to  ask,  whether 
He  loves  Israel,  whether  He  is  a  God  of  justice,  and 
to  murmur  that  it  is  vain  to  serve  Him.  To  these  twc 
classes  of  his  contemporaries  the  prophet  has  the 
following  answers.  God  does  love  Israel.  lie  is  wor- 
shipped everywhere  among  the  heathen.  He  is  the 
Father  of  all  Israel.  He  will  bless  His  people  when 
they  put  away  all  abuses  from  their  midst  and  pay 
their  religious  dues ;  and  His  Day  of  Judgment  is 
coming,  when  the  good  shall  be  separated  from  the 
wicked.  But  before  it  come,  Elijah  the  prophet  will 
be  sent  to  attempt  the  conversion  of  the  wicked,  or  at 
least  to  call  the  nation  to  decide  for  Jehovah.  This 
argument  is  pursued  in  seven  or  perhaps  eight  para- 
graphs, which  do  not  show  much  consecutiveness,  but 
are  addressed,  some  to  the  wicked,  and  some  to  the 
despairing  adherents  of  Jehovah. 

I.  Chap.  i.  2-5. — To  those  who  ask  how  God  loves  Israel,  the  proof 
of  Jehovah's  election  of  Israel  is  shown  in  the  fall  of  the  Edomites. 

'  Herzfeld,  Bleek,  Stade,  Kautzsch  (probably),  Wellhausen  {Gesch., 
p.  125),  Nowack  before  the  arrival  of  Ezra,  Cornill  either  soon  before 
or  soon  after  458,  Robertson  Smith  either  before  or  soon  after  445 
Hitzig  at  first  put  it  before  458,  but  was  afterwards  moved  to  date  ', 
after  358,  as  he  took  the  overthrow  of  the  Edomites  described  i 
chap.  i.  2-5  to  be  due  to  a  campaign  in  that  year  by  Artaxerjre 
Ochus  (cf.  Euseb,,  Chron.,  II.  22l).         '^  But  see  '>elow,  pp.  340,  36/ 


THE  BOOK  OF  "MALACHI"  339 

2.  Chap,  i.  6-14. — Charge  against  the  people  of  dishonouring  their 
God,  whom  even  the  heathen  reverence. 

3.  Chap.  ii.  1-9. — Charge  against  the  priests,  who  have  broken  the 
covenant  God  made  of  old  with  Levi,  and  debased  their  high  office  by 
not  reverencing  Jehovah,  by  misleading  the  people  and  by  perverting 
justice.  A  curse  is  therefore  fallen  on  them— they  are  contemptible 
in  the  people's  eyes. 

4.  Chap.  ii.  10-16. — A  charge  against  the  people  for  their  treachery 
to  each  other ;  instanced  in  the  heathen  marriages,  if  the  two  verses, 
II  and  12,  upon  this  be  authentic,  and  in  their  divorce  of  their  wives. 

5.  Chap.  ii.  17 — iii.  5  or  6. — Against  those  who  in  the  midst  of  such 
evils  grow  sceptical  about  Jehovah.  His  Angel,  or  Himself,  will 
come  first  io  purge  the  priesthood  and  ritual  that  there  may  be  pure 
sacrifices,  and  second  to  rid  the  land  of  its  criminals  and  sinners. 

6.  Chap.  iii.  6  or  7-12. — A  charge  against  the  people  of  neglecting 
tithes.    Let  these  be  paid,  disasters  shall  cease  and  the  land  be  blessed. 

7.  Chap.  iii.  13-31  Heb.,  Chap.  iii.  13— iv.  2  LXX.  and  Eng. — 
Another  charge  against  the  pious  for  saying  it  is  vain  to  serve  God. 
God  will  rise  to  action  and  separate  between  the  good  and  bad  in 
the  terrible  Day  of  His  coming. 

8.  To  this.  Chap.  iii.  22-24  Heb.,  Chap.  iv.  3-5  Eng.,  adds  a  call 
to  keep  the  Law,  and  a  promise  that  Elijah  will  be  sent  to  see  whether 
he  may  not  convert  the  people  before  the  Day  of  the  L^rcl  comes 
upon  them  with  its  curse. 

The  authenticity  of  no  part  of  the  book  has  been 
till  now  in  serious  question.  Bohme/  indeed,  took 
the  last  three  verses  for  a  later  addition,  on  account 
of  their  Dcuteronomic  character,  but,  as  Kuenen  points 
out,  this  is  in  agreement  with  other  parts  of  the  book. 
Sufficient  attention  has  not  yet  been  paid  to  the  question 
of  the  integrity  of  the  text.  The  Septuagint  offers  a 
few  emendations.*  There  are  other  passages  obviously 
or  probably  corrupt.'  The  text  of  the  title,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  uncertain,  and  probably  a  later  addition. 
Professor   Robertson    Smith   has    called    attention    to 

'  Z.A.T.W.,  1887,  2ioflF. 

•  i.  II,  for  ?n3  SeSo^ao-Tot;  perhaps  ii.  12,  HJ?  for  nV;  perhaps  iii.  8 ft 
for  V^^  "^PV;  16,  for  TX  radTO.. 

»  i.  II  flf. ;  ii.  3,  and  perhaps  12,  15. 


340  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

chap,  ii  1 6,  where  the  Massoretic  punctuation  seems 
to  have  been  determined  with  the  desire  to  support 
the  rendering  of  the  Targum  "  if  thou  hatest  her  put 
her  away,"  and  so  pervert  into  a  permission  to  divorce 
a  passage  which  forbids  divorce  ahnost  as  clearly  as 
Christ  Himself  did.  But  in  truth  the  whole  of  this 
passage,  chap.  ii.  10-16,  is  in  such  a  curious  state 
that  we  can  hardly  believe  in  its  integrity.  It  opens 
with  the  statement  that  God  is  the  Father  of  all  us 
Israelites,  and  with  the  challenge,  why  then  are  we 
faithless  to  each  other  ? — ver.  10.  But  vv.  1 1  and  12  do 
not  give  an  instance  of  this  :  they  describe  the  marriages 
with  the  heathen  women  of  the  land,  which  is  not  a 
proof  of  faithlessness  between  Israelites.  Such  a  proof 
is  furnished  only  by  w.  13-16,  with  their  condemnation 
of  those  who  divorce  the  wives  of  their  youth.  The 
verses,  therefore,  cannot  lie  in  their  proper  order,  and 
vv.  13-16  ought  to  follow  immediately  upon  ver.  10. 
This  raises  the  question  of  the  authenticity  of  w.  11 
and  12,  against  the  heathen  marriages.  If  they  bear 
such  plain  marks  of  having  been  intruded  into  their 
position,  we  can  understand  the  possibility  of  such  an 
intrusion  in  subsequent  days,  when  the  question  of 
the  heathen  marriages  came  to  the  front  with  Ezra 
and  Nehemiah.  Besides,  these  verses  11  and  12  lack 
the  characteristic  mark  of  all  the  other  oracles  of  the 
book :  they  do  not  state  a  general  charge  against 
the  people,  and  then  introduce  the  people's  question 
as  to  the  particulars  of  the  charge.  On  the  whole, 
therefore,  these  verses  are  suspicious.  If  not  a  later 
mtrusion,  they  are  at  least  out  of  place  where  they 
now  lie.  The  peculiar  remark  in  ver.  13,  and  this 
secondly  ye  do,  must  have  been  added  by  the  editor  tc 
whom  we  owe  the  present  arrangement. 


CHAPTER    XXV 

FROM  ZECHARIAH  TO  "MALACHI" 

BETWEEN  the  completion  of  the  Temple  in  516 
and  the  arrival  of  Ezra  in  458,  we  have  almost 
no  record  of  the  little  colony  round  Mount  Zion.  The 
Jewish  chronicles  devote  to  the  period  but  a  few  verses 
of  unsupported  tradition.^  After  517  we  have  nothing 
from  Zechariah  himself;  and  if  any  other  prophet 
appeared  during  the  next  half-century,  his  words  have 
not  survived.  We  are  left  to  infer  what  was  the  true 
condition  of  affairs,  not  less  from  this  ominous  silence 
than  from  the  hints  which  are  given  to  us  in  the 
writings  of  **  Malachi,"  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  after  the 
period  was  over.  Beyond  a  partial  attempt  to  rebuild 
the  walls  of  the  city  in  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes  I.,*  there 
seems  to  have  been  nothing  to  record.  It  was  a 
period  of  disillusion,  disheartening  and  decay.  The 
completion  of  the  Temple  did  not  bring  in  the  Messianic 
era.      Zerubbabel,  whom  Haggai  and  Zechariah  had 


'  Ezra  iv.  6-23. 

*  This  is  recorded  in  the  Aramean  document  which  has  been 
incorporated  in  our  Book  of  Ezra,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
its  reality.  In  that  document  we  have  already  found,  in  spite  of  its 
comparatively  late  date,  much  that  is  accurate  history.  See  above, 
p.  212.  And  it  is  clear  that,  the  Temple  being  finished,  the  Jews 
must  have  drawn  upon  themselves  the  same  religious  envy  of  the 
Samaritans   which  had  previously  delayed   the  construction  of  the 

341 


342  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

crowned  as  the  promised  King  of  Israel,  died  without 
reaching  higher  rank  than  a  minor  satrapy  in  the 
Persian  Empire,  and  even  in  that  he  appears  to  have 
been  succeeded  by  a  Persian  official.^  The  re-migrations 
from  Babylon  and  elsewhere,  which  Zechariah  predicted, 
did  not  take  place.  The  small  population  of  Jerusalem 
were  still  harassed  by  the  hostility,  and  their  morale 
sapped  by  the  insidiousness,  of  their  Samaritan  neigh- 
bours :  they  were  denied  the  stimulus,  the  purgation, 
the  glory  of  a  great  persecution.  Their  Persian  tyrants 
for  the  most  part  left  them  alone.  The  world  left 
them  alone.  Nothing  stirred  in  Palestine  except  the 
Samaritan  intrigues.  History  rolled  away  westward, 
and  destiny  seemed  to  be  settling  on  the  Greeks.  In 
490  Miltiades  defeated  the  Persians  at  Marathon.  In 
480  Thermopylae  was  fought  and  the  Persian  fleet 
broken  at  Salamis.  In  479  a  Persian  army  was 
destroyed  at  Plataea,  and  Xerxes  lost  Europe  and 
most  of  the  Ionian  coast.  In  460  Athens  sent  an 
expedition  to  Egypt  to  assist  the  Egyptian  revolt 
against  Persia,  and  in  457  "  her  slain  fell  in  Cyprus, 
in  Egypt,  in  Phoenicia,  at  Haliae,  in  .^gina,  and  in 
Megara  in  the  same  year." 

Thus  severely  left  to  themselves  and  to  the  petty 
hostilities  of  their  neighbours,  the  Jews  appear  to  have 
sunk  into  a  careless  and  sordid  manner  of  life.     They 

Temple.  To  meet  it,  what  more  natural  than  that  the  Jews  should 
have  attempted  to  raise  the  walls  of  their  city  ?  It  is  almost 
impossible  to  believe  that  they  who  had  achieved  the  construction 
of  the  Temple  in  516  should  not,  in  the  next  fifty  years,  make  some 
efifort  to  raise  their  fallen  walls.  And  indeed  Nehemiah's  account  of 
his  own  work  almost  necessarily  implies  that  they  had  done  so,  for 
what  he  did  after  445  was  not  to  build  new  walls,  but  rather  to 
repair  shattered  ones. 

'  See  above,  p.  335,  n.  8,  and  below,  p.  354,  on  "  Mai."  i.  8. 


FROM  ZECHARIAH  TO   " MALACHI"  343 

entered  the  period,  it  is  true,  with  some  sense  of  their 
distinction/     In  exile  they  had  suffered  God's  anger,^ 
and  had  been  purged  by  it.     But  out  of  disciphne  often 
springs  pride,  and  there  is  no  subtler  temptation  of 
the  human  heart.     The  returned  Israel  felt  this  to  the 
quick,  and  it  sorely  unfitted  them  for  encountering  the 
disappointment    and    hardship   which    followed    upon 
the   completion    of  the    Temple.       The    tide  of   hope, 
which  rose    to    flood    with    that  consummation,  ebbed 
rapidly  away,  and    left  God's   people  struggling,    like 
any  ordinary  tribe  of  peasants,  with  bad  seasons  and 
the  cruelty  of  their  envious  neighbours.      Their  pride 
was  set  on  edge,  and  they  fell,  not  as  at  other  periods 
of  disappointment  into  despair,  but  into  a  bitter  care- 
lessness and  a  contempt  of  their  duty  to  God.     This 
was    a    curious    temper,    and,    so   far    as   we    know, 
new  in  Israel.     It  led  them  to  despise  both  His  love 
and  His  holiness.^     They  neglected  their  Temple  dues, 
and  impudently  presented  to  their  God  polluted  bread 
and  blemished  beasts  which  they  would  not  have  dared 
to  offer  to  their  Persian  governor.*     Like  people  like 
priest :    the    priesthood    lost   not   reverence    only,    but 
decency   and    all    conscience   of   their    office,®      They 
despised  the   Table  of  the  Lord,  ceased  to  instruct  the 
people  and  grew  partial  in  judgment.    As  a  consequence 
they  became  contemptible  in  the  eyes  of  the  community. 
Immorality  prevailed   among   all    classes :   every   man 
dealt  treacherously  with  his  brother.*     Adultery,  perjury, 
fraud  and  the  oppression  of  the  poor  were  very  rife. 
One  particular  fashion,  in  which  the  people's  wounded 

'  Cf.   Stade,  Gesch.  des  Volkes  Israel,    II.,   pp.    128-138,   the  best 
account  of  this  period.  *  Id.  i.  7f.,  12-14. 

■  "  Mai."  iii.  14.  »  Id.  i.  6  f.,  ii. 

»  "Mai."  i.  2,  6;  iii.  8  t.  "  LI.  ii.  10. 


344  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

pride  spited  itself,  was  the  custom  of  marriage  which 
even  the  best  families  contracted  with  the  half-heathen 
people  of  the  land.  Across  Judah  there  were  scattered 
the  descendants  of  those  Jews  whom  Nebuchadrezzar 
had  not  deemed  worth  removing  to  Babylon.  Whether 
regarded  from  a  social  or  a  religious  point  of  view, 
their  fathers  had  been  the  dregs  of  the  old  community. 
Their  own  religion,  cut  off  as  they  were  from  the 
main  body  of  Israel  and  scattered  among  the  old 
heathen  shrines  of  the  land,  must  have  deteriorated 
still  further ;  but  in  all  probability  they  had  secured 
for  themselves  the  best  portions  of  the  vacant  soil, 
and  now  enjoyed  a  comfort  and  a  stability  of  welfare 
far  beyond  that  which  was  yet  attainable  by  the  majority 
of  the  returned  exiles.  More  numerous  than  these 
dregs  of  ancient  Jewry  were  the  very  mixed  race  of 
the  Samaritans.  They  possessed  a  rich  land,  which 
they  had  cultivated  long  enough  for  many  of  tiieir 
families  to  be  settled  in  comparative  wealth.  With 
all  these  half-pagan  Jews  and  Samaritans,  the  families 
of  the  true  Israel,  as  they  regarded  themselves,  did 
not  hesitate  to  form  alliances,  for  in  the  precarious 
position  of  the  colony,  such  alliances  were  the  surest 
way  both  to  wealth  and  to  political  influence.  How 
much  the  Jews  were  mastered  by  their  desire  for 
them  is  seen  from  the  fact  that,  when  the  relatives  of 
their  half-heathen  brides  made  it  a  condition  of  the 
marriages  that  they  should  first  put  away  their  old 
wives,  they  readily  did  so.  Divorce  became  very 
frequent,  and  great  suffering  was  inflicted  on  the  native 
Jewish  women. ^ 

So  the  religious  condition  of  Israel  declined  for  nearly 

'  "  Mai."  iL  10-16. 


FROM  ZECHARIAH   TO   "MALACHI"  345 

two  generations,  and  then  about  460  the  Word  of 
God,  after  long  silence,  broke  once  more  through  a 
prophet's  lips. 

We  call  this  prophet  "  Malachi,"  following  the  error 
of  an  editor  of  his  book,  who,  finding  it  nameless, 
inferred  or  invented  that  name  from  its  description  of 
the  priest  as  the  "  Male'ach,"  or  messenger,  of  the  Lord 
of  Hosts.  ^  But  the  prophet  gave  himself  no  name. 
Writing  from  the  midst  of  a  poor  and  persecuted  group 
of  the  people,  and  attacking  the  authorities  both  of 
church  and  state,  he  preferred  to  publish  his  charge 
anonymously.  His  name  was  in  the  Lord's  own  book  of 
remembrance? 

The  unknown  prophet  addressed  himself  both  to  the 
sinners  of  his  people,  and  to  those  querulous  adherents 
of  Jehovah  Vv^hom  the  success  of  the  sinners  had 
tempted  to  despair  in  their  service  of  God.  His  style 
shares  the  practical  directness  of  his  predecessors 
among  the  returned  exiles.  He  takes  up  one  point 
after  another,  and  drives  them  home  in  a  series  of 
strong,  plain  paragraphs  of  prose.  But  it  is  sixty 
years  since  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  and  in  the  circum- 
stances we  have  described,  a  prophet  could  no  longer 
come  forward  as  a  public  inspirer  of  his  nation. 
Prophecy  seems  to  have  been  driven  from  public  life, 
from  the  sudden  enforcement  of  truth  in  the  face  of  the 
people  to  the  more  deliberate  and  ordered  argument 
which  marks  the  teacher  who  works  in  private.  In  the 
Book  of  "  Malachi "  there  are  many  of  the  principles 
and  much  of  the  enthusiasm  of  the  ancient  Hebrew 
seer.      But   the   discourse   is   broken    up   into  formal 


'  For  proof  of  this  see  above,  pp.  331  f. 
'  "  Mai."  iii.  16. 


346  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


paragraphs,  each  upon  the  same  academic  model.  First 
a  truth  is  pronounced,  or  a  charge  made  against  the 
people  ;  then  with  the  words  but  ye  will  say  the  prophet 
states  some  possible  objection  of  his  hearers,  proceeds 
to  answer  it  by  detailed  evidence,  and  only  then  drives 
home  his  truth,  or  his  charge,  in  genuine  prophetic 
fashion.  To  the  student  of  prophecy  this  peculiarity 
of  the  book  is  of  the  greatest  interest,  for  it  is  no 
merely  personal  idiosyncrasy.  We  rather  feel  that 
prophecy  is  now  assuming  the  temper  of  the  teacher. 
The  method  is  the  commencement  of  that  which  later 
on  becomes  the  prevailing  habit  in  Jewish  literature. 
Just  as  with  Zephaniah  we  saw  prophecy  passing  into 
Apocalypse,  and  with  Habakkuk  into  the  speculation 
of  the  schools  of  Wisdom,  so  now  in  "  Malachi "  we 
perceive  its  transformation  into  the  scholasticism  of 
the  Rabbis. 

But  the  interest  of  this  change  of  style  must  not 
prevent  us  from  appreciating  the  genuine  prophetic 
spirit  of  our  book.  Far  more  fully  than,  for  instance, 
that  of  Haggai,  to  the  style  of  which  its  practical  sim- 
plicity is  so  akin,  it  enumerates  the  prophetic  principles  : 
the  everlasting  Love  of  Jehovah  for  Israel,  the  Father- 
hood of  Jehovah  and  His  Holiness,  His  ancient  Ideals 
for  Priesthood  and  People,  the  need  of  a  Repentance 
proved  by  deeds,  the  consequent  Promise  of  Prosperity, 
the  Day  of  the  Lord,  and  Judgment  between  the  evil 
and  the  righteous.  Upon  the  last  of  these  the  book 
affords  a  striking  proof  of  the  delinquency  of  the  people 
during  the  last  half-century,  and  in  connection  with 
it  the  prophet  introduces  certain  novel  features.  To 
Haggai  and  Zechariah  the  great  Tribulation  had  closed 
with  the  Exile  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple : 
Israel  stood  on  the  margin  of  the  Messianic  age.     But 


FROM  ZECHARIAH  TO  "MALACHI"  347 

the  Book  of  "  Malachi "  proclaims  the  need  of  another 

judgment  as  emphatically  as  the  older  prophets  had 
predicted  the  Babylonian  doom.  "  Malachi "  repeats 
their  name  for  it,  the  great  and  terrible  Day  of  Jehovah. 
But  he  does  not  foresee  it,  as  they  did,  in  the  shape 
of  a  historical  process.  His  description  of  it  is  pure 
Apocalypse — the  fire  of  the  smelter  and  the  fuller'' s  acid: 
the  day  that  burns  like  a  furnace^  when  all  wickedness 
is  as  stubble,  and  all  evil  men  are  devoured,  but  to 
the  righteous  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  shall  arise  with 
healing  in  His  wings,  and  they  shall  tread  the  wicked 
under  foot.*  To  this  the  prophet  adds  a  novel  promise. 
God  is  so  much  the  God  of  love,*  that  before  the  Day 
comes  He  will  give  His  people  an  opportunity  of  con- 
version. He  will  send  them  Elijah  the  prophet  to 
change  their  hearts,  that  He  may  be  prevented  from 
striking  the  land  with  His  Ban. 

In  one  other  point  the  book  is  original,  and  that 
is  in  its  attitude  towards  the  heathen.  Among  the 
heathen,  it  boldly  says,  Jehovah  is  held  in  higher 
reverence  than  among  His  own  people.'  In  such 
a  statement  we  can  hardly  fail  to  feel  the  influence 
upon  Israel  of  their  contact,  often  close  and  personal, 
with  their  wise  and  mild  tyrants  the  Persians.  We 
may  emphasise  the  verse  as  the  first  note  of  that 
recognition  of  the  real  religiousness  of  the  heathen, 
which  we  shall  find  swelling  to  such  fulness  and 
tenderness  in  the  Book  of  Jonah. 

Such  are  in  brief  the  style  and  the  principles  of  the 
Book  of  "  Malachi,"  whose  separate  prophecies  we  may 
now  proceed  to  take  up  in  detail. 


•  iii.  2,  19  ff.  Heb.,  iv.  i  ff.  Eng. 

*  iii.  6.  '  i.  II. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

PROPHECY  WITHIN  THE  LAW 
"  Malachi  "  i. — iv. 

BENEATH  this  title  we  may  gather  all  the  eight 
sections  of  the  Book  of  "  Malachi."  They  con- 
tain many  things  of  perennial  interest  and  validity : 
their  truth  is  applicable,  their  music  is  still  musical,  to 
ourselves.  But  their  chief  significance  is  historical. 
They  illustrate  the  development  of  prophecy  within  the 
Law.  Not  under  the  Law,  be  it  observed.  For  if  one 
thing  be  more  clear  than  another  about  "  Malachi's " 
teaching,  it  is  that  the  spirit  of  prophecy  is  not  yet 
crushed  by  the  legaHsm  which  finally  killed  it  within 
Israel.  "Malachi"  observes  and  enforces  the  demands 
of  the  Deuteronomic  law  under  which  his  people  had 
lived  since  the  Return  from  Exile.  But  he  traces 
each  of  these  to  some  spiritual  principle,  to  some 
essential  v^i  leligion  in  the  character  of  Israel's  God, 
which  is  either  doubted  or  neglected  by  his  contem- 
poraries in  their  lax  performance  of  the  Law.  That 
is  why  we  may  entitle  his  book  Prophecy  within  the 
Law. 

The  essential  principles  of  the  religion  of  Israel  which 
had  been  shaken  or  obscured  by  the  delinquency  of  the 
people    during  the  half-century  after  the  rebuilding  of 

348 


"Mal."i.-iv.]     PROPHECY  WITHIN  THE  LAW  349 

the  Temple  were  three — the  distinctive  Love  of  Jehovah 
for  His  people,  His  Holiness,  and  His  Righteousness. 
The  Book  of  "  Malachi  "  takes  up  each  of  these  in  turn, 
and  proves  or  enforces  it  according  as  the  people  have 
formally  doubted  it  or  in  their  carelessness  done  it 
despite. 

I.  God's  Love  for  Israel  and  Hatred  of  Edom 
(Chap.  i.  2-5). 

He  begins  with  God's  Love,  and  in  answer  to  the 
disappointed  ^  people's  cry,  Wherein  hast  Thou  loved  us  ? 
he  does  not,  as  the  older  prophets  did,  sweep  the  whole 
history  of  Israel,  and  gather  proofs  of  Jehovah's  grace 
and  unfaihng  guidance  in  all  the  great  events  from  the 
deliverance  from  Egypt  to  the  deliverance  from  Babylon. 
But  he  confines  himself  to  a  comparison  of  Israel  with 
the  Gentile  nation,  which  was  most  akin  to  Israel 
according  to  the  flesh,  their  own  brother  Edom.  It  is 
possible,  of  course,  to  see  in  this  a  proof  of  our  prophet's 
narrowness,  as  contrasted  with  Amos  or  Hosea  or  the 
great  Evangelist  of  the  Exile.  But  we  must  remember 
that  out  of  all  the  history  of  Israel  "  Malachi "  could  not 
have  chosen  an  instance  which  would  more  strongly 
appeal  to  the  heart  of  his  contemporaries.  We  have 
seen  from  the  Book  of  Obadiah  how  ever  since  the 
beginning  of  the  Exile  Edom  had  come  to  be  regarded 
by  Israel  as  their  great  antithesis.*  If  we  needed 
further  proof  of  this  we  should  find  it  in  many  Psalms 
of  the  Exile,  which  like  the  Book  of  Obadiah  remember 
with  bitterness  the  hostile  part  that  Edom  played  in 
the  day  of  Israel's  calamity.     The  two  nations  were 

'  See  above,  p.  343. 

•  See  above,  Chapter  XIV,  on  "  Edom  and  Israel." 


350  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Utterly  opposed  in  genius  and  character.  Edom  was 
a  people  of  as  unspiritual  and  self-sufficient  a  temper 
as  ever  cursed  any  of  God's  human  creatures.  Like 
their  ancestor  they  were  profane,^  without  repentance, 
humility  or  ideals,  and  almost  without  religion.  Apart, 
therefore,  from  the  long  history  of  war  between  the 
two  peoples,  it  was  a  true  instinct  which  led  Israel  to 
regard  their  brother  as  representative  of  that  heathendom 
against  which  they  had  to  realise  their  destiny  in  the 
world  as  God's  own  nation.  In  choosing  the  contrast 
of  Edom's  fate  to  illustrate  Jehovah's  love  for  Israel, 
"  Malachi "  was  not  only  choosing  what  would  appeal 
to  the  passions  of  his  contemporaries,  but  what  is 
the  most  striking  and  constant  antithesis  in  the  whole 
history  of  Israel :  the  absolutely  diverse  genius  and 
destiny  of  these  two  Semitic  nations  who  were  nearest 
neighbours  and,  according  to  their  traditions,  twin- 
brethren  after  the  flesh.  If  we  keep  this  in  mind  we 
shall  understand  Paul's  use  of  the  antithesis  in  the 
passage  in  which  he  clenches  it  by  a  quotation  from 
"  Malachi "  :  as  it  is  written,  Jacob  have  I  loved,  but  Esau 
have  I  hated}  In  these  words  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine 
election  of  individuals  appears  to  be  expressed  as 
absolutely  as  possible.  But  it  would  be  unfair  to  read 
the  passage  except  in  the  light  of  Israel's  history.  In 
Ihe  Old  Testament  it  is  a  matter  of  fact  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  Divine  preference  of  Israel  to  Esau 
appeared  only  after  the  respective  characters  of  the 
nations  were  manifested  in  history,  and  that  it  grew 
more  defined  and  absolute  only  as  history  discovered 


•  Heb.  xii.  1 6. 

^  Romans  ix.   13.      The  citation  is   from  the  LXX. :  t4i'  'IoK(J»y9 
■tjy&irr^ca,  rhv  8i  'HiraO  ifilxrijaa. 


"  Mai."  i.-iv.]     PROPHECY  WITHIN  THE  LAW  351 

more  of  the  fundamental  contrast  between  the  two  in 
genius  and  destiny.^  In  the  Old  Testament,  therefore, 
the  doctrine  is  the  result,  not  of  an  arbitrary  belief  in 
God's  bare  fiat,  but  of  historical  experience ;  although, 
of  course,  the  distinction  which  experience  proves  is 
traced  back,  with  everything  else  of  good  or  evil  that 
happens,  to  the  sovereign  will  and  purpose  of  God. 
Nor  let  us  forget  that  the  Old  Testament  doctrine  of 
election  is  of  election  to  service  only.  That  is  to  say, 
the  Divine  intention  in  electing  covers  not  the  elect 
individual  or  nation  only,  but  the  whole  world  and  its 
needs  of  God  and  His  truth. 

The  event  to  which  "  Malachi  "  appeals  as  evidence 
for  God's  rejection  of  Edom  is  the  desolation  of  the 
latter's  ancient  heritage,  and  the  abandonment  of  it 
to  the  jackals  of  the  desert.  Scholars  used  to  think 
that  these  vague  phrases  referred  to  some  act  of  the 
Persian  kings :  some  removal  of  the  Edomites  from 
the  lands  of  the  Jews  in  order  to  make  room  for  the 
returned  exiles.'  But  "  Malachi  "  says  expressly  that 
it  was  Edom's  own  heritage  which  was  laid  desolate 
This  can  only  be  Mount  Esau  or  Se'ir,  and  the  state- 
ment that  it  was  delivered  to  the  jackals  of  the  desert 
proves  that  the  reference  is  to  that  same  expulsion  of 
Edom  from  their  territory  by  the  Nabatean  Arabs 
which  we  have  already  seen  the  Book  of  Obadiah 
relate  about  the  beginning  of  the  Exile,' 


'  This  was  mainly  after  the  beginning  ol  exile.  Shortly  before 
that  Deut.  xxiii.  7  says :  Thou  shalt  not  abhor  an  Edomite,  Jor  he  is 
thy  brother. 

*  So  even  so  recently  as  1888,  Stade,  Gesch.  des  Volkes  Israel, 
II.,  p.  112. 

•  See  above,  p.  169.  This  interpretation  is  there  said  to  be 
Wellhausen's ;  but  Cheyne,  in  a  note  contributed  to  the  Z.A.T.W., 


352  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

But  it  is  now  time  to  give  in  full  the  opening 
passage  of  "  Malachi,"  in  which  he  appeals  to  this 
important  event  as  proof  of  God's  distinctive  love  for 
Israel,  and,  **  Malachi "  adds,  of  His  power  beyond 
Israel's  border  ("  Mai."  chap.  i.  2-5). 

/  have  loved  you,  saith  Jehovah.  But  ye  say, 
"  Wherein  hast  Thou  loved  us  ?  "  7s  not  Esau  brother 
to  Jacob  ? — oracle  of  Jehovah — and  I  have  loved  Jacob  and 
Esau  have  I  hated.  I  have  made  his  mountains  desolate, 
and  given  his  heritage  to  the  jackals  of  the  desert.  Should 
the  people  of  Edom  say,^  "  We  are  destroyed,  but  we 
will  rebuild  the  waste  places,^*  thus  saith  Jehovah  of 
Hosts,  They  may  build,  but  I  will  pull  down  :  men  shall 
call  them  "  The  Border  of  Wickedness  "  and  "  The  People 
with  whom  Jehovah  is  wroth  for  ever."  And  your  eyes 
shall  see  it,  and  yourselves  shall  say,  "Great  is  Jehovah 
beyond  Israelis  border." 

2.  "Honour  Thy  Father"  (Chap.  L  6-14). 

From  God's  Love,  which  Israel  have  doubted,  the 
prophet  passes  to  His  Majesty  or  Holiness,  which  they 
have  wronged.  Now  it  is  very  remarkable  that  the 
relation  of  God  to  the  Jews  in  which  the  prophet 
should  see  His  Majesty  illustrated  is  not  only  His 
lordship  over  them  but  His  Fatherhood  :  A  son  honours 
a  father,  and  a  servant  his  lord;  but  if  I  be  Father, 
where  is  My  honour  ?  and  if  I  be  Lord,  where  is  there 

1894,  p.  142,  points  out  that  Gratz,  in  an  article  "  Die  Anfange 
der  Nabataer-Herrschaft  "  in  the  Monatschrift  fur  Wissenschaft  u. 
Geschichte  des  Jtidenthunis,  1875,  pp.  60-66,  had  already  explained 
"  Mai."  i.  1-5  as  describing  the  conquest  of  Edom  by  the  Nabateans. 
This  is  adopted  by  Buhl  in  his  Gesch.  der  Edomiter,  p.  79. 

'  The  verb  in  the  feminine  indicates  that  the  population  of  Edom 
is  meant. 


"Mal."i.-iv.]    PROPHECY  WITHIN  THE  LAW  353 

reverence  for  Me  ?  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts}  We  are 
so  accustomed  to  associate  with  the  Divine  Fatherhood 
only  ideas  of  love  and  pity  that  the  use  of  the  relation 
to  illustrate  not  love  but  Majesty,  and  the  setting  of  it  in 
parallel  to  the  Divine  Kingship,  may  seem  to  us  strange. 
Yet  this  was  very  natural  to  Israel.  In  the  old  Semitic 
world,  even  to  the  human  parent,  honour  was  due  before 
love.  Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  said  the  Fifth 
Commandment ;  and  when,  after  long  shyness  to  do 
so,  Israel  at  last  ventured  to  claim  Jehovah  as  the 
Father  of  His  people,  it  was  at  first  rather  with  the 
view  of  increasing  their  sense  of  His  authority  and 
their  duty  of  reverencing  Him,  than  with  the  view  of 
bringing  Him  near  to  their  hearts  and  assuring  them 
of  His  tenderness.  The  latter  elements,  it  is  true, 
were  not  absent  from  the  conception.  But  even  in 
the  Psalter,  in  which  we  find  the  most  intimate  and 
tender  fellowship  of  the  believer  with  God,  there  is 
only  one  passage  in  which  His  love  for  His  own  is 
compared  to  the  love  of  a  human  father.'  And  in 
the  other  very  few  passages  of  the  Old  Testament 
where  He  is  revealed  or  appealed  to  as  the  Father 
of  the  nation,  it  is,  with  two  exceptions,'  in  order 
either  to  emphasise  His  creation  of  Israel  or  His  disci- 
pline. So  in  Jeremiah,*  and  in  an  anonymous  prophet 
of  the  same  period  perhaps  as  "  Malachi."  *  This 
hesitation  to  ascribe  to  God  the  name  of  Father,  and 


'i6. 

'  Psalm  ciiL  9.  In  Psalm  Ixxiii.  15  believers  are  called  His 
children ;  but  elsewhere  sonship  is  claimed  only  for  the  king — 
ii.  7,  Ixxxix.  27  f. 

■  Hosea  xi,  i  flf.  (though  even  here  the  idea  of  discipline  is  present) 
and  Isa.  Ixiii.   16.  *  iii.  4. 

*  Isa.  Ixiv.  8,  cf.  Deut    xzxii.  Ii  where  the  discipline  of  Israel  by 

VOL.  II.  23 


354  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

this  severe  conception  of  what  Fatherhood  meant,  was 
perhaps  needful  for  Israel  in  face  of  the  sensuous 
ideas  of  the  Divine  Fatherhood  cherished  by  their 
heathen  neighbours.^  But,  however  this  may  be,  the 
infrequency  and  austerity  of  Israel's  conception  of 
God's  Fatherhood,  in  contrast  with  that  of  Christianity, 
enables  us  to  understand  why  "  Malachi "  should 
employ  the  relation  as  proof,  not  of  the  Love,  but  of 
the  Majesty  and  Holiness  of  Jehovah. 

This  Majesty  and  this  Holiness  have  been  wronged, 
he  says,  by  low  thoughts  of  God's  altar,  and  by  offering 
upon  it,  with  untroubled  conscience,  cheap  and  blem- 
ished sacrifices.  The  people  would  have  been  ashamed 
to  present  such  to  their  Persian  governor :  how  can 
God  be  pleased  with  them  ?  Better  that  sacrifice 
should  cease  than  that  such  offerings  should  be 
presented  in  such  a  spirit  1  Is  there  no  one,  cries  the 
prophet,  to  close  the  doors  of  the  Temple  altogether,  so 
that  the  altar  smoke  not  in  vain  ? 

The  passage  shows  us  what  a  change  has  passed 
over  the  spirit  of  Israel  since  prophecy  first  attacked 
the  sacrificial  ritual.  We  remember  how  Amos  would 
have  swept  it  all  away  as  an  abomination  to  God.' 
So,  too,  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah.  But  their  reason  for 
this  was  very  different  from  "  Malachi's."  Their 
contemporaries  were  assiduous  and  lavish  in  sacrificing, 
and  were  devoted  to  the  Temple  and  the  ritual  with 
a  fanaticism  which  made  them  forget  that  Jehovah's 
demands   upon    His    people    were   righteousness   and 

Jehovah,  shaking  them  out  of  their  desert  circumstance  and  tempting 
them  to  their  great  career  in  Palestine,  is  likened  to  the  father-eagle's 
training  of  his  new-fledged  brood  to  fly :  A.V.  mother-eagle. 

'  Cf.  Cheyne,  Origin  of  the  Psalter,  p.  305,  n,  O. 

«  Vol.  I.,  Chap.  IX. 


"MaL"Uiv.]    PROPHECY  WITHIN  THE  LAW  355 

the  service  of  the  weak.  But  "  Malachi "  condemns 
his  generation  for  depreciating  the  Temple,  and 
for  being  stingy  and  fraudulent  in  their  offerings. 
Certainly  the  post-exilic  prophet  assumes  a  different 
attitude  to  the  ritual  from  that  of  his  predecessors  in 
ancient  Israel.  They  wished  it  all  abolished,  and 
placed  the  chief  duties  of  Israel  towards  God  in  civic 
justice  and  mercy.  But  he  emphasises  it  as  the  first 
duty  of  the  people  towards  God,  and  sees  in  their 
neglect  the  reason  of  their  misfortunes  and  the  cause 
of  their  coming  doom.  In  this  change  which  has 
come  over  prophecy  we  must  admit  the  growing 
influence  of  the  Law.  From  Ezekiel  onwards  the 
prophets  become  more  ecclesiastical  and  legal.  And 
though  at  first  they  do  not  become  less  ethical,  yet 
the  influence  which  was  at  work  upon  them  was  of 
such  a  character  as  was  bound  in  time  to  engross 
their  interest,  and  lead  them  to  remit  the  ethical 
elements  of  their  religion  to  a  place  secondary  to 
the  ceremonial.  We  see  symptoms  of  this  even  in 
"  Malachi,"  we  shall  find  more  in  Joel,  and  we  know 
how  aggravated  these  symptoms  afterwards  became 
in  all  the  leaders  of  Jewish  religion.  At  the  same 
time  we  ought  to  remember  that  this  change  of 
emphasis,  which  many  will  think  to  be  for  the  worse, 
was  largely  rendered  necessary  by  the  change  of 
temper  in  the  people  to  whom  the  prophets  ministered. 
"  Malachi "  found  among  his  contemporaries  a  habit  of 
religious  performance  which  was  not  only  slovenly  and 
indecent,  but  mean  and  fraudulent,  and  it  became  his 
first  practical  duty  to  attack  this.  Moreover  the  neglect 
of  the  Temple  was  not  due  to  those  spiritual  con- 
ceptions of  Jehovah  and  those  moral  duties  He  de- 
manded, in  the  interests  of  which  the  older  prophets  had  ' 


356  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

condemned  the  ritual.  At  bottom  the  neglect  of  the 
Temple  was  due  to  the  very  same  reasons  as  the 
superstitious  zeal  and  fanaticism  in  sacrificing  which 
the  older  prophets  had  attacked — false  ideas,  namely, 
of  God  Himself,  and  of  what  was  due  to  Him  from 
His  people.  And  on  these  grounds,  therefore,  we  may 
say  that  "  Malachi "  was  performing  for  his  generation 
as  needful  and  as  Divine  a  work  as  Amos  and  Isaiah 
had  performed  for  theirs.  Only,  be  it  admitted,  the 
direction  of  "  Malachi's  "  emphasis  was  more  dangerous 
for  religion  than  that  of  the  emphasis  of  Amos  or 
Isaiah.  How  liable  the  practice  he  inculcated  was  to 
exaggeration  and  abuse  is  sadly  proved  in  the  later 
history  of  his  people  :  it  was  against  that  exaggeration, 
grown  great  and  obdurate  through  three  centuries,  that 
Jesus  delivered  His  most  unsparing  words. 

A  son  honours  a  father^  and  a  servant  his  lord.  But 
if  I  am  Father,  where  is  My  honour  ?  and  if  I  am  Lord, 
where  is  reverence  for  Me  ?  saith  fehovah  of  Hosts  to  you, 
O  priests,  who  despise  My  Name.  Ye  say,  "  How  then 
have  we  despised  Thy  Name?"  Ye  are  bringing 
polluted  food  to  Mine  Altar.  Ye  say,  ^^  How  have  we 
polluted  Thee?"^  By  saying,*  "The  Table  of  Jehovah 
may  be  despised" ;  and  when  ye  bring  a  blind  beast  to 
sacrifice,  "  No  harm  I "  or  when  ye  bring  a  lame  or 
sick  one,  "No  harm/"'  Pray,  take  it  to  thy  Satrap: 
will  he  be  pleased  with  thee,  or  accept  thy  person  ?  saith 


'  Or  used  polluted  things  with  respect  to  Thee.  For  similar  con- 
struction see  Zech.  vii.  $  :  ^JlflDX.  This  in  answer  to  Wellhausen, 
who,  on  the  ground  that  the  phrase  gives  ?NiII  a  wrong  object  and 
destroys  the  connection,  deletes  it.  Further  he  takes  ^N3D,  not  in 
the  sense  of  pollution,  but  as  equivalent  to  nT!33,  despised. 

*  Obviously  in  their  hearts  —  thinking. 

•  LXX.  is  there  no  harm  ? 


"Mal."i.-iv.]     PROPHECY   WITHIN   THE  LAW  357 

Jehovah  of  Hosts.  But  now,  propitiate^  God,  that  He 
may  be  gracious  to  us.  When  things  like  this  come  from 
your  hands,  can  He  accept  your  persons  ?  saith  Jehovah 
of  Hosts.  Who  is  there  among  you  to  close  the  doors 
of  the  Temple  altogether,  that  ye  kindle  not  Mine  Altar 
in  vain  ?  I  have  no  pleasure  in  you,  saith  Jehovah  of 
Hosts,  and  I  will  not  accept  an  offering  from  your  hands. 
For  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  and  to  its  setting  My 
Name  is  glorified^  among  the  nations;  and  in  every 
sacred  place  ^  incense  is  offered  to  My  Name,  and  a  pure 
offering  :'^  for  great  is  My  Name  among  the  nations, 
saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts.  But  ye  are  profaning  it,  in  that 
ye  think^  that  the  Table  of  the  Lord  is  polluted,  and^  its 
food  contemptible.  And  ye  say.  What  a  weariness  !  and 
ye  sniff  at  it,''  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts.  When  ye  bring 
what  has  been  plundered,^  and  the  lame  and  the  diseased, 
yea,  when  ye  'so  bi-ing  an  offering,  can  I  accept  it  with 
grace  from  your  hands  ?  saith  Jehovah.  Cursed  be  the 
cheat  in  whose  flock  is  a  male  beast  and  he  vows  it,^  and 

'  Pacify  the  face  of,  as  in  Zechariah. 

*  So  LXX.  Heb.  is  great,  but  the  phrase  is  probably  written  by 
mistake  from  the  instance  further  on:  is  glorified  could  scarcely  have 
been  used  in  the  very  literal  version  of  the  LXX.  unless  it  had  been 
found  in  the  original. 

*  DlpO,  here  to  be  taken  in  the  sense  it  bears  in  Arabic  oi  sacred 
place.     See  on  Zeph.  ii.  11 :  above,  p.  64,  n.8. 

*  Wellhausen  deletes  ^yO  as  a  gloss  on  "IDpD,  and  the  vau  before 
nmC,  »  Heb.  say. 

*  Heb.  also  has  12*J,  found  besides  only  in  Keri  of  Isa.  Ivii.  19. 
But  Robertson  Smith  (O.TJ.C,  2,  p.  444)  is  probably  right  in  consider- 
ing this  an  error  for  nT23,  which  has  kept  its  place  after  the  correction 
was  inserted. 

This  clause  is  obscure,  and  comes  in    awkwardly   before   that 
which  follows  it.     Wellhausen  omits. 

*  >1T5.  Wellhausen  emends  "l.lVnTIK,  borrowing  the  first  three 
letters  from  the  previous  word.     LXX.  apirdy/jLaTO. 

*  LXX. 


3S8  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

slays  for  the  Lord  a  miserable  beast}  For  a  great  King 
am  I,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts ^  and  My  Name  is  reverenced 
among  the  nations. 

Before  we  pass  from  this  passage  we  must  notice  in  it 
one  very  remarkable  feature — perhaps  the  most  original 
contribution  which  the  Book  of  "  Malachi "  makes 
to  the  development  of  prophecy.  In  contrast  to  the 
irreverence  of  Israel  and  the  wrong  they  do  to 
Jehovah's  Holiness,  He  Himself  asserts  that  not  only 
is  His  Name  great  and  glorified  among  the  heathen,  from 
the  rising  to  the  setting  of  the  sun,  but  that  in  evety 
sacred  place  incense  and  a  pure  offering  are  offered  to 
His  Name.  This  is  so  novel  a  statement,  and,  we  may 
truly  say,  so  startling,  that  it  is  not  wonderful  that 
the  attempt  should  have  been  made  to  interpret  it,  not 
of  the  prophet's  own  day,  but  of  the  Messianic  age 
and  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  So,  many  of  the  Christian 
Fathers,  from  Justin  and  Irenseus  to  Theodoret  and 
Augustine ; '  so,  our  own  Authorised  Version,  which 
boldly  throws  the  verbs  into  the  future ;  and  so,  many 
modern  interpreters  like  Pusey,  who  declares  that  the 
style  is  "a  vivid  present  such  as  is  often  used  to 
describe  the  future ;  but  the  things  spoken  of  show  it 
to  be  future."  All  these  take  the  passage  to  be  an 
anticipation  of  Christ's  parables  declaring  the  rejection 
of  the  Jews  and  ingathering  of  the  Gentiles  to  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  of  the  argument  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews,  that  the  bleeding  and  defective  offerings 
of  the  Jews  were  abrogated  by  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Cross,  But  such  an  exegesis  is  only  possible  by 
perverting  the  text  and  misreading  the  whole  argument 
of  the  prophet.     Not  only  are  the  verbs  of  the  original 

•  Cf.  Lev.  iii.  i,  6, 

*  Quoted  by  Pusey,  in  loco. 


"Mal."i.-iv.]     PROPHECY  WITHIN   THE  LAW  359 

in  the  present  tense — so  also  in  the  early  versions — 
but  the  prophet  is  obviously  contrasting  the  contempt 
of  God's  own  people  for  Himself  and  His  institutions 
with  the  reverence  paid  to  His  Name  among  the 
heathen.  It  is  not  the  mere  question  of  there  being 
righteous  people  in  every  nation,  well-pleasing  to 
Jehovah  because  of  their  lives.  The  very  sacrifices  of 
the  heathen  are  pure  and  acceptable  to  Him.  Never 
have  we  had  in  prophecy,  even  the  most  far-seeing  and 
evangelical,  a  statement  so  generous  and  so  catholic  as 
this.  Why  it  should  appear  only  now  in  the  history 
of  prophecy  is  a  question  we  are  unable  to  answer  with 
certainty.  Many  have  seen  in  it  the  result  of  Israel's 
intercourse  with  their  tolerant  and  religious  masters 
the  Persians.  None  of  the  Persian  kings  had  up  to 
this  time  persecuted  the  Jews,  and  numbers  of  pious 
and  large-minded  Israelites  must  have  had  opportunity 
of  acquaintance  with  the  very  pure  doctrines  of  the 
Persian  religion,  among  which  it  is  said  that  there 
was  already  numbered  the  recognition  of  true  piety  in 
men  of  all  religions.^  If  Paul  derived  from  his  Hellenic 
culture  the  knowledge  which  made  it  possible  for  him 
to  speak  as  he  did  in  Athens  of  the  religiousness  of 
the  Gentiles,  it  was  just  as  probable  that  Jews  who  had 
come  within  the  experience  of  a  still  purer  Aryan 
faith  should  utter  an  even  more  emphatic  acknow- 
ledgment that  the  One  True  God  had  those  who 
served  Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth  all  over  the  world. 
But,  whatever  foreign  influences  may  have  ripened 
such  a  faith  in  Israel,  we  must  not  forget  that  its 
roots  were  struck  deep  in  the  native  soil  of  their 
religion.     From  the  first  they  had  known  their  God  as 

'  See  Cheyne,  Origin  of  the  Psalter,  292  and  305  £ 


3fo  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

a  God  of  a  grace  so  infinite  that  it  was  impossible  it 
sh:'Uld  be  exhausted  on  themselves.  If  His  righteous- 
ness, as  Amos  showed,  was  over  all  the  Syrian  states, 
and  His  pity  and  His  power  to  convert,  as  Isaiah 
.'-bowed,  covered  even  the  cities  of  Phoenicia,  the  great 
Evangelist  of  the  Exile  could  declare  that  He  quenched 
not  the  smoking  wicks  of  the  dim  heathen  faiths. 

As  interesting,  however,  as  the  origin  of  "  Malachi's  " 
attitude  to  the  heathen,  are  two  other  points  about  it. 
In  the  first  place,  it  is  remarkable  that  it  should 
occur,  especially  in  the  form  of  emphasising  the  purity 
of  heathen  sacrifices,  in  a  book  which  lays  such 
heavy  stress  upon  the  Jewish  Temple  and  ritual.  This 
is  a  warning  to  us  not  to  judge  ha;  shly  the  so-called 
legal  age  of  Jewish  religion,  nor  to  despise  the 
prophets  who  have  come  under  the  influence  of  the 
Law.  And  in  the  second  place,  we  perceive  in  this 
statement  a  step  towards  the  fuller  acknowledgment 
of  Gentile  religiousness  which  we  find  in  the  Book 
of  Jonah,  It  is  strange  that  none  of  the  post-exilic 
Psalms  strike  the  same  note.  They  often  predict  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen  ;  but  they  do  not  recognise 
their  native  reverence  and  piety.  Perhaps  the  reason 
is  that  in  a  body  of  song,  collected  for  the  national 
service,  such  a  feature  would  be  out  of  place. 

3.  The  Priesthood  of  Knowledge  (Chap.  ii.  1-9). 

In  the  third  section  of  his  book  "  Malachi"  addresses 
himself  to  the  priests.  He  charges  them  not  only 
with  irreverence  and  slovenliness  in  their  discharge 
of  the  Temple  service — for  this  he  appears  to  intend 
by  the  phrase  filth  of  your  feasts — but  with  the  neglect 
of  their  intellectual  duties  to  the  people.  The  lips  of 
a  priest  guard  knoivledge^  end  men  seek  instruction  from 


"Mal."i.-iv.]     PROPHECY  WITHIN   THE  LAW  361 

Aw  mouth,  for  he  is  the  Angel — the  revealing  Angel — 
0/  Jehovah  of  Hosts.  Once  more,  what  a  remarkable 
saying  to  come  from  the  legal  age  of  Israel's  religion, 
and  from  a  writer  who  so  emphasises  the  ceremonial 
law  1  In  all  the  range  of  prophecy  there  is  not  any 
more  in  harmony  with  the  prophetic  ideal.  How 
needed  it  is  in  our  own  age  1 — needed  against  those  two 
extremes  of  religion  from  which  we  suffer,  the  limitation 
of  the  ideal  of  priesthood  to  the  communication  of  a 
magic  grace,  and  its  evaporation  in  a  vague  religiosity 
from  which  the  intellect  is  excluded  as  if  it  were  perilous, 
worldly  and  devilish.^  "  Surrender  of  the  intellect " 
indeed  1  This  is  the  burial  of  the  talent  in  the  napkin, 
and,  as  in  the  parable  of  Christ,  it  is  still  in  our  day 
preached  and  practised  by  the  men  of  one  talent. 
Religion  needs  all  the  brains  we  poor  mortals  can  put 
into  it.  There  is  a  priesthood  of  knowledge,  a  priest- 
hood of  the  intellect,  says  "  Malachi,"  and  he  makes  this 
a  large  part  of  God's  covenant  with  Levi.  Every  priest 
ot  God  is  a  priest  of  truth ;  and  it  is  very  largely 
by  the  Christian  ministry's  neglect  of  their  intellec- 
tual duties  that  so  much  irreligion  prevails.  As  in 
"  Malachi's "  day,  so  now,  "  the  laity  take  hurt  and 
hindrance  by  our  negligence."  *  And  just  as  he  points 
out,  so  with  ourselves,  the  consequence  is  the  growing 
indifference  with  which  large  bodies  of  the  Christian 
ministry  are  regarded  by  the  thoughtful  portions  both 
of  our  labouring  and  professional  classes.  Were  the 
ministers  of  all  the  Churches  to  awake  to  their  ideal 


'  Isaiah  i. — xxxix.  (Expositor's  Bible),  p.  188. 

'^  See  most  admirable  remarks  on  this  subject  in  Archdeacon 
Wilson's  Essays  and  Addresses,  No.  III.  "  The  Need  of  giving  Higher 
Biblical  Teaching,  and  Instruction  on  the  Fundamental  Questions  of 

Religion  and  Christianity."     London:  Macmillan,  1S87. 


362  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

in  this  matter,  there  would  surely  come  a  very  great 
revival  of  religion  among  us. 

And  now  this  Charge  for  you  ^  O  priests:  If  ye  hear 
not,  and  lay  not  to  heart  to  give  glory  to  My  Name,  saith 
Jehovah  of  Hosts,  I  will  send  upon  you  the  curse,  ana 
will  curse  your  blessings — yea,  I  have  cursed  them  ^—for 
none  of  you  layeth  it  to  heart.  Behold,  I  .  .  .  you  .  .  } 
and  I  will  scatter  filth  in  your  faces,  the  filth  of  yout 
feasts.  .  .  .'  And  ye  shall  know  that  I  have  sent  to  you 
this  Charge,  to  he  My  covenant  with.  Levi^  saith  Jehovah 
of  Hosts.  My  covenant  was  with  him  life  and  peace^ 
and  I  gave  them  to  him,  fear  and  he  feared  Me,  ana 
humbled  himself  before  My  Name.^  The  revelation  of 
truth  was  in  his  mouth,  and  wickedness  was  not  founa 
upon  his  lips.  In  whole-heartedness''  and  integrity  he 
walked  with  Me,  and  turned  many  from  iniquity.  Fat 
the  lips  of  a  priest  guard  knoivledge,  and  men  seek 
instruction  *  from  his   mouth,  for  he   is  the  Angel  of 

'  Doubtful.  LXX.  adds  koX  SieaKeSAau  ttjv  tiXoyiav  ijiCv  Kal  oiiK 
(arai  i»  vfuv  :  obvious  redundancy,  if  not  mere  dittography. 

«  An  obscure  phrase,  yiTnTIX  DD^  IJl/J  ^J?n,  Behold,  I  rebuke 
you  the  seed.  LXX.  Behold,  I  separate  from  you  the  arm  or  shoulder, 
reading  J?"IT  for  y"Tt  and  perhaps  J>"l3  for  Ij/j^  both  of  which  read- 
ings Wcllh'ausen  adopts,  and  Ewald  the  former.  The  reference  may 
be  to  the  arm  of  the  priest  raised  in  blessing.  Orelli  reads  seed= 
posterity.  It  may  mean  the  whole  seed  or  class  or  kind  of  the  priests. 
The  next  clause  tempts  one  to  suppose  that  y^T^"J^^5  contains  the 
verb  of  this  one,  as  if  scattering  something. 

•  Heb.  V^N  D3n^  XK'3|,  and  one  shall  bear  you  to  it.  Hitzig: 
filth  shall  be  cast  on  them,  and  they  on  the  filth. 

*  Others  would  render  My  covenant  being  with  Levi.  Wellhausen : 
for  My  covenant  was  with  Levi.  But  this  new  Charge  or  covenant 
seems  contrasted  with  a  former  covenant  in  the  next  verse. 

*  Num.  XXV.  12. 

•  This  sentence  is  a  literal  translation  of  the  Hebrew.  With  other 
punctuation  Wellhausen  renders  My  covenant  was  with  him,  lift  and 
peac*  I  gave  them  to  him,  fear  .  . . 

'  Or  peace,  DvK'.  •  Or  revelation,  Torah. 


"  Mai."  i.-iv.]     PROPHECY  WITHIN   THE  LAW  363 

Jehovah  of  Hosts.  But  ye  have  turned  from  the  way,  ye 
have  tripped  up  many  by  the  Torah,  ye  have  spoiled  the 
covenant  of  Levi ^  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts.  And  I  en  My 
part^  have  made  you  contemptible  to  all  the  people,  and 
abased  in  proportion  as  ye  kept  not  My  ways  and  had 
respect  of  persons  in  delivering  your  Torah. 

4.  The  Cruelty  of  Divorce  (Chap.  ii.   10-17), 

In  his  fourth  section,  upon  his  countrymen's  frequent 
divorce  of  their  native  wives  in  order  to  marry  into  the 
influential  families  of  their  half-heathen  neighbours/ 
"  Malachi "  makes  another  of  those  wide  and  spiritual 
utterances  which  so  distinguish  his  prophecy  and 
redeem  his  age  from  the  charge  of  legalism  that  is  so 
often  brought  against  it.  To  him  the  Fatherhood  of 
God  is  not  merely  a  relation  of  power  and  authority, 
requiring  reverence  from  the  nation.  It  constitutes 
the  members  of  the  nation  one  close  brotherhood,  and 
against  this  divorce  is  a  crime  and  unnatural  cruelty. 
Jehovah  makes  the  wife  of  a  man^s  youth  his  mate  for 
life  and  his  wife  by  covenant.  He  hates  divorce,  and 
His  altar  is  so  wetted  by  the  tears  of  the  wronged 
women  of  Israel  that  the  gifts  upon  it  are  no  more 
acceptable  in  His  sight.  No  higher  word  on  marriage 
was  spoken  except  by  Christ  Himself.  It  breathes 
the  spirit  of  our  Lord's  utterance  :  if  we  were  sure  of 
the  text  of  ver.  1 5,  we  might  almost  say  that  it  antici- 
pated the  letter.  Certain  verses,  11-13^,  which  disturb 
the  argument  by  bringing  in  the  marriages  with  heathen 
wives  are  omitted  in  the  following  translation,  and  will 
be  given  separately. 

Have  we  not  all  One  Father?     Hath  not  One  God 

'   '3N"Di1  :  cf.  Amos  iv.  '  See  above,  p.  344. 


364  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

created  us  ?  Why  then  are  we  unfaithful  to  one  another, 
profaning  the  covenant  of  our  fathers  ?  .  .  }  Ye  cover  with 
tears  the  altar  of  fehovah,  with  weeping  and  with  groan- 
ing, because  respect  is  no  longer  had  to  the  offering,  and 
acceptable  gifts  are  not  taken  from  your  hands.  And 
ye  say,  "  Why  ?  "  Because  Jehovah  has  been  witness 
between  thee  and  the  wife  of  thy  youth,  with  whom  thou 
hast  broken  faith,  though  she  is  thy  mate  ^  and  thy  wife 
by  covenant.  And  .  .  .'  And  what  is  the  one  seeking? 
A  Divine  Seed.  Take  heed,  then,  to  your  spirit,  and  be 
not   unfaithful  to  the  wife  of  thy  youth.*      For  I  hate 

"  Here  occur    the    two   verses   and    a   clause,    Ii-I3a,   upon  the 
foreign  marriages,  which  seem  to  be  an  intrusion. 
^  See  Vol.  I.,  p.  259. 

*  Heb.  literally  :  And  not  one  did,  and  a  remnant  of  Spirit  was  his; 
which  (l)  A.V.  renders  :  And  did  not  he  make  one  ?  Yet  he  had  the 
residue  of  the  spirit,  which  Pusey  accepts  and  applies  to  Adam  and 
Eve,  interpreting  the  second  clause  as  the  breath  of  life,  by  which 
Adam  became  a  living  soul  (Gen.  ii.  7).  In  Gen.  i.  27  Adam  and  Eve 
are  called  one.  In  that  case  the  meaning  would  be  that  the  law  of 
marriage  was  prior  to  that  of  divorce,  as  in  the  words  of  our  Lord, 
Matt.  xix.  4-6.  (2)  The  Hebrew  might  be  rendered,  Not  one  has  done 
this  who  had  any  spirit  left  in  hint.  So  Hitzig  and  Orelli.  In  that 
case  the  following  clauses  of  the  verse  are  referred  to  Abraham. 
"  But  what  about  the  One  ?"  (LXX.  insert  ye  say  after  But) — the  one 
who  did  put  away  his  wife.  Answer:  He  was  seeking  a  Divine  seed. 
The  objection  to  this  interpretation  is  that  Abraham  did  not  cast  oflf 
the  wife  of  his  youth,  Sarah,  but  the  foreigner  Hagar.  (3)  Ewald 
made  a  very  different  proposal  :  And  has  not  One  created  thent,  and 
all  the  Spirit  (cf.  Zeph.  i.  4)  is  His  ?  And  what  doth  the  One  seek  ?  A 
Divine  seed.  So  Reinke.  Similarly  Kirkpatrick  {Doct.  of  the  Proph., 
p.  502)  :  And  did  not  One  make  \yo\ihoi\\'\l  And  why  [did^  the  One  [^do 
so]  ?  Seeking  a  goodly  seed.  (4)  Wellhausen  goes  further  along  the 
same  line.  Reading  iS'pn  for  NA  and  "Mi^if^  for  IN^^I,  and  I:'?  for  "|^, 
he  translates  :  Hath  not  the  same  God  created  and  sustained  your 
(?  our)  breath  ?     And  what  does  He  desire  ?     A  seed  of  God. 

*  Literally:  let  none  be  unfaithful  to  the  wife  of  thy  youth,  a  curious 
instance  of  the  Hebrew  habit  of  mixing  the  pronominal  references. 
Wellhausen's  emendation  is  unnecessary. 


Mal."l-iv,]     PROPHECY  WITHIN  THE  LAW  365 

divorce^  saith  Jehovah,  God  of  Israel,  and  that  a  man 
cover  his  clothing^  with  cruelty,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 
So  take  heed  to  your  spirit,  and  deal  not  faithlessly. 

The  verses  omitted  in  the  above  translation  treat 
of  the  foreign  marriages,  which  led  to  this  frequent 
divorce  by  the  Jews  of  their  native  wives.  So  far,  of 
course,  they  are  relevant  to  the  subject  of  the  passage. 
But  they  obviously  disturb  its  argument,  as  already 
pointed  out."^  They  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
principle  from  which  it  starts  that  Jehovah  is  the  Father 
of  the  whole  of  Israel.  Remove  them  and  the  awkward 
clause  in  ver.  13a,  by  which  some  editor  has  tried  to 
connect  them  with  the  rest  of  the  paragraph,  and 
the  latter  runs  smoothly.  The  motive  of  their  later 
addition  is  apparent,  if  not  justifiable.  Here  they  are 
by  themselves : — 

Judah  was  faithless,  and  abomination  was  practised 
in  Israel^  and  in  Jerusalem,  for  Judah  hath  defiled  the 
sanctuary  of  Jehovah,  which  was  dear  to  Him,  and  hath 
married  the  daughter  of  a  strarige  god.  May  Jehovah 
cut  off  from  the  man,  who  doeth  this,  witness  and 
champion  *  from  the  tents  of  Jacob,  and  offerer  of  sacri- 
fices to  Jehovah  of  Hosts.^ 

5.  "  Where  is  the  God  of  Judgment  ?  ** 
(Chap.  ii.  17 — iii.  5). 

In  this  section  "  Malachi "  turns  from  the  sinners 
of  his  people  to  those   who  weary  Jehovah   with  the 

'  See  Gesenius  and  Ewald  for  Arabic  analogies  for  the  use  of 
clothing  =  wife. 

*  See  above,  p.  340.  •  Wellhausen  omits, 

*  Heb.  nbyi  ">J/,  caller  and  answerer.  But  LXX.  read  ly,  wittuss 
(see  iii.  5),  though  it  pointed  it  difieiently. 

*  13a,  Bui  secondly  ye  do  this,  is  the  obvious  addition  ol  the  editor 
in  order  to  connect  his  intrusion  with  what  follows. 


366  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

complaint  that  sin  is  successful,  or,  as  they  put  it, 
Every  one  that  does  evil  is  good  in  the  eyes  of  Jehovah, 
and  He  delighteth  in  them ;  and  again.  Where  is  the 
God  of  Judgment?  The  answer  is.  The  Lord  Himself 
shall  come.  His  Angel  shall  prepare  His  way  before 
Him,  and  suddenly  shall  the  Lord  come  to  His  Temple. 
His  coming  shall  be  for  judgment,  terrible  and 
searching.  Its  first  object  (note  the  order)  shall  be 
the  cleansing  of  the  priesthood,  that  proper  sacrifices 
may  be  estabHshed,  and  its  second  the  purging  of  the 
immorality  of  the  people.  Mark  that  although  the 
coming  of  the  Angel  is  said  to  precede  that  of  Jehovah 
Himself,  there  is  the  same  blending  of  the  two  as 
we  have  seen  in  previous  accounts  of  angels.*  It  is 
uncertain  whether  this  section  closes  with  ver.  5  or  6 : 
the  latter  goes  equally  well  with  it  and  with  the 
following  section. 

Ye  have  wearied  Jehovah  with  your  words;  and  ye 
say,  *'  In  what  have  we  wearied  Him  ?  "  In  that  ye  say, 
^*  Every  one  that  does  evil  is  good  in  the  eyes  of  Jehovah, 
and  He  delighteth  in  them  " ;  or  else,  "  Where  is  the  God 
of  Judgment  ?  "  Behold,  I  will  send  My  Angel,  to 
prepare  the  way  before  Me,  and  suddenly  shall  come  to 
His  Temple  the  Lord  whom  ye  seek  and  the  Angel  of 
the  Covenant  whom  ye  desire.  Behold,  He  comes  !  saith 
Jehovah  of  Hosts.  But  who  may  bear  the  day  of  His 
coming,  and  who  stand  when  He  appears  ?  For  He  is 
like  the  fire  of  the  smelter  and  the  acid  of  the  fullers.  He 
takes  His  seat  k)  smelt  and  to  purge  ;  *  and  He  will  purge 
the  sons  of  Levi,  and  wash  them  out  like  gold  or  silver, 


•  See  above,  pp.  311,  313  f. 

*  Delete  silver:  the  longer  LXX.  text  shows  how  easily  it  was 
added. 


"Md."L-iv.]    PROPHECY  WITHIN  THE  LAW  3^7 

and  they  shall  be  to  Jehovah  bringers  of  an  offering  in 
righteousness.  And  the  offering  of Judah  and  Jerusalem 
shall  be  pleasing  to  Jehovah,  as  in  the  days  of  old  and 
as  in  long  past  years.  And  I  will  come  near  you  to 
judgment,  and  I  will  be  a  swift  witness  against  the 
sorcerers  and  the  adulterers  and  the  perjurers,  and 
against  those  who  wrong  the  hireling  in  his  wage,  and 
the  widow  and  the  orphan,  and  oppress  the  stranger, 
and  fear  not  Me,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

6.  Repentance  by  Tithes  (Chap.  iii.  6-12). 

This  section  ought  perhaps  to  follow  on  to  the 
preceding.  Those  whom  it  blames  for  not  paying 
the  Temple  tithes  may  be  the  sceptics  addressed  in 
the  previous  section,  who  have  stopped  their  dues 
to  Jehovah  out  of  sheer  disappointment  that  He  does 
nothing.  And  ver.  6,  v;hich  goes  well  with  either 
section,  may  be  the  joint  between  the  two.  However 
this  be,  the  new  section  enforces  the  need  of  the 
people's  repentance  and  return  to  God,  if  He  is  to 
return  to  them.  And  when  they  ask,  how  are  they 
to  return,  "  Malachi "  plainly  answers,  By  the  pay- 
ment of  the  tithes  they  have  not  paid.  In  withhold- 
ing these  they  robbed  God,  and  to  this,  their  crime, 
are  due  the  locusts  and  bad  seasons  which  have 
afflicted  them.  In  our  temptation  to  see  in  this  a 
purely  legal  spirit,  let  us  remember  that  the  neglect 
to  pay  the  tithes  was  due  to  a  religious  cause,  unbelief 
in  Jehovah,  and  that  the  return  to  behef  in  Him  could 
not  therefore  be  shown  in  a  more  practical  way  than 
by  the  payment  of  tithes.  This  is  not  prophecy  subject 
to  the  Law,  but  prophecy  employing  the  means  and 
vehicles  of  grace  with  which  the  L^w  at  that  time 
provided  the  people, 


368  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

For  I  Jehovah  have  not  changed,  but  ye  sons  of  Jacob 
have  not  dona  with  (?)/  In  the  days  of  your  fathers  ye 
turned  from  My  statutes  and  did  not  keep  them.  Return 
to  Mey  and  I  will  return  to  you,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 
But  you  say,  "  How  then  shall  we  return  ? "  Can  a 
man  rob^  God?  yet  ye  are  robbing  Me.  But  ye  say, 
"  In  what  have  we  robbed  Thee  ? "  In  the  tithe  and  the 
tribute.^  With  tlie  curse  are  ye  cursed,  and  yd  Me  ye  are 
robbing,  the  whole  people  of  you.  Bring  in  the  whole  tithe 
to  the  storehouse,  that  there  may  be  provision'^  in  My 
House,  and  pray,  prove  Me  in  this,  saith  Jehovah  of 
Hosts — whether  I  will  not  open  to  you  the  windoivs  of 
heaven,  and  pour  blessing  upon  you  till  there  is  no  more 
need.  And  I  will  check  for  you  the  devourer^  and  he 
shall  not  destroy  for  you  the  fruit  of  the  ground,  nor  the 
vine  in  the  field  miscarry,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts.  And 
all  nations  shall  call  you  happy,  for  ye  shall  be  a  land 
of  delight,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 


*  Made  an  end  of,  reading  the  verb  as  Piel  (Orelli).  LXX.  refrain 
from.  Your  sins  are  understood,  the  sins  which  have  always  charac- 
terised the  people.  LXX.  connects  the  opening  of  the  next  verse  with 
this,  and  with  a  different  reading  of  the  first  word  translates  from 
the  sins  of  your  fathers. 

*  Hcb.  V2p,  only  here  and  Prov.  xxii.  32.  LXX.  read  3pV,  supplant, 
cheat,  which  Wellhausen  adopts. 

'  np-IIRj  the  heave  offering,  the  tax  or  tribute  given  to  the  sanctuary 
or  priests  and  associates  with  the  tithes,  as  here  in  Deut.  xii.  II, 
to  be  eaten  by  the  offerer  (ib.  17),  but  in  Ezekiel  by  the  priests 
(xliv.  30) ;  taken  by  the  people  and  the  Le\'ites  to  the  Temple 
treasury  for  the  priests  (Neh.  x.  38,  xii.  44)  :  corn,  wine  and  oil.  In 
the  Priestly  Writing  it  signifies  the  part  of  each  sacrifice  which  was 
the  priests'  due.  Ezekiel  also  uses  it  of  the  part  of  the  Holy  Land 
that  fell  to  the  prince  and  priests. 

*  PjliD   in  its  later  meaning :  cf.  Job  xxiv.  5  ;  Prov.  xxxi.  15. 

*  J.(.  locust. 


"  Mai. "  i.-iv.]    PROPHECY  WITHIN   THE  LAW  369 

7.  The  Judgment  to  Come 
(Chap.  iii.  13-21   Heb.,  iii.  13 — iv.  2  Eng.). 

This  is  another  charge  to  the  doubters  among  the 
pious  remnant  of  Israel,  who,  seeing  the  success  of 
the  wicked,  said  it  is  vain  to  serve  God.  Deuteronomy 
was  their  Canon,  and  Deuteronomy  said  that  if  men 
sinned  they  decayed,  if  they  were  righteous  they  pro- 
spered. How  different  were  the  facts  of  experience  I 
The  evil  men  succeeded  :  the  good  won  no  gain  by 
their  goodness,  nor  did  their  mourning  for  the  sins  of 
their  people  work  any  effect.  Bitterest  of  all,  they 
had  to  congratulate  wickedness  in  high  places,  and 
Jehovah  Himself  suffered  it  to  go  unpunished.  Such 
things,  says  "  Malachi,"  spake  they  that  feared  God  to 
each  other — tempted  thereto  by  the  dogmatic  form  of 
their  religion,  and  forgetful  of  all  that  Jeremiah  and 
the  Evangelist  of  the  Exile  had  taught  them  of  the 
value  of  righteous  sufferings.  Nor  does  "  Malachi  " 
remind  them  of  this.  His  message  is  that  the  Lord 
remembers  them,  has  their  names  written  before  Him, 
and  when  the  day  of  His  action  comes  they  shall  be 
separated  from  the  wicked  and  spared.  This  is  simply 
to  transfer  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  of  Deuteronomy 
to  the  future  and  to  another  dispensation.  Prophecy 
still  works  within  the  Law. 

The  Apocalypse  of  this  last  judgment  is  one  of  the 
grandest  in  all  Scripture.  To  the  wicked  it  shall  be 
a  terrible  fire,  root  and  branch  shall  they  be  burned 
out,  but  to  the  righteous  a  fair  morning  of  God,  as 
when  dav\'n  comes  to  those  who  have  been  sick  and 
sleepless  through  the  black  night,  and  its  beams  bring 
healing,  even  as  to  the  popular  belief  of  Israel  it  was 

VOL.  11.  24 


370  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  rays  of  the  morning  sun  which  distilled  the  dew.^ 
They  break  into  life  and  energy,  like  young  calves 
leaping  from  the  dark  pen  into  the  early  sunshine. 
To  this  morning  landscape  a  grim  figure  is  added. 
They  shall  tread  down  the  wicked  and  the  arrogant 
like  ashes  beneath  their  feet. 

Your  words  are  hard  upon  Me,  saith  Jehovah.  Ye 
say,  "  What  have  we  said  against  Thee  ?  "  Ye  have  said, 
"  It  is  vain  to  serve  God,'^  and  "  What  gain  is  it  to  us  to 
have  kept  His  charge,  or  to  have  walked  in  funeral  garb 
before  Jehovah  of  Hosts?  Even  now  we  have  got  to 
congratidate  the  arrogant;  yea,  the  workers  of  wickedness 
are  fortified;  yea,  they  tempt  God  and  escape  !  "  Such 
things  ^  spake  they  that  fear  Jehovah  to  each  other.  But 
Jehovah  gave  ear  and  heard,  and  a  book  of  remembrance^ 
was  written  before  Him  about  those  who  fear  Jehovah, 
and  those  who  keep  in  mind*  His  Name.  And  they  shall 
be  Mine  own  property,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  in  the  day 
when  I  rise  to  action,^  and  I  will  spare  them  even  as  a 
man  spares  his  son  that  serves  him.  And  ye  shall  once 
more  see  the  difference  between  righteous  and  wicked, 
between  him  that  seives  God  and  him  that  does  not  serve 
Him. 

For,  lo!  the  day  is  coming  that  shall  burn  like  a 
furnace,  and  all  the  ovcriveening  and  every  one  that 
works  wickedness  shall  be  as  stubble,  and  the  day  that 
is  coming  shall  devour  them,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  so 


'  A    dew  of  lights.      See   Isaiah   i. — xxxix.    (Expositor's   Bible), 
pp.  448  f. 

^  So  LXX. ;  Heb.  then.  '  Ezek.  xiii.  9. 

*  SKTI,  to  think,  plan,  1  as  much  the  same  meaning  as  here  in  Isa. 
xiii.  I7»  xxxiii.  8,  liii.  3. 

•  Heb.  when  I  am  doing;  but  in  the  sense  iii  which  the  word  is 
used  of  Jehovah's  decisive  and  fin^l  doing,  Fsaljns  xx.,  xxxii.,  etc. 


'Mal.'*i.-iv,]     PROPHECY  WITHIN   THE  LAW  371 

that  there  be  left  them  neither  root  nor  branch.  But  to 
you  that  fear  My  Name  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  shall 
rise  with  healing  in  His  wings,  and  ye  shall  go  forth  and 
leap  *  like  calves  of  the  stall}  And  ye  shall  tread  down 
the  wicked,  for  they  shall  be  as  ashes '  beneath  the  soles 
of  your  feet,  in  the  day  that  I  begin  to  do,  saith  Jehovah 
of  Hosts. 

8.  The  Return  of  Elijah 

(Chap.  iii.  22-24  Heb.,  iv.  3-5  Eng.). 

With  his  last  word  the  prophet  significantly  calls 
upon  the  people  to  remember  the  Law.  This  is  their 
one  hope  before  the  coming  of  the  great  and  terrible 
day  of  the  Lord.  But,  in  order  that  the  Law  may  have 
full  effect,  Prophecy  will  be  sent  to  bring  it  home  to 
the  hearts  of  the  people — Prophecy  in  the  person  of 
her  founder  and  most  drastic  representative.  Nothing 
could  better  gather  up  than  this  conjunction  does 
that  mingling  of  Law  and  of  Prophecy  which  we  have 
seen  to  be  so  characteristic  of  the  work  of  "  Malachi." 
Only  we  must  not  overlook  the  fact  that  "  Malachi " 
expects  this  prophecy,  which  with  the  Law  is  to  work 
the  conversion  of  the  people,  not  in  the  continuance  of 
the  prophetic  succession  by  the  appearance  of  original 
personalities,  developing  further  the  great  principles 
of  their  order,  but  in  the  return  of  the  first  prophet 
Elijah.  This  is  surely  the  confession  of  Prophecy  that 
the  number  of  her  servants  is  exhausted  and  her  message 
to  Israel  fulfilled.  She  can  now  do  no  more  for  the 
people  than  she  has  done.     But  she  will  summon  up 

>  Hab.  i.  8. 

'  See  note  to  Amos  vi*  4:  Vol.  I.,  p.  174,  n.  > 

•  Or  dust. 


37»  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

her  old  energy  and  fire  in  the  return  of  her  most 
powerful  personality,  and  make  one  grand  effort  to 
convert  the  nation  before  the  Lord  come  and  strike 
it  with  judgment. 

Remember  the  Torah  of  Moses,  My  servant,  with 
which  I  charged  him  in  Horeb  for  all  Israel :  statutes 
and  judgments.  Lo  I  I  am  sending  to  you  Elijah  the 
prophet,  be/ore  the  coming  of  the  great  and  terrible  day 
of  Jehovah.  And  he  shall  turn  the  heart  of  the  fathers 
to  the  sons,  and  the  heart  of  the  sons  to  their  fathers,  ere 
I  come  and  strike  the  land  with  the  Ban. 


^'  Malachi "  makes  this  promise  of  the  Law  in  the 
dialect  of  Deuteronomy  :  statutes  and  judgments  with 
which  Jehovah  charged  Moses  for  Israel.  But  the  Law 
he  enforces  is  not  that  which  God  delivered  to  Moses 
on  the  plains  of  Shittim,  but  that  which  He  gave  him 
in  Mount  Horeb.  And  so  it  came  to  pass.  In  a 
very  few  years  after  "  Malachi "  prophesied  Ezra  the 
Scribe  brought  from  Babylon  the  great  Levitical  Code, 
which  appears  to  have  been  arranged  there,  while  the 
colony  in  Jerusalem  were  still  organising  their  hfe  under 
the  Deuterononiic  legislation.  In  444  B.C.  this  Levitical 
Code,  along  with  Deuteronomy,  became  by  covenant 
between  the  people  and  their  God  their  Canon  and 
Law.  And  in  the  next  of  our  prophets,  Joel,  we  shall 
find  its  full  influence  at  work 


fO&L 


373 


The  Day  of  Jehovah  is  great  and  very  awful,  and  who  may  abidt  it  ? 

Bui  now  the  oracle  of  Jehovah — Turn  ye  to  Me  with  all  your  hearty 
and  with  fasting  and  with  weeding  and  with  mourning.  And  rend 
your  hearts  and  not  your  garments,  and  turn  to  Jehovah  your  God, 
for  gracious  and  merciful  is  Ht,  long-suffering  and  abounding  in 
lovt. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 
THE     BOOK     OF    JOEL. 

IN  the  criticism  of  the  Book  of  Joel  there  exist 
differences  of  opinion — upon  its  date,  the  exact 
reference  of  its  statements  and  its  relation  to  parallel 
passages  in  other  prophets — as  wide  as  even  those  by 
which  the  Book  of  Obadiah  has  been  assigned  to  every 
century  between  the  tenth  and  the  fourth  before  Christ* 
As  in  the  case  of  Obadiah,  the  problem  is  not  entangled 
with  any  doctrinal  issue  or  question  of  accuracy ;  but 
while  we  saw  that  Obadiah  was  not  involved  in  the 
central  controversy  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  date  of 
the  Law,  not  a  little  in  Joel  turns  upon  the  latter. 
And,  besides,  certain  descriptions  raise  the  large  ques- 
tion between  a  literal  and  an  allegorical  interpretation. 
Thus  the  Book  of  Joel  carries  the  student  further  into 
the  problems  of  Old  Testament  Criticism,  and  forms 
an  even  more  excellent  introduction  to  the  latter,  than 
does  the  Book  of  Obadiah. 

I.  The  Date  of  the  Book. 

In  the  history  of  prophecy  the  Book  ot  Joel  must 
be  either  very  early  or  very  late,  and  with  few  excep- 
tions the  leading  critics  place  it  either  before  8oo  B.C. 
or  after  500.     So  great  a   difference   is  due  to  most 

•  See  above,  Chap.  XIII. 
37S 


376  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

substantial  reasons.  Unlike  every  other  prophet, 
except  Haggai,  "  Malachi  "  and  "  Zechariah  "  ix. — xiv., 
Joel  mentions  neither  Assyria,  which  emerged  upon 
the  prophetic  horizon  about  760,^  nor  the  Babylonian 
Empire,  which  had  fallen  by  537.  The  presumption 
is  that  he  wrote  before  760  or  after  537.  Unlike 
all  the  prophets,  too,^  Joel  does  not  charge  his 
people  with  civic  or  national  sins ;  nor  does  his  book 
bear  any  trace  of  the  struggle  between  the  righteous 
and  unrighteous  in  Israel,  nor  of  that  between  the 
spiritual  worshippers  of  Jehovah  and  the  idolaters. 
The  book  addresses  an  undivided  nation,  who  know  no 
God  but  Jehovah  ;  and  again  the  presumption  is  that 
Joel  wrote  before  Amos  and  his  successors  had  started 
the  spiritual  antagonisms  which  rent  Israel  in  twain, 
or  after  the  Law  had  been  accepted  by  the  whole  people 
under  Nehemiah.'  The  same  wide  alternative  is  sug- 
gested by  the  style  and  phraseology.  Joel's  Hebrew 
is  simple  and  direct.  Either  he  is  an  early  writer,  or 
imitates  early  writers.  His  book  contains  a  number  of 
phrases  and  verses  identical,  or  nearly  identical,  with 
those  of  prophets  from  Amos  to  "  Malachi."  Either  they 
all  borrowed  from  Joel,  or  he  borrowed  from  them.* 

Of  this  alternative  modern  criticism  at  first  preferred 
the  earlier  solution,  and  dated  Joel  before  Amos.  So 
Credner  in   his   Commentary   in    183 1,  and  following 

'  See  Vol.  I.     The  Assyria  of  "  Zech."  x.  1 1  is  Syria.     See  below. 

*  The  two  exceptions,  Nahum  and  Habakkuk,  are  not  relevant  to 
this  question.  Their  dates  are  fixed  by  their  references  to  Assyria 
and  Babylon. 

*  See  Rob.  Smith,  art.  "  Joel,"  Emq'C.  Brit. 

*  So  obvious  is  this  alternative  that  all  critics  may  be  said  to  grant 
it,  except  Kfinig  (Einl.),  on  whose  reasons  for  placing  Joel  in  the  end 
of  the  seventh  century  see  below,  p.  386,  n.  5.  Kessner  (^Das  Zeitaltet 
der  I'roph.Joel  (1888)  deems  the  date  unprovable. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOEL  377 

him  Hitzig,  Bleek,  Ewald,  Delitzsch,  Keil,  Kuenen 
(up  to  1864),*  Pusey  and  others.  So,  too,  at  first 
some  living  critics  of  the  first  rank,  who,  like  Kuenen, 
have  since  changed  their  opinion.  And  so,  even  still, 
Kirkpatrick  (on  the  whole),  Von  Orelli,  Robertson,^ 
Stanley  Leathes  and  Sinker.'  The  reasons  which 
these  scholars  have  given  for  the  early  date  of  Joel 
are  roughly  as  follows.*  His  book  occurs  among  the 
earliest  of  the  Twelve  :  while  it  is  recognised  that  the 
order  of  these  is  not  strictly  chronological,  it  is  alleged 
that  there  is  a  division  between  the  pre-exilic  and  post- 
exilic  prophets,  and  that  Joel  is  found  among  the  former. 
The  vagueness  of  his  representations  in  general,  and 
of  his  pictures  of  the  Da}'^  of  Jehovah  in  particular,  is 
attributed  to  the  simplicity  of  the  earlier  religion  of 
Israel,  and  to  the  want  of  that  analysis  of  its  leading 
conceptions  which  was  the  work  of  later  prophets." 
His  horror  of  the  interruption  of  the  daily  offer- 
ings in  the  Temple,  caused  by  the  plague  of  locusts,*' 
is  ascribed  to  a  fear  which  pervaded  the  primitive 
ages  of  all  peoples.^  In  Joel's  attitude  towards  other 
nations,  whom  he  condemns  to  judgment,  Ewald  saw 
"  the  old  unsubdued  warlike  spirit  of  the  times  of 
Deborah  and  David."  The  prophet's  absorption  in  the 
ravages  of  the  locusts  is  held  to  reflect  the  feeling  of 
a  purely  agricultural  community,  such  as  Israel  was 

'  See  The  Religion  of  Israel,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  86  f. 
'  The  O.T.  and  its  Contents,  p.  105. 

*  Lex  Mosaica,  pp,  422,  450. 

*  See  especially  b:wald  on  Joel  in  his  Prophets  of  the  O.T.,  and 
Kirkpatrick's  very  fair  argument  in  Doctrine  of  the  Proplieis,  pp.  57  ff. 

*  On  Joel's  picture  of  the  Day  of  Jehovah  Ewald  says  :  "We  have 
it  here  in  its  first  simple  and  clear  form,  nor  has  it  become  a  subject 
of  ridicule  as  in  Amos." 

''  j.  9,  13,  16,  ii.  14.  'So  Ewald. 


378  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

before  the  eighth  century.  The  absence  of  the  name 
of  Assyria  from  the  book  is  assigned  to  the  same  un- 
wiUingness  to  give  the  name  as  we  see  in  Amos  and  the 
earlier  prophecies  of  Isaiah,  and  it  is  thought  by  some 
that,  though  not  named,  the  Assyrians  are  symbolised 
by  the  locusts.  The  absence  of  all  mention  of  the  Law 
is  also  held  by  some  to  prove  an  early  date  :  though 
other  critics,  who  believe  that  the  Levitical  legislation 
was  extant  in  Israel  from  the  earliest  times,  find  proof 
of  this  in  Joel's  insistence  upon  the  daily  offering.  The 
absence  of  all  mention  of  a  king  and  the  prominence 
given  to  the  priests  are  explained  by  assigning  the 
prophecy  to  the  minority  of  King  Joash  of  Judah,  when 
Jehoyada  the  priest  was  regent ;  ^  the  charge  against 
Egypt  and  Edom  of  spilling  innocent  blood  by  Shishak's 
invasion  of  Judah,^  and  by  the  revolt  of  the  Edomites 
under  Jehoram  ;^  the  charge  against  the  Philistines  and 
Phoenicians  by  the  Chronicler's  account  of  Phihstine 
raids*  in  the  reign  of  Jehoram  of  Judah,  and  by  the 
oracles  of  Amos  against  both  nations  ;*  and  the  mention 
of  the  Vale  of  Jehoshaphat  by  that  king's  defeat  of 
Moab,  Amnion  and  Edom  in  the  Vale  of  Berakhah.** 
These  allusions  being  recognised,  it  was  deduced  from 
them  that  the  parallels  between  Joel  and  Amos  were 
due  to  Amos  having  quoted  from  Joel.' 


'  2  Kings  xi.  4-21. 

*  I  Kings  xiv.  25  f. :  cf.  Joel  iii.  lib,  1 91 

•  2  Kings  viii.  20-22  :  cf.  Joel  iii;  19. 

*  2  Chron.  xxi.  16,  17,  xxii.  I  :  cf.  Joel  iii.  4-6. 

•  Amos  i. :  cf.  Joel  iii.  4-6. 

•  2  Chron.  xx.,  especially  26  :  cf.  Joel  iii.  2. 

*  Joel  iii.  (Eng. ;  iv.  Heb.)  16  ;  Amos  i.  2.  For  a  list  of  the  various 
periods  to  which  Joel  has  been  assigned  by  supporters  of  this  early 
date  sec  Kacnen,  §  68, 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOEL  379 

These  reasons  are  not  all  equally  cogent,*  and  even 
the  strongest  of  them  do  not  prove  more  than  the 
possibility  of  an  early  date  for  Joel.*  Nor  do  they 
meet  every  historical  difficulty.  The  minority  of  Joash, 
upon  which  they  converge,  fell  at  a  time  when  Aram 
was  not  only  prominent  to  the  thoughts  of  Israel,  but 
had  already  been  felt  to  be  an  enemy  as  powerful 
as  the  Philistines  or  Edomites.  But  the  Book  of  Joel 
does  not  mention  Aram.  It  mentions  the  Greeks,'  and, 
although  we  have  no  right  to  say  that  such  a  notice 
was  impossible  in  Israel  in  the  ninth  century,  it  was 
not  only  improbable,  but  no  other  Hebrew  document 
from  before  the  Exile  speaks  of  Greece,  and  in  particular 
Amos  does  not  when  describing  the  Phoenicians  as 
slave-traders.*  The  argument  that  the  Book  of  Joel 
must  be  early  because  it  was  placed  among  the  first  six  of 
the  Twelve  Prophets  by  the  arrangers  of  the  Prophetic 
Canon,  who  could  not  have  forgotten  Joel's  date  had  he 
lived  after  450,  loses  all  force  from  the  fact  that  in  the 
same  group  of  pre-exilic  prophets  we  find  the  exilic 
Obadiah  and  the  post-exilic  Jonah,  both  of  them  in 
precedence  to  Micah. 

The  argument  for  the  early  date  of  Joel  is,  therefore, 
not  conclusive.  But  there  are  besides  serious  objections 
to  it,  which  make  for  the  other  solution  of  the  alter- 
native we  started  from,  and  lead  us  to  place  Joel  after 
the  establishment  of  the  Law  by  Ezra  and  Nehemiah 
in  444  B.C. 


*  The  reference  of  Egj'pt  in  iii.  19  to  Shishak's  invasion  appears 
particularly  weak. 

^  Cf.    Robertson,   O.   T.  and  its   Contents,   105,  and  Kirkpatrick's 
cautious,  though  convinced,  statement  of  the  reasons  for  an  early  date. 

*  iii.  6  (Heb.  iv.  6). 

*  Amos  i.  9. 


38o  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

A  post-exilic  date  was  first  proposed  by  Vatke/  and 
then  defended  by  Hilgenfeld,''  and  by  Duhm  in  1875.' 
From  this  time  the  theory  made  rapid  way,  winning 
over  many  who  had  previously  held  the  early  date  of 
Joel,  like  Oort,*  Kuenen,"  A.  B.  Davidson,"  Driver  and 
Cheyne,^  perhaps  also  Wellhausen,*  and  finding  accept- 
ance and  new  proofs  from  a  gradually  increasing 
majority  of  younger  critics,  Merx,®  Robertson  Smith,'" 
Stade,"  Matthes  and  Scholz,'^  Holzinger,"  Farrar," 
Kautzsch,"  Cornill,"  Wildeboer,"  G.  B.  Gray"  and 
Nowack."  The  reasons  which  have  led  to  this  formid- 
able change  of  opinion  in  favour  of  the  late  date  of  the 
Book  of  Joel  are  as  follows. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Exile  of  Judah  appears  in  it 
as  already  past.  This  is  proved,  not  by  the  ambiguous 
phrase,  when  I  shall  bring  again  the  captivity  of  Judah 


»  Bibl.  Theol,  I.,  p.  462  ;  Einl.,  pp.  675  S. 

•  Ztschr.f.  wissensch.  Theol.,  X.,  Heft  4. 

•  Theol.  der  Proph.,  pp.  275  ff. 

•  Theol.  Tijd.,  1876,  pp.  362  S.  (not  seenX 
»  Onderz.,  §  68. 

•  Expositor,  1888,  Jan. — ^June,  pp.  198  S. 

•  See  Cheyne,  Origin  of  Psalter,  xx. ;  Driver,  Introd.,  in  the  sixth 
edition  of  which,  1897,  he  supports  the  late  date  of  Joel  more  strongly 
than  in  the  first  edition,  1892. 

•  Wellhausen  allowed  the  theory  of  the  early  date  of  Joel  to  stand 
in  his  edition  of  Bleek's  Einleittmg,  but  adopts  the  late  date  in  his 
own  Kleine  Propheten. 

•  Dit  Prophetie  des  Joels  u.  ihre  Ausleger,  1879. 
>•  Encyc.  Brit.,  art.  "Joel,"  1881. 

"  Gtsch.,  II.  207. 

"*  Theol.  Tijdschr.,  1885,  p.  151  ;  Comm.,  1885  (neither  seen). 
'•  "  Sprachcharakter  u.  Abfassungszeit  des  B.  Joels"  in  Z.A.T.W., 
1889,  pp.  89  ff. 

»*  Minor  Prophets.  "  Litteratur  des  A.  T. 

»  Bibel.  "  Expositor,  September  1 893. 

«•  Einleit.  "  Comm.,  1897. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOEL  381 

and  Jerusalern^  but  by  the  plain  statement  that  the 
heathen  have  scattered  Israel  among  the  nations  and  divided 
iheir  land}  The  pUuider  of  the  Temple  seems  also  to 
be  implied.'  Moreover,  no  great  world-power  is  pic- 
tured as  either  threatening  or  actually  persecuting  God's 
people ;  but  Israel's  active  enemies  and  enslavers  are 
represented  as  her  own  neighbours,  Edomites,  Philis- 
tines and  Phoenicians,  and  the  last  are  represented  as 
selling  Jewish  captives  to  the  Greeks.  All  this  suits, 
if  it  does  not  absolutely  prove,  the  Persian  age,  before 
the  reign  of  Artaxerxes  Ochus,  who  was  the  first  Persian 
king  to  treat  the  Jews  with  cruelty.*  The  Greeks, 
Javan,  do  not  appear  in  any  Hebrew  writer  before  the 
Exile  ;*  the  form  in  which  their  name  is  given  by  Joel, 
B'ne  ha-Jevanim,  has  admittedly  a  late  sound  about  it," 
and  we  know  from  other  sources  that  it  was  in  the 
iifth  and  fourth  centuries  that  Syrian  slaves  were  in 
demand  in  Greece.'  Similarly  with  the  internal  con- 
dition of   the  Jews  as  reflected   in  JoeL     No   king  is 

*  iv,  (Heb. ;  iii,  Eng.)  I.  For  this  may  only  mean  turn  again  the 
fortunes  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem. 

*  iv.  (Heb.  ;  iii.  Eng.)  2,  The  supporters  of  a  pre-exilic  date 
cither  passed  this  over  or  understood  it  of  incursions  by  the  heathen 
into  Israel's  territories  in  the  ninth  century.  It  is,  however,  too 
universal  to  suit  these.  *  iv.  (Heb.  ;  iii.  Eng.)  5- 

*  Kautzsch  dates  after  Artaxerxes  Ochus,  and  c.  350. 

'  Ezckiel  (xxvii.  13,  19)  is  the  first  to  give  the  name  Javan,  i.e. 
laFwi',  or  Ionian  (earlier  writers  name  Egypt,  Edom,  Arabia  and 
l^hcEnicia  as  the  great  slave-markets:  Amos  i. ;  Isa.  xi.  11;  Deut. 
xxviii.  68) ;  and  Greeks  are  also  mentioned  in  Isa.  Ixvi.  19  (a 
post-exilic  passage);  Zech.  ix.  13 ;  Dan.  viii.  21,  x.  20,  xi.  2; 
I  Chron.  i.  5,  7,  and  Gen.  x.  2.     See  below.  Chap.  XXXI. 

'  D^JVn  »33  instead  of  |V  *J3,  just  as  the  Chronicler  gives  DTllpn  ''J3 
for  mp'03:  see  Wildeboer,  p.  348,  and  Matthes,  quoted  by  Hol- 
zinger,  p.  94. 

'  Movers,  Phbn.  Altertkum.,  II.  1,  pp.  70  sqq.:  which  reference  I 
owe  to  R.  Smith's  art.  in  the  Emvc  Grit. 


382  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

mentioned  ;  but  the  priests  are  prominent,  and  the  elders 
are  introduced  at  least  once.^  It  is  an  agricultural 
calamity,  and  that  alone,  unmixed  with  any  political 
alarm,  which  is  the  omen  of  the  coming  Day  of  the 
Lord.  All  this  suits  the  state  of  Jerusalem  under  the 
Persians.  Take  again  the  religious  temper  and  emphasis 
of  the  book.  The  latter  is  laid,  as  we  have  seen,  very 
remarkably  upon  the  horror  of  the  interruption  by  the 
plague  of  locusts  of  the  daily  meal  and  drink  offerings, 
and  in  the  later  history  of  Israel  the  proofs  are  many 
of  the  exceeding  importance  with  which  the  regularity 
of  this  was  regarded.^  This,  says  Professor  A.  B. 
Davidson,  "  is  very  unlike  the  way  in  which  all  other 
prophets  down  to  Jeremiah  speak  of  the  sacrificial 
service."  The  priests,  too,  are  called  to  take  the  initia- 
tive ;  and  the  summons  to  a  solemn  and  formal  fast, 
without  any  notice  of  the  particular  sins  of  the  people 
or  exhortations  to  distinct  virtues,  contrasts  with  the 
attitude  to  fasts  of  the  earlier  prophets,  and  with  their 
insistence  upon  a  change  of  life  as  the  only  acceptable 
form  of  penitence.'  And  another  contrast  with  the 
earliest  prophets  is  seen  in  the  general  apocalyptic 
atmosphere  and  colouring  of  the  Book  of  Joel,  as  well 

•  With  these  might  be  taken  the  use  of  ?np  (ii.  l6)  in  its  sense  of 
a  gathering  for  public  worship.  The  word  itself  was  old  in  Hebrew, 
but  as  time  went  on  it  came  more  and  more  to  mean  the  convocation 
of  the  nation  for  worship  or  deliberation.     Holzinger,  pp.  105  f. 

•  Cf.  Neh.  X.  33  ;  Dan.  viii.  ii,  xi.  31,  xii.  II.  Also  Acts  xxvi.  7: 
t6  Sw^tK&cpvkov  ri/jLwv  iv  iKTevela  vvKTa  Kcd  ijiJ.epav  Xarpevov.  Also  the 
passages  in  Jos.,  XIV.  Ant.  iv.  3,  xvi.  2,  in  which  Josephus  mentions 
the  horror  caused  by  the  interruption  of  the  daily  sacrifice  by  famine 
in  the  last  siege  of  Jerusalem,  and  adds  that  it  had  happened  in  no 
previous  siege  of  the  city. 

•  Cf.  Jer,  xiv.  12;  Isa  Iviii.  6;  Zech.  vii.  5,  vi.  II,  19,  with 
Neh.  i.  4,  ix.  I ;  Ezra  viii.  21 ;  Jonah  iii.  5,  7  ;  Esther  iv.  3,  16,  ix.  31 ; 
Dan,  ix.  3. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOEL  383 


as  in  some  of  the  particular  figures  in  which  this  is 
expressed,  and  which  are  derived  from  later  prophets 
like  Zephaniah  and  Ezekiel.^ 

These  evidences  for  a  late  date  are  supported,  on 
the  whole,  by  the  language  of  the  book.  Of  this  Merx 
furnishes  many  details,  and  by  a  careful  examination, 
which  makes  due  allowance  for  the  poetic  form  of  the 
book  and  for  possible  glosses,  Holzinger  has  shown 
that  there  are  symptoms  in  vocabulary,  grammar  and 
syntax  which  at  least  are  more  reconcilable  with  a  late 
than  with  an  early  date.*  There  are  a  number  of 
Aramaic  words,  of  Hebrew  words  used  in  the  sense 
in  which  they  are  used  by  Aramaic,  but  by  no  other 
Hebrew,  writers,  and  several  terms  and  constructions 
which  appear  only  in  the  later  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  or  very  seldom  in  the  early  ones.'  It  is 
true  that  these  do  not  stand  in  a  large  proportion  to 
the  rest  of  Joel's  vocabulary  and  grammar,  which  is 
classic  and  suitable  to  an  early  period  of  the  Hterature ; 
but  this  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  large  use  which 
the  prophet  makes  of  the  very  words  of  earlier  writers. 


'  The  gathering  of  the  Gentiles  to  judgment,  Zeph.  iu.  8  (see 
above,  p.  69)  and  Ezek.  xxxviii.  22;  the  stream  issuing  from  the 
Temple  to  fill  the  Wady  ha-Shittim,  Ezek.  xlvii.  i  ff.,  cf.  Zech.  xiv,  8; 
the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  Ezek.  xxxix.  29. 

*  Z.A.T.JV.,  1889,  pp.  89-136.  Holzinger's  own  conclusion  is  stated 
more  emphatically  tlian  above. 

*  For  an  exhaustive  list  the  reader  must  be  referred  to  Holzinger's 
article  (ef.  Driver,  Iiitrod.,  sixth  edition;  Joel  and  Amos,  p.  24; 
G.  B.  Gray,  Expositor,  September  1893,  P-  212).  But  the  following 
(a  few  of  which  are  not  given  by  Holzinger)  are  sufficient  to  prove  the 
conclusion  come  to  above  :  i.  2,  iv.  4,  CK)  •  •  •  Q— this  is  the  form  of 
the  disjunctive  interrogative  in  later  O.'T.  writings,  replacing  the 
earlier  DN  •  ■  •  Q;  i.  8,  '7«  only  here  in  O.  T.,  but  frequent  in  Aram.; 
13,  yjDJ  in  Ni.  only  from  Jeremiah  onwards,  Qal  only  in  two 
passages  before  Jeremiah  and  in  a  number  after  him ;  18,  nmXJ,  if 


384  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Take  this  large  use  into  account,  and  the  unmistakable 
Aramaisms  of  the  book  become  even  more  emphatic 
in  their  proof  of  a  late  date. 

The  literary  parallels  between  Joel  and  other  writers 
are  unusually  many  for  so  small  a  book.  They  number 
at  least  twenty  in  seventy-two  verses.  The  other 
books  of  the  Old  Testament  in  which  they  occur  are 
about  twelve.  Where  one  writer  has  parallels  with 
many,  we  do  not  necessarily  conclude  that  he  is  the 
borrower,  unless  we  find  that  some  of  the  phrases 
common  to  both  are  characteristic  of  the  other  writers, 
or  that,  in  his  text  of  them,  there  are  differences  from 
theirs  which  may  reasonably  be  reckoned  to  be  of 
a  later  origin.  But  that  both  of  these  conditions  are 
found  in  the  parallels  between  Joel  and  other  prophets 
has  been  shown  by  Prof.  Driver  and  Mr.  G.  B.  Gray. 
"  Several  of  the  parallels — either  in  their  entirety  or 
by  virtue  of  certain  words  which  they  contain — have 
their  affinities  solely  or  chiefly  in  the  later  writings. 
But  the  significance  [of  this]  is  increased  when  the 
very   difference    between   a   passage   in   Joel   and   its 


the  correct  reading,  occurs  only  in  the  latest  O.  T.  writings,  the  Qal 
only  in  these  and  Aram. ;  ii.  2,  iv.  (Heb. ;  iii.  Eng.)  20,  Till  in  first 
in  Deut.  xxxii.  7,  and  then  exilic  and  post-exilic  frequently ;  8,  n?K'. 
a  late  word,  only  in  Job  xxxiii.  18,  xxxvi.  12,  2  Chron.  xxiii.  10, 
xxxii.  5,  Neh.  iii.  15,  iv.  II,  17;  20,  ^liD,  end,  only  in  2  Chron.  xx.  16 
and  Eccles.,  Aram,  of  Daniel,  and  post  Bibl.  Aram,  and  Heb. ;  iv. 
(Htb. ;  iii.  Eng.)  4,  hv  7'0'i,  cf.  2  Chron.  xx,  il ;  10,  nO"»,  see  below 
on  this  verse;  II,  nnjn,  Aram.  ;  13,  y^2,  in  Hebrew  to  cook  (cf. 
Ezek.  xxiv.  5),  and  in  other  forms  always  with  that  meaning  down  to 
the  Priestly  Writing  and  "  Zech."  ix. — xiv.,  is  used  here  in  the  sense 
of  ripen,  which  is  frequent  in  Aram.,  but  does  not  occur  elsewhere 
in  O,  T.  Besides,  Joel  uses  for  the  first  personal  pronoun  *3N — ii.  27 
{bis),  iv.  10,  17 — which  is  by  far  the  most  usual  form  with  later 
writers,  and  not  iDj{<,  preferred  by  pre-exilic  writers.  (See  below 
on  the  language  of  Jonah.) 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOEL  385 

parallel  in  another  book  consists  in  a  word  or  phrase 
characteristic  of  the  later  centuries.  That  a  passage 
in  a  writer  of  the  ninth  century  should  differ  from  its 
parallel  in  a  subsequent  writer  by  the  presence  of  a 
word  elsewhere  confined  to  the  later  literature  would 
be  strange ;  a  single  instance  would  not,  indeed,  be 
inexplicable  in  view  of  the  scantiness  of  extant  writings  ; 
but  every  additional  instance — though  itself  not  very 
convincing — renders  the  strangeness  greater."  And 
again,  "  the  variations  in  some  of  the  parallels  as  found 
in  Joel  have  other  common  peculiarities.  This  also 
finds  its  natural  explanation  in  the  fact  that  Joel  quotes  : 
for  that  the  same  author  even  when  quoting  from 
different  sources  should  quote  with  variations  of  the 
same  character  is  natural,  but  that  different  authors 
quoting  from  a  common  source  should  follow  the  same 
method  of  quotation  is  improbable."*  "While  in  some 
of  the  parallels  a  comparison  discloses  indications  that 
the  phrase  in  Joel  is  probably  the  later,  in  other  cases, 
even  though  the  expression  may  in  itself  be  met  with 
earlier,  it  becomes  frequent  only  in  a  later  age,  and  the 
use  of  it  by  Joel  increases  the  presumption  that  he 
stands  by  the  side  of  the  later  writers."  * 

In  face  of  so  many  converging  lines  of  evidence,  we 
shall  not  wonder  that  there  should  have  come  about 
so  great  a  change  in  the  opinion  of  the  majority  of 
critics  on  the  date  of  Joel,  and  that  it  should  now  be 
assigned  by  them  to  a  post-exilic  date.  Some  place 
it  in  the  sixth  century  before  Christ,'  some  in  the  first 

'  G.  B.  Gray,  Expositor,  September  1893,  pp.  213  f.  For  the  above 
conclusions  ample  proof  is  given  in  Mr,  Gray's  detailed  ey"*""'""*^''"' 
of  the  parallels  :  pp.  214  ff. 

*  Driver,  Joel  attd  Amos,  p.  27. 

*  Scholz  and  Rosenzwreig  (not  seen) 
VOL.  II. 


386  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

half  of  the  fifth  before  "  Malachi "  and  Nehemiah,*  but 
the  most  after  the  full  establishment  of  the  Law  by 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah  in  444  b.c*  It  is  difficult,  perhaps 
impossible,  to  decide.  Nothing  certain  can  be  deduced 
from  the  mention  of  the  city  wall  in  chap.  ii.  9,  from 
which  Robertson  Smith  and  Cornill  infer  that  Nehe- 
miah's  walls  were  already  built.  Nor  can  we  be  sure  that 
Joel  quotes  the  phrase,  before  the  great  and  terrible  day 
of  Jehovah  come,  from  "  Malachi,"  ^  although  this  is  ren- 
dered probable  by  the  character  of  Joel's  other  parallels. 
But  tlie  absence  of  all  reference  to  the  prophets  as 
a  class,  the  promise  of  the  rigorous  exclusion  01 
foreigners  from  Jerusalem,*  the  condemnation  to  judg- 
ment of  all  the  heathen,  and  the  strong  apocalyptic 
character  of  the  book,  would  incline  us  to  place  it  after 
Ezra  rather  than  before.  How  far  after,  it  is  impossible 
to  say,  but  the  absence  of  feeling  against  Persia  re- 
quires a  date  before  the  cruelties  inflicted  by  Artaxerxes 
about  360.* 

'  Hilgenfeld,  Duhm,  Oort.  Driver  puts  it  "  most  safely  shortly 
after  Haggai  and  Zechariah  i. — viii.,  c.  500  B.C." 

*  Vcrnes,  Robertson  Smith,  Kuenen,  Matthes,  Cornill,  Nowack,  etc. 

•  Joel  iii.  4  (Heb. ;  Eng.  ii.  31);  "Mai."  iv.  5. 

*  iii.  (Eng. ;  iv.  Heb.)  17. 

•  Perhaps  this  is  the  most  convenient  place  to  refer  to  KOnig's 
proposal  to  place  Joel  in  the  last  years  of  Josiah.  Some  of  his 
arguments  {e.g.  that  Joel  is  placed  among  the  first  of  the  Twelve)  we 
have  already  answered.  He  thinks  that  i.  17-20  suit  the  great 
drought  in  Josiah's  reign  (Jer.  xiv.  2-6),  that  the  name  given  to  the 
locusts,  *3"l3^fn,  ii.  20,  is  due  to  Jeremiah's  enemy /-row  the  north,  and 
that  the  phrases  return  ivith  all  your  heart,  ii.  12,  and  return  to  Jehovah 
your  God,  13,  imply  a  period  of  apostasy.  None  of  these  conclusions 
is  necessarj'.  The  absence  of  reference  to  the  high  places  finds  an 
analogy  in  Isa.  i.  13;  the  HPUD  is  mentioned  in  Isa.  i,  13:  if  Amos 
viii.  5  testifies  to  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  and  Nahum  ii.  I  to  other 
festivals,  who  can  say  a  pre-exilic  prophet  would  not  be  interested  in 
the  meal  and   drink  oileiings?     But   surely   no   pre-exLUc  prophet 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOEL  387 


One  solution,  which  has  lately  been  offered  for  the 
problems  of  date  presented  by  the  Book  of  Joel,  deserves 
some  notice.  In  his  German  translation  of  Driver's 
Introduction  to  the  Old  Testament^  Rothstein  questions 
the  integrity  of  the  prophecy,  and  alleges  reasons  for 
dividing  it  into  two  sections.  Chaps,  i.  and  ii.  (Heb. ; 
i. — ii.  27  Eng.)  he  assigns  to  an  early  author,  writing 
in  the  minority  of  King  Joash,  but  chaps,  iii.  and  iv. 
(Heb. ;  ii.  28 — iii.  Eng.)  to  a  date  after  the  Exile,  while 
ii.  20,  which,  it  will  be  remembered,  Robertson  Smith 
takes  as  a  gloss,  he  attributes  to  the  editor  who  has 
joined  the  two  sections  together.  His  reasons  are 
that  chaps,  i.  and  ii.  are  entirely  taken  up  with  the 
physical  plague  of  locusts,  and  no  troubles  from  heathen 
are  mentioned;  while  chaps,  iii.  and  iv.  say  nothing 
of  a  physical  plague,  but  the  evils  they  deplore  for 
Israel  are  entirely  poHtical,  the  assaults  of  enemies. 
Now  it  is  quite  within  the  bounds  of  possibility  that 
chaps,  iii.  and  iv.  are  from  another  hand  than  chaps,  i. 
and  ii.  :  we  have  nothing  to  disprove  that.  But,  on  the 
other   hand,  there    is  nothing  to   prove   it.      On   the 

would  have  so  emphasised  these  as  Joel  has  done.  Nor  is  KOnig's 
explanation  of  iv.  2  as  of  the  Assyrian  and  Egyptian  invasion  of 
Judah  so  probable  as  that  which  refers  the  verse  to  the  Babylonian 
exile.  Nor  are  KOnig's  objections  to  a  date  after  "  Malachi  "  convincing. 
They  are  that  a  prophet  near  "Malachi's"  time  must  have  specified  as 
"Malachi"  did  the  reasons  for  the  repentance  to  which  he  summoned 
the  people,  while  Joel  gives  none,  but  is  quite  general  (ii.  13a).  But 
the  change  of  attitude  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  covenant  and 
Law  of  444.  "  Malachi  "  i.  II  speaks  of  the  Gentiles  worshipping 
Jehovah,  but  not  even  in  Jonah  iii.  5  is  any  relation  of  the  Gentiles 
to  Jehovah  predicated.  Again,  the  greater  exclusiveness  of  Ezra  and 
liis  Law  may  be  the  cause.  Joel,  it  is  true,  as  Konig  says,  does  not 
mention  the  Law,  while  "  Malachi "  does  (ii.  8,  etc.) ;  but  this  was  not 
necessary  if  the  people  had  accepted  it  in  444.  Professor  Ryle  {jCanon 
ofO.T.f  106  n.)  leaves  the  question  of  Joel's  date  open. 
'  Pages  333  f.  n. 


388  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

contrary,  the  possibility  of  all  four  chapters  being  from 
the  same  hand  is  very  obvious.  Joel  mentions  no 
heathen  in  the  first  chapter,  because  he  is  engrossed 
with  the  plague  of  locusts.  But  when  this  has  passed, 
it  is  quite  natural  that  he  should  take  up  the  standing 
problem  of  Israel's  history — their  relation  to  heathen 
peoples.  There  is  no  discrepancy  between  the  two 
different  subjects,  nor  between  the  styles  in  which  I  hey 
are  respectively  treated.  Rothstein's  arguments  for  an 
early  date  for  chaps,  i.  and  ii.  have  been  already 
answered,  and  when  we  come  to  the  exposition  of  them 
we  shall  find  still  stronger  reasons  for  assigning  them 
to  the  end  of  the  fifth  century  before  Christ.  The 
assault  on  the  integrity  of  the  prophecy  may  therefore 
be  said  to  have  failed,  though  no  one  who  remembers 
the  composite  character  of  the  prophetical  books  can 
deny  that  the  question  is  still  open.^ 

2.    The   Interpretation   of   the   Book  :    Is   it 
Description,  Allegory  or  Apocalypse? 

Another  question  to  which  we  must  address  our- 
selves before  we  can  pass  to  the  exposition  of  Joel's 
prophecies  is  of  the  attitude  and  intention  of  the 
prophet.  Does  he  describe  or  predict?  Does  he 
give  history  or  allegory  ? 

Joel  starts  from  a  great  plague  of  locusts,  which  he 

'  Vemes,  Histoire  des  Idees  Messianiqttes  depuis  Alexandre,  pp.  13  ff., 
had  already  asserted  that  chaps,  i.  and  ii.  must  be  by  a  different 
author  from  chaps,  iii.  and  iv,,  because  the  former  has  to  do  wholly 
with  the  writer's  present,  with  which  the  latter  has  no  connection 
whatever,  but  it  is  entirely  eschatological.  But  in  his  Melanges  de 
Crit.  Relig.,  pp.  218  ff.,  Vernes  allows  that  his  arguments  are  not 
conclusive,  and  that  all  four  chapters  may  have  come  from  the  same 
hand. 


THE' BOOK  OF  JOEL  389 

describes  not  only  in  the  ravages  they  commit  upon 
the  land,  but  in  their  ominous  foreshadowing  of  the 
Day  of  the  Lord.  They  are  the  heralds  of  God's  near 
judgment  upon  the  nation.  Let  the  latter  repent 
instantly  with  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer.  Per- 
adventure  Jehovah  will  relent,  and  spare  His  people. 
So  far  chap.  i.  2 — ii.  17.  Then  comes  a  break.  An 
uncertain  interval  appears  to  elapse;  and  in  chap, 
ii.  18  we  are  told  that  Jehovah's  zeal  for  Israel  has 
been  stirred,  and  He  has  had  pity  on  His  folk.  Pro- 
mises follow,  first,  of  deliverance  from  the  plague  and 
of  restoration  of  the  harvests  it  has  consumed,  and 
second,  of  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  on  all  classes 
of  the  community :  chap.  ii.  17-32  (Eng.  ;  ii.  17- — iii. 
Heb.).  Chap.  iii.  (Eng. ;  iv.  Heb.)  gives  another  picture 
of  the  Day  of  Jehovah,  this  time  described  as  a 
judgment  upon  the  heathen  enemies  of  Israel.  They 
shall  be  brought  together,  condemned  judicially  by 
Him,  and  slain  by  His  hosts,  His  "  supernatural "  hosts. 
Jerusalem  shall  be  freed  from  the  feet  of  strangers,  and 
the  fertility  of  the  land  restored. 

These  are  the  contents  of  the  book.  Do  they 
describe  an  actual  plague  of  locusts,  already  experi- 
enced by  the  people  ?  Or  do  they  predict  this  as  still 
to  come  ?  And  again,  are  the  locusts  which  they 
describe  real  locusts,  or  a  symbol  and  allegory  of  the 
human  foes  of  Israel  ?  To  these  two  questions,  v/hich 
in  a  measure  cross  and  involve  each  other,  three 
kinds  of  answer  have  been  given. 

A  large  and  growing  majority  of  critics  of  all 
schools  ^  hold  that  Joel  starts,  like  pther  prophets,  from 
the  facts  of  experience.     His  locusts,  though  described 

'  I.e.  Hitzig,  Vatke,  Ewald,  Robertson  Smith,  Kuenen,  Kirk- 
patrick,  Driver,  Davidson,  Nowack,  etc. 


390  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

with  poetic  hyperbole — for  are  they  not  the  vanguard 
of  the  awful  Day  of  God's  judgment  ? — are  real  locusts  ; 
their  plague  has  just  been  felt  by  his  contemporaries, 
whom  he  summons  to  repent,  and  to  whom,  when  they 
have  repented,  he  brings  promises  of  the  restoration 
of  their  ruined  harvests,  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit, 
and  judgment  upon  their  foes.  Prediction  is  there- 
fore found  only  in  the  second  half  of  the  book  (ii.  i8 
onwards) :  it  rests  upon  a  basis  of  narrative  and  exhorta- 
tion which  fills  the  first  half. 

But  a  number  of  other  critics  have  argued  (and 
with  great  force)  that  the  prophet's  language  about  the 
locusts  is  too  aggravated  and  too  ominous  to  be  limited 
to  the  natural  plague  which  these  insects  periodically 
inflicted  upon  Palestine.  Joel  (they  reason)  would 
hardly  have  connected  so  common  an  adversity  with 
so  singular  and  ultimate  a  crisis  as  the  Day  of  the 
Lord.  Under  the  figure  of  locusts  he  must  be 
describing  some  more  fateful  agency  of  God's  wrath 
upon  Israel.  More  than  one  trait  of  his  description 
appears  to  imply  a  human  army.  It  can  only  be  one 
or  other,  or  all,  of  those  heathen  powers  whom  at 
different  periods  God  raised  up  to  chastise  His 
delinquent  people ;  and  this  opinion  is  held  to  be  sup- 
ported by  the  facts  that  chap.  ii.  20  speaks  of  them 
as  the  Northern  and  chap.  iii.  (Eng. ;  iv.  Heb.)  deals 
with  the  heathen.  The  locusts  of  chaps,  i.  and  ii. 
are  the  same  as  the  heathen  of  chap.  iii.  In  chaps, 
i.  and  ii.  they  are  described  as  threatening  Israel, 
but  on  condition  of  Israel  repenting  (chap.  ii.  18  ff.) 
the  Day  of  the  Lord  which  they  herald  shall  be  their 
destruction  and  not  Israel's  (chap,  iii.).^ 

'  This  allegorical  interpretation  was  a  favourite  one  with  the 
early  Christian  Fathers  :  cf.  Jerome. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOEL  391 


The  supporters  of  this  allegorical  interpretation  of 
Joel  are,  however,  divided  among  themselves  as  to 
whether  the  heathen  powers  symbolised  by  the  locusts 
are  described  as  having  already  afflicted  Israel  or  are 
predicted  as  still  to  come.  Hilgenfeld/  for  instance, 
says  that  the  prophet  in  chaps,  i.  and  ii,  speaks  of 
their  ravages  as  already  past.  To  him  their  fourfold 
plague  described  in  chap.  i.  4  symbolises  four  Persian 
assaults  upon  Palestine,  after  the  last  of  which  in 
358  the  prophecy  must  therefore  have  been  written.* 
Others  read  them  as  still  to  come.  In  our  own 
country  Pusey  has  been  the  strongest  supporter  of 
this  theory.'  To  him  the  whole  book,  written  before 
Amos,  is  prediction.  "  It  extends  from  the  prophet's 
own  day  to  the  end  of  time,"  Joel  calls  the  scourge 
the  Northern  :  he  directs  the  priests  to  pray  for  its 
removal,  that  the  heathen  may  not  rule  over  God's 
heritage ;  *  he  describes  the  agent  as  a  responsible 
one;^  his  imagery  goes  far  beyond  the  effects  of 
locusts,  and  threatens  drought,  fire  and  plague,'  the 
assault  of  cities  and  the  terrifying  of  peoples.'  The 
scourge  is  to  be  destroyed  in  a  way  physically  in- 
applicable to  locusts ;  *  and  the  promises  of  its  removal 
include  the  remedy  of  ravages  which  mere  locusts 
could  not  inflict  :  the  captivity  of  Judah  is  to  be 
turned,  and  the   land   recovered   from  foreigners  who 


'  Zeitschr.  fiir  wissensch.  Theologie,  i860,  pp.  412  ff. 

*  Cambyses  525,  Xerxes  484,  Artaxerxes  Ochus  460  and  458, 

'  In  Germany,  among  other  representatives  of  this  opinion,  are 
Bertholdt  {Einl.)  and  Hengstenberg  {ChristoL,  III.  352  if.),  the  latter 
of  whom  saw  in  the  four  kir>ds  of  locusts  the  Assyrian-Babylonian, 
the  Persian,  the  Greek  and  the  Roman  tyrants  of  IsraeL 

*  ii.  17.  '  i.  19,  20.  •  ii.  2a 
»  ii.  ao.                             '  Plur.     ii.  6. 


392  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

are  to  be  banished  from  it.^  Pusey  thus  reckons  as 
future  the  relenting  of  God,  consequent  upon  the 
people's  penitence  :  chap.  ii.  i8ff.  The  past  tenses  in 
which  it  is  related,  he  takes  as  instances  of  the  well- 
known  prophetic  perfect,  according  to  which  the 
prophets  express  their  assurance  of  things  to  come 
by  describing  them  as  if  they  had  already  happened. 

This  is  undoubtedly  a  strong  case  for  the  predictive 
and  allegorical  character  of  the  Book  of  Joel ;  but  a 
little  consideration  will  show  us  that  the  facts  on  which 
it  is  grounded  are  capable  of  a  different  explanation 
than  that  which  it  assumes,  and  that  Pusey  has  over- 
looked a  number  of  other  facts  which  force  us  to  a 
literal  interpretation  of  the  locusts  as  a  plague  already 
past,  even  though  we  feel  they  are  described  in  the 
language  of  poetical  hyperbole. 

For,  in  the  first  place,  Pusey's  theory  implies  that 
the  prophecy  is  addressed  to  a  future  generation,  who 
shall  be  alive  when  the  predicted  invasions  of  heathen 
come  upon  the  land.  Whereas  Joel  obviously  ad- 
dresses his  own  contemporaries.  The  prophet  and 
his  hearers  are  one.  Before  our  eyes,  he  says,  the  food 
has  been  cut  off}  As  obviously,  he  speaks  of  the  plague 
of  locusts  as  of  something  that  has  just  happened. 
His  hearers  can  compare  its  effects  with  past  disasters, 
which  it  has  far  exceeded ;  ^  and  it  is  their  duty  to  hand 
down  the  story  of  it  to  future  generations.*  Again,  his 
description  is  that  of  a  physical,  not  of  a  political,  plague. 
Fields  and  gardens,  vines  and  figs,  are  devastated  by 
being  stripped  and  gnawed.  Drought  accompanies  the 
locusts,  the  seed  shrivels  beneath  the  clods,  the  trees 
languish,  the  cattle  pant  for  want  of  water/     These  are 

•  iii.  (Heb.  iv.)  i  f.,  17.         »  i.  2  f.  »  i.  l^  ff. 

*  i.  16.  *  i.  3. 


THE   BOOK  OF  JOEL  39 

not  the  trail  which  an  invading  army  leave  behind  them 
In  support  of  his  theory  that  human  hosts  are  meant, 
Pusey  points  to  the  verses  which  bid  the  people  prav 
that  the  heathen  rule  not  over  them,  and  which  describe 
the  invaders  as  attacking  cities.^  But  the  former 
phrase  may  be  rendered  with  equal  propriety,  that  the 
heathen  make  not  satirical  songs  about  them;^  and  as 
to  the  latter,  not  only  do  locusts  invade  towns  exactly 
as  Joel  describes,  but  his  words  that  the  invader  steals 
into  houses  like  a  thief  are  far  more  applicable  to  the 
insidious  entrance  of  locusts  than  to  the  bold  and  noisy 
assault  of  a  storming  party.  Moreover  Pusey  and  the 
other  allegorical  interpreters  of  the  book  overlook  the 
fact  that  Joel  never  so  much  as  hints  at  the  invariable 
effects  of  a  human  invasion,  massacre  and  plunder. 
He  describes  no  slaying  and  no  looting  ;  but  when  he 
comes  to  the  promise  that  Jehovah  will  restore  the 
losses  which  have  been  sustained  by  His  people,  he 
defines  them  as  the  years  which  His  army  has  eaten? 
But  all  this  proof  is  clenched  by  the  fact  that  Joel  com- 
pares the  locusts  to  actual  soldiers.*  They  are  like 
horsemen,  the  sound  of  them  is  like  chariots,  they  run 
like  horses,  and  like  men  of  war  they  leap  upon  the 
wall.  Joel  could  never  have  compared  a  real  army  to 
itself! 

The  allegorical  interpretation  is  therefore  untenable. 
But  some  critics,  while  admitting  this,  are  yet  not  disposed 
to  take  the  first  part  of  the  book  for  narrative.  They 
admit  that  the  prophet  means  a  plague  of  locusts,  but 
they  deny  that  he  is  speaking  of  a  plague  already  past, 
and  hold  that  his  locusts  are  still  to  come,  that  they  are 
as  much  a  part  of  the  future  as  the  pouring  out  of  the 

'  ii.  17,  ii.  9  ff.         'A.  B.  Davidson,  Expos.,  1888,  pp.  2CO  f. 
*  D3  72'::^  *  ii.  4  ff. 


394  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Spirit  *  and  the  judgment  of  the  heathen  in  the  Valley 
of  Jehoshaphat.^  All  alike,  they  are  signs  or  accom- 
paniments of  the  Day  of  Jehovah,  and  that  Day  has 
still  to  break.  The  prophet's  scenery  is  apocalyptic  ; 
the  locusts  are  "  eschatological  locusts,"  not  historical 
ones.  This  interpretation  of  Joel  has  been  elaborated 
by  Dr.  Adalbert  Merx,  and  the  following  is  a  summary 
of  his  opinions.' 

After  examining  the  book  along  all  the  lines  of  exposition  which 
have  been  proposed,  Merx  finds  himself  unable  to  trace  any  plan  or 
even  sign  of  a  plan ;  and  his  only  escape  from  perplexity  is  the  belie/ 
that  no  plan  can  ever  have  been  meant  by  the  author.  Joel  weaves 
in  one  past,  present  and  future,  paints  situations  only  to  blot  them 
out  and  put  others  in  their  place,  starts  many  processes  but  develops 
none.  His  book  shows  no  insight  into  God's  plan  with  Israel,  but  is 
purely  external;  the  bearing  and  the  end  of  it  is  the  material 
prosperity  of  the  little  land  of  Judah.  From  this  Merx  concludes 
that  the  book  is  not  an  original  work,  but  a  mere  summary  ol 
passages  from  previous  prophets,  that  with  a  few  reflections  of  the  life 
of  the  Jews  after  the  Return  lead  us  to  assign  it  to  that  period  ot 
literary  culture  which  Nehemiah  inaugurated  by  the  collection  of 
national  writings  and  which  was  favoured  by  the  cessation  of  all  politi- 
cal disturbance.  Joel  gathered  up  the  pictures  of  the  Messianic  ago 
in  the  older  prophets,  and  welded  them  together  in  one  long  prayer 
by  the  fervid  belief  that  that  age  was  near.  But  while  the  older 
prophets  spoke  upon  the  ground  of  actual  fact  and  rose  from  this  to  a 
majestic  picture  of  the  last  punishment,  the  still  life  of  Joel's  time  had 
nothing  such  to  offer  him  and  he  had  to  seek  another  basis  for  his 
prophetic  flight.  It  is  probable  that  he  sought  this  in  the  relation  o; 
Type  and  Antitype.  The  Antitype  he  found  in  the  liberation  from 
Egypt,  the  darkness  and  the  locusts  of  which  he  transferred  to  his 
canvas  from  Exodus  x.  4-6.  The  locusts,  therefore,  are  neither 
real  nor  symbolic,  but  ideal.  This  is  the  method  of  the  Midrash  and 
Haggada  in  Jewish  literature,  which  constantly  placed  over  against 
each  other  the  deliverance  from  Egypt  and  the  last  judgment.     It  ia 

'  Eng.  ii.  28  ff.,  Heb.  iii. 

*  Eng.  iii.,  Heb.  iv. 

'  Die  Prophetic  des  Joel  u.  ihre  Ausleger,  1879.  The  following 
summary  and  criticism  of  Merx's  views  I  take  from  an  (unpublishedj 
review  of  his  work  which  I  wrote  in  1881. 


THE  BOOK   OF  JOEL  39S 

t  method  that  is  already  found  in  such  portions  of  the  Old  Testament 
as  Ezekiel  xxxvii.  and  Psalm  Ixxviii.  Joel's  locusts  are  borrowed  from 
the  Egyptian  plagues,  but  are  presented  as  the  signs  of  the  Last  Day. 
They  will  bring  it  near  to  Israel  by  famine,  drought  and  the  in- 
terruption of  worship  described  in  chap.  i.  Chap,  ii.,  which  Merx 
keeps  distinct  from  chap,  i.,  is  based  on  a  study  of  Ezekiel,  from 
whom  Joel  has  borrowed,  among  other  things,  the  expressions  the 
garden  of  Eden  and  the  Northerner.  The  two  verses  generally  held  to 
be  historic,  18  and  19,  Merx  takes  to  be  the  continuation  of  the 
prayer  of  the  priests,  pointing  the  verbs  so  as  to  turn  them  from 
perfects  into  futures.'  The  rest  of  the  book,  Merx  strives  to  show,  is 
pieced  together  from  many  prophets,  chiefly  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel,  but 
without  the  tender  spiritual  feeling  of  the  one,  or  the  colossal 
magnificence  of  the  other.  Special  nations  are  mentioned,  but  in 
this  portion  of  the  work  we  have  to  do  not  with  events  already  past, 
but  with  general  views,  and  these  not  original,  but  conditioned  by  the 
expressions  of  earlier  writers.  There  is  no  history  in  the  book  :  it  is 
all  ideal,  mystical,  apocalj'ptic.  That  is  to  say,  according  to  Merx, 
there  is  no  real  prophet  or  prophetic  fire,  only  an  old  man  warming 
his  feeble  hands  over  a  few  embers  that  he  has  scraped  together  from 
the  ashes  of  ancient  fires,  now  nearly  wholly  dead. 

Merx  has  traced  Joel's  relations  to  other  prophets,  and  reflection 
of  a  late  date  in  Israel's  history,  with  care  and  ingenuity;  but  his 
treatment  of  the  text  and  exegesis  of  the  prophet's  meaning  are 
alike  forced  and  fanciful.  In  face  of  the  support  which  the  Massoretic 
reading  of  the  hinge  of  the  book,  chap.  ii.  18  ff.,  receives  from  the 
ancient  versions,  and  of  its  inherent  probability  and  harmony  with 
the  context,  Merx's  textual  emendation  is  unnecessary,  besides  being 
in  itself  unnatural.'  While  the  very  same  objections  which  we  have 
already  found  valid  against  the  allegorical  interpretation  equally 
dispose  of  this  mystical  one.  Merx  outrages  the  evident  features  ot 
the  book  almost  as  much  as  Hengstenberg  and  Pusey  have  done. 
He  has  lifted  out  of  time  altogether  that  which  plainly  purports  to 
be  historical.  His  literary  criticism  is  as  unsound  as  his  textual.  It 
is  only  by  ignoring  the  beautiful  poetry  of  chap.  i.  that  he  trans- 
plants it  to  the  future.  Joel's  figures  are  too  vivid,  too  actual,  to  be 
predictive  or  mystical.     And  the  whole  interpretation  wrecks  itself  in 


»  For  N3i2!l  etc.  he  reads  ^lp}\  etc. 

*  "  The  proposal  of  Merx,  to  change  the  pointing  so  as  to  transform 
the  perfects  into  futures,  ...  is  an  exegetical  monstrosity." — Robertson 
Smith,  art.  "Joel,"  Encyc.  Brit. 


396  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  same  verse  as  the  allegorical,  the  verse,  viz.,  in  which  Joel  plainly 
speaks  of  himself  as  having  suffered  with  his  hearers  the  plague  he 
describes.* 

We  may,  therefore,  with  confidence  conclude  that 
the  allegorical  and  mystical  interpretations  of  Joel  are 
impossible  ;  and  that  the  only  reasonable  view  of  our 
prophet  is  that  which  regards  him  as  calling,  in  chap, 
i,  2 — ii.  17,  upon  his  contemporaries  to  repent  in  face 
of  a  plague  of  locusts,  so  unusually  severe  that  he  has 
felt  it  to  be  ominous  of  even  the  Day  of  the  Lord  ;  and 
in  the  rest  of  his  book,  as  promising  material,  political 
and  spiritual  triumphs  to  Israel  in  consequence  of  their 
repentance,  either  already  consummated,  or  anticipated 
by  the  prophet  as  certain. 

It  is  true  that  the  account  of  the  locusts  appears  to 
bear  features  which  conflict  with  the  literal  interpreta- 
tion. Some  of  these,  however,  vanish  upon  a  fuller 
knowledge  of  the  awful  degree  which  such  a  plague 
has  been  testified  to  reach  by  competent  observers 
within  our  own  era.*  Those  that  remain  may  be 
attributed  partly  to  the  poetic  h3'perbole  of  Joel's  style, 
and  partly  to  the  fact  that  he  sees  in  the  plague  far 
more  than  itself  The  locusts  are  signs  of  the  Day  of 
Jehovah.  Joel  treats  them  as  we  found  Zephaniah 
treating  the  Scythian  hordes  of  his  day.  They  are  as 
real  as  the  latter,  but  on  them  as  on  the  latter  the 
lurid  glare  of  Apocalypse  has  fallen,  magnifying  them 
and  investing  them  with  that  air  of  ominousness  which 
is  the  sole  justification  of  the  allegorical  and  mystic 
interpretation  of  their  appearance. 

«  i.  16. 

•  Even  the  comparison  of  the  ravages  of  the  locusts  to  burning  by 
fire.  But  probably  also  Joel  means  that  they  were  accompanied  by 
drought  and  forest  fires.     See  below. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOEL  397 

To  the  same  sense  of  their  office  as  heralds  of  the 
last  day,  we  owe  the  description  of  the  locusts  as  the 
Northerner}  The  North  is  not  the  quarter  from  which 
locusts  usually  reach  Palestine,  nor  is  there  any  reason 
to  suppose  that  by  naming  the  North  Joel  meant  only 
to  emphasise  the  unusual  character  of  these  swarms. 
Rather  he  takes  a  name  employed  in  Israel  since 
Jeremiah's  time  to  express  the  instruments  of  Jehovah's 
wrath  in  the  day  of  His  judgment  of  Israel.  The  name 
is  typical  of  Doom,  and  therefore  Joel  applies  it  to  his 
fateful  locusts. 

3.  State  of  the  Text  and  the  Style  of  the  Book. 

Joel's  style  is  fluent  and  clear,  both  when  he  is 
describing  the  locusts,  in  which  part  of  his  book  he 
is  most  original,  and  when  he  is  predicting,  in  apoca- 
lyptic language  largely  borrowed  from  earlier  prophets, 
the  Day  of  Jehovah.  To  the  ease  of  understanding 
him  we  may  attribute  the  sound  state  of  the  text 
and  its  freedom  from  glosses.  In  this,  like  most  of 
the  books  of  the  post-exilic  prophets,  especially  the 
Books  of  Haggai,  "Malachi"  and  Jonah,  Joel's  book 
contrasts  very  favourably  with  those  of  the  older 
prophets  ;  and  that  also,  to  some  degree,  is  proof  of 
the  lateness  of  his  date.  The  Greek  translators  have, 
on  the  whole,  understood  Joel  easily  and  with  little  error. 
In  their  version  there  are  the  usual  differences  ol 
grammatical  construction,  especially  in  the  pronominal 
suffixes  and  verbs,  and  of  punctuation  ;  but  very  few 
bits  of  expansion  and  no  real  additions.  These  are  all 
noted  in  the  translation  below. 


11.  20. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

THE  LOCUSTS  AND   THE  DAY  OF  THE  LORD 
Joel  i. — ii.  17 

JOEL,  as  we  have  seen,  found  the  motive  of  his 
prophecy  in  a  recent  plague  of  locusts,  the  appear- 
ance of  which  and  the  havoc  they  worked  are 
described  by  him  in  full  detail.  Writing  not  only  as 
a  poet  but  as  a  seer,  who  reads  in  the  locusts  signs  of 
the  great  Day  of  the  Lord,  Joel  has  necessarily  put 
into  his  picture  several  features  which  carry  the 
imagination  beyond  the  limits  of  experience.  And  yet, 
if  we  ourselves  had  lived  through  such  a  plague,  we 
should  be  able  to  recognise  how  little  license  the  poet 
has  taken,  and  that  the  seer,  so  far  from  unduly  mixing 
with  his  facts  the  colours  of  Apocalypse,  must  have 
experienced  in  the  terrible  plague  itself  enough  to  pro- 
voke all  the  religious  and  monitory  use  which  he  makes 
of  it. 

The  present  writer  has  seen  but  one  swarm  of  locusts, 
in  which,  though  it  was  small  and  soon  swept  away  by 
the  wind,  he  felt  not  only  many  of  the  features  that 
Joel  describes,  but  even  some  degree  of  that  singular 
helplessness  before  a  calamity  of  portent  far  beyond 
itself,  something  of  that  supernatural  edge  and  accent, 
which,  by  the  confession  of  so  many  observers,  char- 
acterise   the    locust-plague  and   the  earthquake  above 

398 


Joeli.-ii.  17]   LOCUSTS  AND  THE  DAY  OF  THE  LORD     399 

all  Other  physical  disasters.  One  summer  afternoon, 
upon  the  plain  of  Hauran,  a  long  bank  of  mist  grew 
rapidly  from  the  western  horizon.  The  day  was  dull, 
and  as  the  mist  rose  athwart  the  sunbeams,  strugglmg 
through  clouds,  it  gleamed  cold  and  white,  like  the 
front  of  a  distant  snow-storm.  When  it  came  near, 
it  seemed  to  be  more  than  a  mile  broad,  and  was  dense 
enough  to  turn  the  atmosphere  raw  and  dirty,  with  a 
chill  as  of  a  summer  sea-fog,  only  that  this  was  not 
due  to  any  fall  in  the  temperature.  Nor  was  there 
the  silence  of  a  mist.  We  were  enveloped  by  a  noise, 
less  like  the  whirring  of  wings  than  the  rattle  of  hail  or 
the  crackling  of  bush  on  fire.  Myriads  upon  myriads 
of  locusts  were  about  us,  covering  the  ground,  and 
shutting  out  the  view  in  all  directions.  Though  they 
drifted  before  the  wind,  there  was  no  confusion  in  their 
ranks.  They  sailed  in  unbroken  lines,  sometimes 
straight,  sometimes  wavy ;  and  when  they  passed 
pushing  through  our  caravan,  they  left  almost  ru) 
stragglers,  except  from  the  last  battalion,  and  only  the 
few  dead  which  we  had  caught  in  our  hands.  After 
several  minutes  they  were  again  but  a  lustre  on  the  air, 
and  so  melted  away  into  some  heavy  clouds  in  the  east. 
Modern  travellers  furnish  us  with  terrible  impressions 
of  the  innumerable  multitudes  of  a  locust-plague,  the 
succession  of  their  swarms  through  days  and  weeks, 
and  the  utter  desolation  they  leave  behind  them. 
Mr.  Doughty  writes  :  ^  "  There  hopped  before  our  feet 
a  minute  brood  of  second  locusts,  of  a  leaden  colour, 
with  budding  wings  like  the  spring  leaves,  and  born  of 
those  gay  swarms  which  a  few  weeks  before  had  passed 
over  and  despoiled  the  desert.     After  forty  days  these 

•  Arabia  Deserta,  p.  307. 


400  THE   TIVELVE  PROPHETS 

also  would  fly  as  a  pestilence,  yet  more  hungry  than 
the  former,  and  fill  the  atmosphere."  And  later  :  "  The 
clouds  of  the  second  locust  brood  which  the  Aarab  call 
'Am'dan,  pillars,  flew  over  us  for  some  days,  invaded 
the  booths  and  for  blind  hunger  even  bit  our  shins."  ^ 
It  was  *'  a  storm  of  rustling  wings."  '^  "  This  year  was 
remembered  for  the  locust  swarms  and  great  summer 
heat." '  A  traveller  in  South  Africa  *  says  :  "  For  the 
space  of  ten  miles  on  each  side  of  the  Sea-Cow  river 
and  eighty  or  ninety  miles  in  length,  an  area  of  sixteen 
or  eighteen  hundred  square  miles,  the  whole  surface 
might  literally  be  said  to  be  covered  with  them."  In 
his  recently  published  book  on  South  Africa,  Mr.  Bryce 
writes : — ^ 

"  It  is  a  strange  sight,  beautiful  if  you  can  forget 
the  destruction  it  brings  with  it.  The  whole  air,  to 
twelve  or  even  eighteen  feet  above  the  ground,  is  filled 
with  the  insects,  reddish  brown  in  body,  with  bright, 
gauzy  wings.  When  the  sun's  rays  catch  them  it  is 
like  the  sea  sparkling  with  light.  When  you  see  them 
against  a  cloud  they  are  like  the  dense  flakes  of  a 
driving  snow-storm.  You  feel  as  if  you  had  never 
before  realised  immensity  in  number.  Vast  crowds  of 
men  gathered  at  a  festival,  countless  tree-tops  rising 
along  the  slope  of  a  forest  ridge,  the  chimneys  of 
London  houses  from  the  top  of  St.  Paul's — all  are  as 
nothing  to  the  myriads  of  insects  that  blot  out  the  sun 
above  and  cover  the  ground  beneath  and  fill  the  air 
whichever  way  one  looks.  The  breeze  carries  them 
swiftly  past,  but  they  come  on  in  fresh  clouds,  a  host 
of  which  there   is    no   end,  each  of  them  a  harmless 

'  Arabia  Deserta,  p.  335.  *  Id.,  396.  *  Id.,  335. 

'  Barrow,  South  Africa,  p.  257,  quoted  by  Pusey. 

'  Impressions  of  South  Africa,  by  James  Bryce:  Macroillans,  1897. 


Joeli.-ii.l7]   LOCUSTS  AND  THE  DAY  OF  THE  LORD     4°' 

creature  which  you  can  catch  and  crush  in  your  hand, 
but  appalling  in  their  power  of  collective  devastation." 

And  take  three  testimonies  from  Syria  :  "  The  quantity 
of  these  insects  is  a  thing  incredible  to  any  one  who 
has  not  seen  it  himself;  the  ground  is  covered  by  them 
for  several  leagues."^  "  The  whole  face  of  the  mountain  * 
was  black  with  them.  On  they  came  like  a  living 
deluge.  We  dug  trenches  and  kindled  fires,  and 
beat  and  burnt  to  death  heaps  upon  heaps,  but 
the  effort  was  utterly  useless.  They  rolled  up  the 
mountain-side,  and  poured  over  rocks,  walls,  ditches 
and  hedges,  those  behind  covering  up  and  passing  over 
the  masses  already  killed.  For  some  days  they  con- 
tinued to  pass.  The  noise  made  by  them  in  marching 
and  foraging  was  like  that  of  a  heavy  shower  falling 
upon  a  distant  forest."^  "The  roads  were  covered  with 
them,  all  marching  and  in  I'egular  lines,  like  armies  of 
soldiers,  with  their  leaders  in  front ;  and  all  the  op- 
position of  man  to  resist  their  progress  was  in  vain." 
Having  consumed  the  plantations  in  the  country,  they 
entered  the  towns  and  villages.  "  When  they  ap- 
proached our  garden  all  the  farm  servants  were  em- 
ployed to  keep  them  off,  but  to  no  avail ;  though  our 
men  broke  their  ranks  for  a  moment,  no  sooner  had 
they  passed  the  men,  than  they  closed  again,  and 
marched  forward  through  hedges  and  ditches  as  before. 
Our  garden  finished,  they  continued  their  march  toward 
the  town,  devastating  one  garden  after  another.  They 
have  also  penetrated  into  most  of  our  rooms  :  whatever 
one  is  doing  one  hears  their  noise  from  without,  like 

'  Volney,  Voyage  en  Syrie,  I.  277,  quoted  by  Pusey. 
*  Lebanon. 

'  Abridged    from   Thomson's    The  Land  and  the  Book,   ed.   1877, 
Northern  Palestine,  pp.  4168". 

VOL.  II.  2C 


402  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  noise  of  armed  hosts,  or  the  running  of  many 
waters.  When  in  an  erect  position  their  appearance 
at  a  Httle  distance  is  like  that  of  a  well-armed 
horseman."  ^ 

Locusts  are  notoriously  adapted  for  a  plague,  "  since 
to  strength  incredible  for  so  small  a  creature,  they  add 
saw-like  teeth,  admirably  calculated  to  eat  up  all  the 
herbs  in  the  land."^  They  are  the  incarnation  of 
hunger.  No  voracity  is  like  theirs,  the  voracity  of 
little  creatures,  whose  million  separate  appetites  nothing 
is  too  minute  to  escape.  They  devour  first  grass  and 
leaves,  fruit  and  foliage,  everything  that  is  green  and 
juicy.  Then  they  attack  the  young  branches  of  trees, 
and  then  the  hard  bark  of  the  trunks.^  "  After  eating 
up  the  corn,  they  fell  upon  the  vines,  the  pulse,  the 
willows,  and  even  the  hemp,  notwithstanding  its  great 
bitterness."*  "The  bark  of  figs,  pomegranates  and 
oranges,  bitter,  hard  and  corrosive,  escaped  not  their 
voracity."  *  "  They  are  particularly  injurious  to  the  palm- 
trees  ;  these  they  strip  of  every  leaf  and  green  particle, 
the  trees  remaining  like  skeletons  with  bare  branches."  ® 
"  For  eighty  or  ninety  miles  they  devoured  every  green 
herb  and  every  blade  of  grass."  '  "  The  gardens  out- 
side Jaffa  are  now  completely  stripped,  even  the  bark 


'  From  Driver's  abridgment  (^Joel  and  Amos,  p.  90)  of  an  account 
in  the  Journ.  of  Sacred  Lit. ,  October  1865,  pp.  235  f. 

'^  Morier,  A  Second  Journey  through  Persia,  p.  99,  quoted  by  Pusey, 
from  whose  notes  and  Driver's  excursus  upon  locusts  in  Joel  and 
Atnos  the  following  quotations  have  been  borrowed. 

^  Shaw's  Travris  in  Barbary,  1738,  pp.  236-8;  Jackson's  Travels 
to  Morocco. 

*  Adansson,  Voyage  au  Senegal,  p.  88. 

*  Chenier,  Recherches  Historiques  sur  Us  Maures,  111,,  p.  ^^^ 
'  Burckhardt,  Notes,  II.  90. 

'  Barrow,  South  Africa,  p.  257, 


Joeli.-ii.  17]    LOCUSTS  AND  THE  DAY  OF  THE  LORD    403 

of  the  young  trees  having  been  devoured,  and  look  lik?. 
a  birch-tree  forest  in  winter."^  "The  bushes  were 
eaten  quite  bare,  though  the  animals  could  not  have 
been  long  on  the  spot.  They  sat  by  hundreds  on  a 
bush  gnawing  the  rind  and  the  woody  fibres."  ^ 
"  Bamboo  groves  have  been  stripped  of  their  leaves  and 
left  standing  like  saplings  after  a  rapid  bush  fire,  and 
grass  has  been  devoured  so  that  the  bare  ground  appeared 
as  if  burned." '  "  The  country  did  not  seem  to  be  burnt, 
but  to  be  much  covered  with  snow  through  the  white- 
ness of  the  trees  and  the  dryness  of  the  herbs."  *  The 
fields  finished,  they  invade  towns  and  houses,  in  search 
of  stores.  Victual  of  all  kinds,  hay,  straw,  and  even 
linen  and  woollen  clothes  and  leather  bottles,  they 
consume  or  tear  in  pieces.^  They  flood  through  the 
open,  unglazed  windows  and  lattices :  nothing  can 
keep  them  out. 

These  extracts  prove  to  us  what  little  need  Joel  had 
of  hyperbole  in  order  to  read  his  locusts  as  signs  of  the 
Day  of  Jehovah;  especially  if  we  keep  in  mind  that 
locusts  are  worst  in  very  hot  summers,  and  often 
accompany  an  absolute  drought  along  with  its  conse- 
quence of  prairie  and  forest  fires.  Some  have  thought 
that,  in  introducing  the  effects  of  fire,  Joel  only  means 
to  paint  the  burnt  look  of  a  land  after  locusts  have 
ravaged  it.  But  locusts  do  not  drink  up  the  streams, 
nor  cause  the  seed  to  shrivel  in  the  earth.®  By  these 
the  prophet  must  mean  drought,  and  by  the  flame  that 
has  burned  all  the  trees  of  the  field,''  the  forest  fire,  finding 

'  Journ.  of  Sac.  Lit.,  October  1865. 

*  Lichtenstein,  Travels  in  South  Africa. 

*  Standard,  December  25th,  1896. 

*  Fr.  Alvarez. 

*  Barheb.,  Chron.  Syr.,  p.  784 ;  Burckhardt,  Notes,  II,  90. 

*  L  20.  17.  '  i.  19. 


404  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

an  easy  prey  in  the  trees  which  have  been  reduced  to 
firewood  by  the  locusts'  teeth. 

Even  in  the  great  passage  in  which  he  passes  from 
history  to  Apocalypse,  from  the  gloom  and  terror  of 
the  locusts  to  the  lurid  dawn  of  Jehovah's  Day,  Joel 
keeps  within  the  actual  facts  of  experience  •, — 

Day  of  darkness  and  murk, 
Day  of  cloud  and  heavy  mist, 
Like  dawn  scattered  on  the  mountains^ 
A  people  many  and  powerful. 

No  one  who  has  seen  a  cloud  of  locusts  can  question 
the  realism  even  of  this  picture :  the  heavy  gloom  of 
the  immeasurable  mass  of  them,  shot  by  gleams  of 
light  where  a  few  of  the  sun's  imprisoned  beams  have 
broken  through  or  across  the  storm  of  lustrous  wings. 
This  is  like  dawn  beaten  down  upon  the  hilltops,  and 
crushed  by  rolling  masses  of  cloud,  in  conspiracy  to 
prolong  the  night.  No  :  the  only  point  at  which  Joel 
leaves  absolute  fact  for  the  wilder  combinations  of 
Apocalypse  is  at  the  very  close  of  his  description, 
chap.  ii.  lo  and  ii,  and  just  before  his  call  to  repent- 
ance. Here  we  find,  mixed  with  the  locusts,  earth-« 
quake  and  thunderstorm  ;  and  Joel  has  borrowed  these 
from  the  classic  pictures  of  the  Day  of  the  Lord,  using 
some  of  the  very  phrases  of  the  latter  : — 

Earth  trembles  before  them^ 

Heaven  quakes, 

Sun  and  moon  become  black, 

The  stars  ivithdraiv  their  shining, 

And  Jehovah  utters  His  voice  before  His  army. 

Joel,  then,  describes,  and  does  not  unduly  enhance, 
the  terrors  of  an   actual   plague.     At  first   his  whole 


Joeli.-ii.  17]   LOCUSTS  AND  THE  DAY  OF  THE  LORD     405 

Strength  is  so  bent  to  make  his  people  feel  these, 
that,  though  about  to  call  to  repentance,  he  does  not 
detail  the  national  sins  which  require  it.  In  his  open- 
ing verses  he  summons  the  drunkards,*  but  that 
is  merely  to  lend  vividness  to  his  picture  of  facts, 
because  men  of  such  habits  will  be  the  first  to  feel  a 
plague  of  this  kind.  Nor  does  Joel  yet  ask  his  hearers 
what  the  calamity  portends.  At  first  he  only  demands 
that  they  shall  feel  it,  in  its  uniqueness  and  its  own 
sheer  force. 

Hence  the  peculiar  style  of  the  passage.  Letter  for 
letter,  this  is  one  of  the  heaviest  passages  in  prophecy. 
The  proportion  in  Hebrew  of  liquids  to  the  other  letters 
is  not  large;  but  here  it  is  smaller  than  ever.  The 
explosives  and  dentals  are  very  numerous.  There  are 
several  keywords,  with  hard  consonants  and  long  vowels, 
used  again  and  again  :  Shuddadh,  'abhlah,  'umlal,  hdb- 
liish.  The  longer  lines  into  which  Hebrew  parallelism 
tends  to  run  are  replaced  by  a  rapid  series  of  short, 
heavy  phrases,  falling  like  blows.  Critics  have  called 
it  rhetoric.  But  it  is  rhetoric  of  a  very  high  order 
and  perfectly  suited  to  the  prophet's  purpose.  Look  at 
chap.  i.  10 :  Shuddadh  sadheh,  'abhlah  'adhamah,  shud- 
dadh daghan,  hobhish  tirosh,  'umlal  yishar.^  Joel  loads 
his  clauses  with  the  most  leaden  letters  he  can  find,  and 
drops  them  in  quick  succession,  repeating  the  same 
heavy  word  again  and  again,  as  if  he  would  stun  the 
careless  people  into  some  sense  of  the  bare,  brutal 
weight  of  the  calamity  which  has  befallen  them. 

Now  Joel  does  this  because  he  believes  that,  if  his 
people  feel  the  plague  in  its  proper  violence,  they  must 
be  convinced  that  it  comes  from  Jehovah.     The  keynote 


i.  f.  *  Cf  i.  12,  13,  and  many  verses  in  chap,  ii, 


406  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  this  part  of  the  prophecy  is  found  in  chap.  i.  15  : 
"  Keshodh  mishshaddhai,"  like  violence  from  th"-  All- 
violent  doth  it  come.  "  If  you  feel  this  as  it  Js^  you 
will  feel  Jehovah  Himself  in  it.  By  these  verj 
bjoHS^  He_  and  His  Day  are  near.  We  had  been 
forgetting  how  near."  Joel  mentions  no  crime,  nor 
enforces  any  virtue :  how  could  he  have  done  so  in 
so  strong  a  sense  that  "the  Judge  was  at  the  door"? 
'To  make  men  feel  that  they  had  forgotten  they  were 
in  reach  of  that  Almighty  Hand,  which  could  strike  so 
suddenly  and  so  hard — Joel  had  time  only  to  make 
men  feel  that,  and  to  call  them  to  repentance.  In 
this  we  probably  see  some  reflection  of  the  age  :  an 
age  when  men's  thoughts  were  thrusting  the  Deity 
further  and  further  from  their  life ;  when  they  put  His 
Law  and  Temple  between  Him  and  themselves;  and 
when  their  religion,  devoid  of  the  sense  of  His  Presence, 
had  become  a  set  of  formal  observances,  the  rending  of 
garments  and  not  of  hearts.  But  He,  whom  His  own 
ordinances  had  hidden  from  His  people,  has  burst 
forth  through  nature  and  in  sheer  force  of  calamity. 
Jle  has,cex£aled  Himself,  El-Shaddhai,  Ggd^ll-viokntj 
as  He  was  known  to  their  fathers,  who  had  no  elaborate 
law  or  ritual  to  put  between  their  fearful  hearts  and 
His  terrible  strength,  but  cowered  before  Him,  helpless 
on  the  stripped  soil,  and  naked  beneath  His  thunder. 
By  just  these  means  did  Elijah  and  Amos  bring  God 
home  to  the  hearts  of  ancient  Israel.  In  Joel  we  see 
the  revival  of  the  old  nature-religion,  and  the  revenge 
that  it  was  bound  to  take  upon  the  elaborate  systems 
which  had  displaced  it,  but  which  by  their  formalism  and 
their  artificial  completeness  had  made  men  forget  that 
near  presence  and  direct  action  of  the  Almighty  which 
it  i.«  nature's  own  office  to  enforce  upon  the  heart. 


[oeli.-ii.  17]   LOCUSTS  AND  THE  DAY  OF  THE  LORD     407 

The  thing  is  true,  and  permanently  valid.  Only  the 
great  natural  processes  can  break  up  the  systems  of 
dogma  and  ritual  in  which  we  make  ourselves  com- 
fortable and  formal,  and  drive  us  out  into  God's  open 
air  of  reality.  In  the  crash  of  nature's  forces  even 
our  particular  sins  are  forgotten,  and  we  feel,  as  in  the 
immediate  presence  of  God,  our  whole,  deep  need  of 
repentance.  So  far  from  blaming  the  absence  of  special 
ethics  in  Joel's  sermon,  we  accept  it  as  natural  and 
proper  to  the  occasion. 

Such,  then,  appears  to  be  the  explanation  of  the  first 
part  of  the  prophecy,  and  its  development  towards  the 
call  to  repentance,  which  follows  it.  If  we  are  correct, 
the  assertion  ^  is  false  that  no  plan  was  meant  by  the 
prophet.  For  not  only  is  there  a  plan,  but  the  plan 
is  most  suitable  to  the  requirements  of  Israel,  after 
their  adoption  of  the  whole  Law  in  445,  and  forms  one 
of  the  most  necessary  and  interesting  developments 
of  all  religion  :  the  revival,  in  an  artificial  period,  of 
those  primitive  forces  of  religion  which  nature  alone 
supplies,  and  which  are  needed  to  correct  formalism 
and  the  forgetfulness  of  the  near  presence  of  the 
Almighty.  We  see  in  this,  too,  the  reason  of  Joel's 
archaic  style,  both  of  conception  and  expression :  that 
likeness  of  his  to  early  prophets  which  has  led  so  many 
to  place  him  between  Elijah  and  Amos.*^  They  are 
wrong.  ~  Joel's  simplicity  is  that  not  of  early  prophecy, 
but  of  the  austere  forces  of  this  revived  and  applied  to 
the  artificiality  of  a  later  age. 

One  other  proof  of  Joel's  conviction  of  the  religious 
meaning  of  the  plague  might  also  have  been  pled  by 
the  earlier  prophets,  but  certainly  not  in  the  terms  in 

•  Of  Merx  and  others  :  see  above,  p.  391.  -  See  above,  p.  377. 


408  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

which  Joel  expresses  it.  Amos  and  Hosea  had  both 
described  the  destruction  of  the  country's  fertility  in 
their  day  as  God's  displeasure  on  His  people  and  (as 
Hosea  puts  it)  His  divorce  of  His  Bride  from  Himself^ 
But  by  them  the  physical  calamities  were  not  threatened 
alone :  banishment  from  the  land  and  from  enjoyment 
of  its  fruits  was  to  follow  upon  drought,  locusts 
and  famine.  In  threatening  no  captivity  Joel  differs 
entirely  from  the  early  prophets.  It  is  a  mark  of 
his  late  date.  And  he  also  describes  the  divorce 
between  Jehovah  and  Israel,  through  the  interruption 
of  the  ritual  by  the  plague,  in  terms  and  with  an  accent 
which  could  hardly  have  been  employed  in  Israel  before 
the  Exile.  After  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple  and 
restoration  of  the  daily  sacrifices  morning  and  evening, 
the  regular  performance  of  the  latter  was  regarded  by 
the  Jews  with  a  most  superstitious  sense  of  its  indis- 
pensableness  to  the  national  life.  Before  the  Exile, 
Jeremiah,  for  instance,  attaches  no  importance  to  it,  in 
circumstances  in  which  it  would  have  been  not  un- 
natural for  him,  priest  as  he  was,  to  do.  so,^  But  after 
the  Exile,  the  greater  scrupulousness  of  the  religious 
life,  and  its  absorption  in  ritual,  laid  extraordinary 
emphasis  upon  the  daily  offering,  which  increased  to 
a  most  painful  degree  of  anxiety  as  the  centuries  went 
on.'  The  New  Testament  speaks  of  the  Twelve  Tribes 
constantly  serving  God  day  and  night;  *  and  Josephus, 
while  declaring  that  in  no  siege  of  Jerusalem  before 
the  last  did  the  interruption  ever  take  place  in  spite 
of  the  stress  of  famine  and  war  combined,  records  the 

•  See  Vol.  I.,  pp.  242,  24s  f. 

*  Jen  xiv. 

'  Cf.  Ezek.  xlvi.  15  on  the  Thamid,  and  Neh.  x.  33;  Dan.  viii.   11, 
xi.  31,  xii.  II :  cf.  p.  382.  *  Acts  xxvi.  7. 


Joeli.-ii.  17]   LOCUSTS  AND  THE  DAY  OF  THE  LORD    409 

awful  impression  made  alike  on  Jew  and  heathen  by 
the  giving  up  of  the  daily  sacrifice  on  the  17th  of  July, 
A.D.  70,  during  the  investment  of  the  city  by  Titus.-' 
This  disaster,  which  Judaism  so  painfully  feared  at  every 
crisis  in  its  history,  actually  happened,  Joel  tells  us, 
during  the  famine  caused  by  the  locusts.  Cut  off  are 
the  meal  and  the  drink  ojjt^/ings  from  the  house  of 
fehovah?  Is  not  food  cut  off  from  our  eyes,  joy  and 
gladness  from  the  house  of  our  God?^  Perhaps  He  will 
turn  and  relent^  and  leave  a  blessing  behind  Him,  meal 
and  drink  offering  for  Jehovah  our  God}  The  break 
"  of  the  continual  symbol  of  gracious  intercourse  be- 
tween Jehovah  and  His  people,  and  the  main  office  of 
religion,"  means  divorce  between  Jehovah  and  Israel. 
.  Wail  like  a  bride  girt  in  sackcloth  for  the  husband  of  her 
youth!  Waily  O  ministers  of  the  altar,  O  ministers  of 
God!^  This  then  was  another  reason  for  reading  in 
the_glague_of  locusts  m.ore  than  a  physical  meaning. 
This  was  another  proof,  only  too  intelligible  to  scrupu- 
lousjevvsjthat  the  great  and  terrible_Day__of  the 
Lord  was,.at_.han3r~~  '  ^ 

Thus  Joel  reaches  the  climax  of  his  argument. 
Jehovah  is  near,  His  Day  is  about  to  break.  From 
this  it  is  impossible  to  escape  on  the  narrow  path  of 
disaster  by  which  the  prophet  has  led  up  to  it.  But 
beneath. that  path  the  prophet  passes  the  ground  of  a 
broad  truth,  and  on  that  truth,  while  judgment  remains 
still  as  real,  there  is  room  for  the  people  to  turn  from 
it.  If  experience  has  shown  that  God  is  in  the  present, 
near  and  inevitable,  faith  remembers  that  He  is  there 
not  willingly  for  judgment,  but  with  all  His  ancient 

*  XIV,  Anit,  iv.  3,  xvi.  2 ;  VI.  Wars  ii.  I.  *  ii.  14. 

'  i.  9r  «3-  •  ».  8,  13. 

•  i.  16. 


4IO  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

feeling  for  Israel  and  His  zeal  to  save  her.  If  the 
people  choose  to  turn,  Jehovah,  as  tlieir  God  and  as 
one  who  works  for  their  sake,  will  save  them.  Of  this 
God  assures  them  by  His  own  word.  For  the  first  time 
in  the  prophecy  He  speaks  for  Himself.  Hitherto  the 
prophet  has  been  describing  the  plague  and  summoning 
to  penitence.  Btit  now  oracle  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts} 
The  great  covenant  nsune,  Jehovah  your  God,  is  solemnly 
repeated  as  if  symbolic  of  the  historic  origin  and  age- 
long endurance  of  Jehovah's  relation  to  Israel ;  and  the 
very  words  of  blessing  are  repeated  which  were  given 
when  Israel  was  called  at  Sinai  and  the  covenant 
ratified  : — 

For  He  is  gracious  and  merciful, 
Long-suffering  and  plenteous  in  leal  love^ 
And  relents  Him  of  the  evil 

He  has  threatened  upon  you.  Once  more  the  nation 
is  summoned  to  try  Him  by  prayer :  the  solemn  prayer 
of  all  Israel,  pleading  that  He  should  not  give  His  people 
to  reproach. 

The  Word  of  Jehovah 
which  came  to  Jo' el  the  son  of  Petln'Cel} 

Hear  this,  ye  old  men, 

And  give  ear,  all  inhabitants  of  the  land  I 

Has  the  like  been  in  your  days, 

Or  in  the  days  of  your  fathers  ? 

Tell  it  to  your  children. 

And  your  children  to  their  children, 

And  their  children  to  the  generation  that  follows. 

>  ii.  12.  *  LXX.  Ba(9ou77X. 


Joeli.-ii.  I7j    LOCUSTS  AND  THE  DAY  OF  THE  LORD     411 

That  which   (he    Shearer  left    the    Swarnter  hath 

eaten, 
And  that  which  the  Swarnter  left  the  Lapper  hath 

eaten, 
And  that  which  the  Lapper  left  the  Devourer  hath 

eaten. 

These  are  four  different  names  for  locusts,  which  it 
is  best  to  translate  by  their  literal  meaning.  Some  think 
that  they  represent  one  swarm  of  locusts  in  four  stages 
of  development,  but  this  cannot  be,  because  the  same 
swarm  never  returns  upon  its  path,  to  complete  the  work 
of  destruction  which  it  had  begun  in  an  earlier  stage  of 
its  growth.  Nor  can  the  first-named  be  the  adult  brood 
from  whose  eggs  the  others  spring,  as  Doughty  has 
described,^  for  that  would  account  only  for  two  of  the 
four  names.  Joel  rather  describes  successive  swarms 
of  the  insect,  without  reference  to  the  stages  of  its 
growth,  and  he  does  so  as  a  poet,  using,  in  order  to 
bring  out  the  full  force  of  its  devastation,  several  of  the" 
Hebrew  names,  that  were  given  to  the  locust  as  epithets 
of  various  aspects  of  its  destructive  power.  The  names, 
it  is  true,  cannot  be  said  to  rise  in  climax,  but  at  least 
the  most  sinister  is  reserved  to  the  last.* 

Rouse  ye,  drunkards,  and  weep, 

And  wail,  all  ye  bibbers  of  wine  / 

The  new  wine  is  cut  off  from  your  mouth  ! 

For  a  nation  is  come  up  on  My  land, 

Powerful  and  numberless; 

'  See  above,  pp.  399  f. 

*  ?^Dn  from  7Dn,  used  in  the  O.T.  only  in  Deut.  xxviii.  38,  to  devour; 
but  in  post-biblical  Hebrew  to  utterly  destroy,  bring  to  an  end.  Talmud 
Jerus.'.  Taanith  III.  b^d,  "Why  is  the  locust  called  ?^Dn?  Because 
it  brings  everything  to  an  end." 


412  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

His  teeth  are  the  teeth  of  the  lion^ 
And  the  fangs  ^  of  the  lioness  his. 
My  vine  he  has  turned  to  waste, 
And  My  fig-tree  to  splinters  ; 
He  hath  peeled  it  and  straived  it, 
Bleached  are  its  branches  ! 

Wail  as  a  bride  girt  in  sackcloth  for  the  spouse  of 

her  youth. 
Cut  off  are  the  meal  and  drink  offerings  from  the 

house  of  Jehovah  ! 
In  grief  are  the  priests,  the  ministers  of  Jehovah. 
The  fields  are  blasted,  the  ground  is  in  grief 
Blasted  is  the  com,  abashed  is  the  new  wine,  the  oil 

pines  azvay. 
Be  ye  abashed,  O  ploughmen  I 
Wail,  O  vine-dressers, 
For  the  wheat  and  the  barley; 
The  harvest  is  lost  from  the  field  t 
The  vine  is  abashed,  and  the  fig-tree  is  drooping; 
Pomegranate,  palm  too  and  apple, 
All  trees  of  tJie  field  are  dried  up : 
Yea,  joy  is  abashed  and  away  from  the  children  oj 

men. 

In  this  passage  the  same  feeling  is  attributed  to 
men  and  to  the  fruits  of  the  land :  In  griej  are  the 
priests,  the  ground  is  in  grief  And  it  is  repeatedly 
said  that  all  alike  are  abashed.  By  this  heavy  word 
we  have  sought  to  render  the  effect  of  the  similarly 
sounding  "  hobhisha,"  that  our  English  version  renders 
ashamed.     It    signifies    to   be    frustrated,    and   so   dis- 

'  A.V.  cheek-teeth,  ^.V.  jaw -teeth,  or  eye-ieeiU.  "Possibly  (from  the 
Arabic)  projectors  " :  Driver. 


Joeli.-ii.  I7j   LOCUSTS  AND  THE  DAY  OF  THE  LORD     413 

heartened,  put   out:   soured   would    be   an    equivalent, 
applicable  to  the  vine  and  to  joy  and  to  men's  hearts. 

Put  on  mourning,  O  priests,  beat  the  breast; 
Wail,  ye  nimisters  of  the  altar ; 
Come,  lie  down  in  sackcloth,  O  ministers  of  my  God: 
For   meal-offering  and  drink-offering  are   cut  off 
from  the  house  of  your  God. 

Hallow  a  fast,  summon  an  assembly, 

Gather^  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  to  the  house 

of  your  God; 
And  cry  to  fehovah  : 
"  Alas  for  the   Day !     At   hand  is   the   Day   of 

Jehovah  ! 
And  as  vehemence  from  the  Vehement  ^  doth  it  cotne." 
Is  not  food  cut  off  from  before  us, 
Gladness  and  joy  from  the  house  of  our  God? 
The  grains  shrivel  under  their  hoes,^ 
The  garners  are  desolate,  the  barns  broken  down, 
For  the  corn   is   withered — what  shall  we  put   in 

them  ?  * 
The  herds  of  cattle  huddle  together,^  fat   they  have 

no  pasture; 

'  Heb.  text  inserts  elders,  which  may  be  taken  as  vocative,  or  witli 
the  LXX.  as  accusative,  but  after  the  latter  we  should  expect  and. 
Wellhausen  suggests  its  deletion,  and  Nowack  regards  it  as  an 
intrusion.     For  "IDDK  Wellhausen  reads  ICD^sH,  be  ye  gathered. 

■  Keshodh  mishshaudhai  (Isa.  xiii.  6) ;  Driver,  as  overpowering 
from  the  Overpozucrer. 

'  A.V.  clods.  DiT'mQIJD:  the  meaning  is  doubtful,  but  the  corre- 
sponding Arabic  word  means  besom  or  shovel  or  {P.E.F.Q.,  1891, 
p.  Ill,  with  plate)  hoe,  and  the  Aram,  shovel.     See  Driver's  note. 

*  Reading,  after  the  LXX.  tL  d,iro6r]<TO/j.ev  eavTois  (probably  an  error 
for  iif  avToTs),  Dn2  Hn^JJ  HD  for  the  Massoretic  n»na  nn:f^3  HS 
How  the  beasts  sob  !  to  which  A.V.  and  Driver  adhere, 

*  Lit.  press  themselves  in  perplexitj'. 


414  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Yea,  the  flocks  of  sheep  are  forlorn} 

To  Thee,  Jehovah,  do  I  cry : 

For  fire  has  devoured  the  pastures  of  the  steppes,* 

And  the  flame  hath  scorched  all  the  trees  of  the  field 

The  wild  beasts  pant  up  to  Thee : 

For  the  watercourses  are  dry. 

And  fire  has  devoured  the  pastures  of  the  steppes. 

Here,  with  the  close  of  chap,  i,,  Joel's  discourse 
takes  pause,  and  in  chap.  ii.  he  begins  a  second  with 
another  call  to  repentance  in  face  of  the  same  plague. 
But  the  plague  has  progressed.  The  locusts  are  de- 
scribed now  in  their  invasion  not  of  the  country  but 
of  the  towns,  to  which  they  pass  after  the  country  is 
stripped.  For  illustration  of  the  latter  see  above,  p.  401. 
The  horn  which  is  to  be  blown,  ver.  I,  is  an  alarm 
horn^  to  warn  the  people  of  the  approach  of  the  Day 
of  the  Lord,  and  not  the  Shophar  which  called  the 
people  to  a  general  assembly,  as  in  ver.   15. 

Blow  a  horn  in  Zion, 

Sound  the  alarm  in  My  holy  mountain  / 

Let  all  inhabitants  of  the  land  tremble, 

For  the  Day  of  Jehovah  comes — it  is  near  t 

Day   of   darkness   and  murk,    day   of  cloud  and 

heavy  mist} 
Like  aawn  scattered^  on  the  mountains, 


'  Reading,  with  Wellhausen  and  Nowack  ("  perhaps  rightly," 
Driver)  lOt^'J  for  101^X3,  are  guilty  or  punished. 

^  "13TD,  usually  rendered  ivilderness  or  desert,  but  literally  place 
where  the  sheep  are  driven,  land  not  cultivated.    See  Hist.  Geog.,  p.  656. 

■  See  on  Amos  iii,  6 :  Vol.  I.,  p.  82. 

*  Zeph.  i.  15.     See  above,  p.  58. 

'  t^'IS  in  Qal  to  spread  abroad,  but  the  passive  is  here  to  be  taken 
in  the  same  sense  as  the  Ni.  in  Ezek.  xvii.  21.  dispersed.     The  figure 


Joeli.-ii.i7J   LOCUSTS  AND  THE  DAY  OF  THE  LORD    415 

A  people  many  and  powerful; 

Its  like  has  not  been  from  of  old. 

And  shall  not  again  be  for  years  of  generation  upon 

generation. 
Before  it  the  fire  devours,^ 
And  behind  the  flame  consumes. 
Like  the  garden  of  Eden  ^  is  the  land  in  front, 
And  behind  it  a  desolate  desert; 
Yea,  it  lets  nothing  escape. 
Their  visage  is  the  visage  of  horses, 
And  like  horsemen  they  run. 
They  rattle  like  chariots  over  the  tops  of  the  hills, 
Like  the  crackle  of  flames  devouring  stubble, 
Like  a  powerful  people  prepared  for  battle. 
Peoples  are  writhing  before  them, 
Every  face  gathers  blackness. 

Like  ivarriors  they  run. 

Like  fighting-men  they  come  up  the  wall; 

They  march  every  man  by  himself^ 

And  they  ravel '^  not  their  paths. 

None  jostles  his  comrade, 

They  march  every  man  on  his  track,^ 

And  plunge  through  the  missiles  unbroken.* 


is  of  dawn  crushed  by  and  struggling  with  a  mass  of  cloud  and  mist, 
and  expresses  the  gleams  of  white  which  so  often  break  through  a 
locust  cloud.     See  above,  p.  404. 

'  So  travellers  have  described  the  effect  of  locusts.  See  above 
P-  403- 

*  Ezek.  xxxvi.  35. 

*  Heb.  ill  his  own  ways. 

'  PLD3i;\  an  impossible  metaphor,  so  that  most  read  \'\T\2V\  a  root 
found  only  in  Micah  vii.  3  (see  Vol.  I.,  p.  428),  to  twist  or  tangU ; 
but  Wellhausen  reads  l-in-IV^^   hvist,  Eccles.  vii.   13. 

*  Heb.  highroad,  as  if  defined  and  heaped  up  for  him  alone. 

*  See  above,  p.  401. 


4i6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

They  scour  the  city,  run  upon  the  walls, 

Climb  into  the  houses,  and  enter  the  windows  like  a 

thief. 
Earth  trembles  before  thetn^ 
Heaven  quakes, 
Sun  and  moon  become  black, 
The  stars  withdraw  their  shining. 
And  Jehovah  utters  His  voice  before  His  army: 
For  veiy  great  is  His  host; 
Yea,  powerful  is  He  that  performeth  His  word. 
Great  is  the  Day  of  Jehovah,  and  very  awful: 
Who  may  abide  it  ?  ^ 

But  now  hear  the  oracle  of  Jehovah  t 
Tur'n  ye  to  Me  with  all  your  heart, 
And  with  fasting  and  weeping  and  mourning. 
Rend  ye  your  hearts  and  not  your  garments^ 
And  turn  to  Jehovah  your  God : 
For  He  is  gracious  and  merciful, 
Long-suffering  and  plenteous  in  love^ 
And  relents  of  the  evil. 
Who  knows  but  He  will  turn  and  relent. 
And  leave  behind  Him  a  blessing, 
Meal-offering  and  drink-offering  to  Jehovah  your 
God? 

Blow  a  horn  in  Zton, 

Hallow  a  fast,  summon  the  assembly  f 

Gather  the  people,  hallow  the  congregation, 

Assemble  the   old  men^  gather  the   children,    and 

infants  at  the  breast; 
Let  the  bridegroom  come  forth-from  his  chamber, 

'  Zeph.  L  14  ;  "Mai."  iii.  2. 

•  So  (and  not  elders)  in  contrast  to  children. 


loeli.-ii.  17]   LOCUSTS  AND  THE  DAY  OF  THE  LORD     ^j', 

And  the  bride  from  her  bower} 

Let  the  priests,    the    ministers    of  Jehovah,   iveep 

between  porch  and  altar; 
Let  them  say,  Spare,  O  Jehovah,  Thy  people, 
And  give  not  Thine  heritage  to  dishonour,  for  the 

heathen  to  mock  them :  ^ 
Why  should  it  be  said  among  the  nations,  Where  is 

their  God? 


'  Canopy  or  pavilion,  bridal  tent. 

*  D3  ?\l.*1j?,  which  may  mean  either  rult  over  them  or  Kwck  them, 
but  the  parallelism  decides  for  the  latter. 


VOL.  n. 


CHAPTER   XXIX 

PROSPERITY  AND    THE  SPIRIT 
Joel  ii.  18-32  (Eng. ;  ii.  18— iii.  Heb.) 

'T^HEN  did  Jehovah  become  jealous  for  His  land,  and 
took  pity  upon  His  people — with  these  words  Joel 
opens  the  second  half  of  his  book.  Our  Authorised 
Version  renders  them  in  the  future  tense,  as  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  prophet's  discourse,  which  had  threatened 
the  Day  of  the  Lord,  urged  the  people  to  penitence, 
and  now  promises  that  their  penitence  shall  be  followed 
by  the  Lord's  mercy.  But  such  a  rendering  forces  the 
grammar  ;  ^  and  the  Revised  English  Version  is  right 
in  taking  the  verbs,  as  the  vast  majority  of  critics  do, 
in  the  past.  Joel's  call  to  repentance  has  closed,  and 
has  been  successful.     The  fast  has  been  hallowed,  the 

'  A.V.,  adhering  to  the  Massoretic  text,  in  which  the  verbs  are 
pointed  tor  the  past,  has  evidently  understood  them  as  instances  ot 
the  prophetic  perfect.  But  "this  is  grammatically  indefensible": 
Driver,  in  loco;  see  his  Heb.  Tenses,  §  82,  Obs.  Calvin  and  others, 
who  take  the  verbs  of  ver.  18  as  future,  accept  those  of  the  next 
verse  as  past  and  with  it  begin  the  narrative.  But  if  God's  answer 
to  His  people's  prayer  be  in  the  past,  so  must  His  jealousy  and 
pity.  All  these  verbs  are  in  the  same  sequence  ol  time.  Merx 
proposes  to  change  the  vowel-points  of  the  verbs  and  turn  them  into 
futures.  But  see  above,  p.  395.  Ver.  21  shows  that  Jehovah's  action 
is  past,  and  Nowack  points  out  the  very  unusual  character  of  the 
construction  that  would  follow  from  Merx's  emendation.  Ewald, 
Hitzig,  Kuenen,  Robertson  Smith,  Davidson,  Robertson,  Steiner, 
WeJlhausen,  Driver,  Nowack,  etc.,  all  take  the  verbs  in  the  past. 

418 


Joel  ii.  18-32]     PROSPERITY  AND   THE  SPIRIT  419 

prayers  are  heard.  Probably  an  interval  has  elapsed  be- 
tween vv.  17  and  18,  but  in  any  case,  the  people  having 
repented,  nothing  more  is  said  of  their  need  of  doing 
so,  and  instead  we  have  from  God  Himself  a  series  of 
promises,  vv.  19-27,  in  answer  to  their  cry  for  mercy. 
These  promises  relate  to  the  physical  calamity  which 
has  been  suffered.  God  will  destroy  the  locusts,  still 
impending  on  the  land,  and  restore  the  years  which 
His  great  army  has  eaten.  There  follows  in  vv.  28-32 
(Eng. ;  Heb.  chap,  iii.)  the  promise  of  a  great  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit  on  all  Israel,  amid  terrible 
manifestations  in  heaven  and  earth. 

I.    The  Return  of  Prosperity  (ii.  19-27), 

And  Jehovah  answered  and  said  to  His  people : 

La,  I  will  send  you  corn  and  wine  and  oil. 

And  your  fill  shall  ye  have  of  them; 

And  I  will  not  again  make  you  a  reproach  among 

the  heathen. 
And  the  Northern  Foe  ^  will  I  remove  far  from  you  ; 
And  I  will  push  him  into  a  land  barren  and  waste. 
His  van    to   the   eastern  sea  and  his   rear  to   the 

western,^ 
Till  the  stench  of  him  rises,^ 
Because  he  hath  done  greatly. 

'  This  is  scarcely  a  name  for  the  locusts,  who,  though  they  might 
reach  Palestine  from  the  N.E.  under  certain  circumstances,  came 
generally  from  E.  and  S.E.  But  see  above,  p.  397 :  so  Kuenen, 
Wellhausen,  Nowack.  W.  R.  Smith  suggests  the  whole  verse  as  an 
allegorising  gloss.  Hitzig  thought  of  the  locusts  only,  and  rendered 
"'31QXn  6  Tv^xiiviKoi,  Acts  xxvii.  14;  but  this  is  not  proved. 

'  I.e.  the  Dead  Sea  (Ezek.  xlvii.  18;  Zech.  xiv.  8)  and  the  Medi- 
terranean. 

■  The  construction  shows  that  the  clause  preceding  this,  15^X3  Th'^\ 
is  a  gloss.  So  Driver.  But  Nowack  gives  the  other  cUuse  as  the 
gloss. 


420  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Locusts  disappear  with  the  same  suddenness  as 
they  arrive.  A  wind  springs  up  and  they  are  gone.^ 
Dead  Sea  and  Mediterranean  are  at  the  extremes  of 
the  compass,  but  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
prophet  has  abandoned  the  realism  which  has  hitherto 
distinguished  his  treatment  of  the  locusts.  The  plague 
covered  the  whole  land,  on  whose  high  watershed  the 
winds  suddenly  veer  and  change.  The  dispersion  ol 
the  locusts  upon  the  deserts  and  the  opposite  seas  was 
therefore  possible  at  one  and  the  same  time.  Jerome 
vouches  for  an  instance  in  his  own  day.  The  other 
detail  is  also  true  to  life.  Jerome  says  that  the  beaches 
of  the  two  seas  were  strewn  with  putrifying  locusts, 
and  Augustine  *  quotes  heathen  writers  in  evidence  of 
large  masses  of  locusts,  driven  from  Africa  upon  the 
sea,  and  then  cast  up  on  the  shore,  which  gave  rise  to  a 
pestilence.  "  The  south  and  east  winds,"  says  Volney 
of  Syria,  "drive  the  clouds  of  locusts  with  violence  into 
the  Mediterranean,  and  drown  them  in  such  quantities, 
that  when  their  dead  are  cast  on  the  shore  they  infect 
the  air  to  a  great  distance."^  The  prophet  continues, 
celebrating  this  destruction  of  the  locusts  as  if  it  were 
already  realised — the  Lord  hath  done  greatly^  ver.  2i. 
That  among  the  blessings  he  mentions  a  full  supply 
of  rain  proves  that  we  were  right  in  interpieting  him 
to  have  spoken  of  drought  as  accompanying  the 
locusts.* 

Fear  not,  O  Landl     Rejoice  and  be  glad^ 

For  Jehovah  hath  done  greatly  J' 
Fear  not,  O  beasts  of  the  field  ! 


'  Nah.  iii.  17 ;  Exod.  x.  19.  *  i.  17-20  :  see  above,  p.  403. 

*  De  Civitate  Dei,  III.  31.  '  Prophetic  past :  Driver, 

•  I,  278,  quoted  by  Pusey. 


Joelii.  i8-32]     PROSPERITY  AND   THE  SPIRIT  42. 

For  the  pastures  of  the  steppes  are  springing  with 

new  grass, 
The  trees  bear  their  fruit, 
Fig-tree  and  vine  yield  their  substanct, 
O  sons  of  Zion,  be  glad, 
And  rejoice  in  Jehovah  your  God: 
For  He  hath  given  you  the  early  rain  in  normal 

measure^ 

'  Opinion  is  divided  as  to  the  meaning  of  this  phrase :  HpH^?  =* 
for  righteousness.  A.  There  are  those  who  take  it  as  having  a  moral 
reference;  and  (l)  this  is  so  emphatic  to  some  that  they  render 
the  word  for  early  ratn,  iTIlD,  which  also  means  teacher  or  rtvealer, 
in  the  latter  significance.  So  (some  of  them  applying  it  to  the 
Messiah)  Targum,  Symmachus,  the  Vulgate,  doctoretn  justttice,  some 
Jews,  e.g.  Rashi  and  Abarbanel,  and  some  moderns,  e.g.  (at  opposite 
extremes)  Pusey  and  Merx.  But,  as  Calvin  points  out  (this  is  another 
instance  of  his  sanity  as  an  exegete,  and  refusal  to  be  led  by 
theological  presuppositions  :  he  says,  "  I  do  not  love  strained  exposi- 
tions"), this  does  not  agree  with  the  context,  which  speaks  not  of 
spiritual  but  wholly  of  physical  blessings.  (2)  Some,  who  take  iTlltD 
as  early  rain,  give  HpTX?  the  meaning ybr  righteousness,  ad  justitiam, 
either  in  the  sense  that  God  will  give  the  rain  as  a  token  of  His 
own  righteousness,  or  in  order  to  restore  or  vindicate  the  people's 
righteousness  (so  Davidson,  Expositor,  1888,  I,  p.  203  n.),  in  the  fre- 
quent sense  in  which  npTX  is  employed  in  Isa-  xl.  flf.  (see  Isaiah  xl. — 
Ixvi.,  Expositor's  Bible,  pp.  219  fiF.).  Cf.  Hosea  x,  13,  pTS ;  above,  Vol.  I., 
p.  289,  n.  2.  This  of  course  is  possible,  especially  in  view  of  Israel 
having  been  made  by  their  plagues  a  reproach  among  the  heathen. 
Still,  if  Joel  had  intended  this  meaning,  he  would  have  applied  the 
phrase,  not  to  the  early  rain  only,  but  to  the  whole  series  of  blessings 
by  which  the  people  were  restored  to  their  standing  before  God. 
B,  It  seems,  therefore,  right  to  take  Hpl^?  in  a  purely  physical  sense, 
of  the  measure  or  quality  of  the  early  rain.  So  even  Calvin,  rain 
according  to  what  is  just  or  fit)  A.V.  moderately  (inexact);  R.V,  in 
just  measure  ;  Siegfried-Stade  sufficient.  The  root-meaning  of  pHV  is 
probably  according  to  norm  (cf.  Isaiah  xl. — Ixvi.,  p.  2 1 5),  and  in  that 
case  the  meaning  would  be  rain  of  normal  quantity.  This  too  suits 
the  parallel  in  the  next  clause  :  as  formerly.  In  Himyaritic  the  word 
is  applied  to  good  harvests.  A  man  prays  to  God  for  IDHNI  ?pDX 
DpT^,  full  or  good  harvests  and  fruits :  Corp.  Inscr.  S*m,,  Pars 
Quarta,  Tomus  I.,  No.  2,  lin.  1-5;  cf.  the  note. 


422  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

And  poured^  on  you  winter  rain^  and  latter  rain  as 

before.^ 
And  the  threshing-floors  shall  he  full  of  wheat. 
And  the  vats  stream  over  with  new  wine  and  oil. 
And  1    will  restore   to  you   the  years   which   the 

Swarmer  has  eaten, 
The  Lapper,  the  Devourer  and  the  Shearer^ 
My  great  army  whom  I  sent  among  you. 
And  ye  shall  eat  your  food  and  be  full, 
And  praise  the  Name  of  Jehovah  your  God, 
Who  hath  dealt  so  wondrously  with  you; 
And  My  people  shall  be  abashed  nevermore. 
Ye  shall  know  I  am  in  the  midst  of  Israel, 
That  I  am  Jehovah  your  God  and  none  else; 
And  nevermore  shall  My  people  be  abashed. 

2.  The  Outpouring  of  the  Spirit 
(ii.  28-32  Eng. ;  iii.  Heb.). 

Upon  these  promises  of  physical  blessing  there 
follows  another  of  the  pouring  forth  of  the  Spirit :  the 
prophecy  by  which  Joel  became  the  Prophet  of  Pente- 
cost, and  through  which  his  book  is  best  known  among 
Christians, 

When  fertility  has  been  restored  to  the  land,  the 
seasons  again  run  their  normal  courses,  and  the  people 
eat  their  food  and  be  full — It  shall  come  to  pass  after 
these  things,  I  will  pour  out  My  Spirit  upon  all  flesh. 
The  order  of  events  makes  us  pause  to  question :  does 
Joel   mean    to   imply    that    physical   prosperity   must 

'  Driver,  in  loco. 

*  Heb.  also  repeats  here  early  rain,  but  redundantly. 

»  |15^N")3,  in  the  first.  A.V.  adds  month.  But  LXX.  and  Syr. 
read  HOJK'NIS,  which  is  probably  the  correct  reading,  as  before  or 
formerly. 


Toel  ii.  18-32]     PROSPERITY  AND   THE  SPIRIT  423 

precede  spiritual  fulness  ?  It  would  be  unfair  to  assert 
that  he  does,  without  remembering  what  he  under- 
stands by  the  ph3'sical  blessings.  To  Joel  these  are 
the  token  that  God  has  returned  to  His  people.  The 
drought  and  the  famine  produced  by  the  locusts 
were  signs  of  His  anger  and  of  His  divorce  of  the 
land.  The  proofs  that  He  has  relented,  and  taken 
Israel  back  into  a  spiritual  relation  to  Himself,  can, 
therefore,  from  Joel's  point  of  view,  only  be  given 
by  the  healing  of  the  people's  wounds.  In  plenteous 
rains  and  full  harvests  God  sets  His  seal  to  man's 
penitence.  Rain  and  harvest  are  not  merely  physical 
benefits,  but  religious  sacraments  :  signs  that  God  has 
returned  to  His  people,  and  that  His  zeal  is  again 
stirred  on  their  behalf^  This  has  to  be  made  clear 
before  there  can  be  talk  of  any  higher  blessing. 
God  has  to  return  to  His  people  and  to  show  His 
love  for  them  before  He  pours  forth  His  Spirit  upon 
them.  That  is  what  Joel  intends  by  the  order  he  pur- 
sues, and  not  that  a  certain  stage  of  physical  comfort 
is  indispensable  to  a  high  degree  of  spiritual  feeling 
and  experience.  The  early  and  latter  rains,  the  fulness 
of  corn,  wine  and  oil,  are  as  purely  religious  to  Joel, 
though  not  so  highly  religious,  as  the  phenomena  of 
the  Spirit  in  men. 

But  though  that  be  an  adequate  answer  to  our 
question  so  far  as  Joel  himself  is  concerned,  it  does 
not  exhaust  the  question  with  regard  to  history  in 
general.  From  Joel's  own  standpoint  physical  bless- 
ings may  have  been  as  religious  as  spiritual ;  but  we 
must  go  further,  and  assert  that  for  Joel's  anticipation 
of  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit  by  a  return  of  prosperity 

>  i.18. 


4a4  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

there  is  an  ethical  reason  and  one  which  is  permanently 
valid  in  history.  A  certain  degree  of  prosperity,  and 
even  of  comfort,  is  an  indispensable  condition  of  that 
universal  and  lavish  exercise  of  the  religious  faculties, 
which  Joel  pictures  under  the  pouring  forth  of  God's 
Spirit. 

The  history  of  prophecy  itself  furnishes  us  with 
proofs  of  this.  When  did  prophecy  most  flourish  in 
Israel  ?  When  had  the  Spirit  of  God  most  freedom 
in  developing  the  intellectual  and  moral  nature  of 
Israel  ?  Not  when  the  nation  was  struggling  with 
the  conquest  and  settlement  of  the  land,  not  when 
it  was  engaged  with  the  embarrassments  and  priva- 
tions of  the  Syrian  wars ;  but  an  Amos,  a  Hosea,  an 
Isaiah  came  forth  at  the  end  of  the  long,  peaceful  and 
prosperous  reigns  of  Jeroboam  II.  and  Uzziah.  The 
intellectual  strength  and  liberty  of  the  great  Prophet 
of  the  Exile,  his  deep  insight  into  God's  purposes  and 
his  large  view  of  the  future,  had  not  been  possible 
without  the  security  and  comparative  prosperity  of 
the  Jews  in  Babylon,  from  among  whom  he  wrote.  In 
Haggai  and  Zechariah,  on  the  other  hand,  who  worked 
in  the  hunger-bitten  colony  of  returned  exiles,  there 
was  no  such  fulness  of  the  Spirit.  Prophecy,  we  saw,^ 
was  then  starved  by  the  poverty  and  meanness  of  the 
national  life  from  which  it  rose.  All  this  is  very 
explicable.  When  men  are  stunned  by  such  a  calamity 
as  Joel  describes,  or  when  they  are  engrossed  by  the 
daily  struggle  with  bitter  enemies  and  a  succession  of 
bad  seasons,  they  may  feel  the  need  of  penitence  and 
be  able  to  speak  with  decision  upon  the  practical  duty 
of  the  moment,  to  a  degree  not  attainable  in  better 

'  Above,  p.  189. 


Joel  U.  18-32]    PROSPERITY  AND   THE  SPIRIT  425 

days,  but  they  lack  the  leisure,  the  freedom  and  the 
resources  amid  which  their  various  faculties  of  mind 
and  soul  can  alone  respond  to  the  Spirit's  influence. 
Has  it  been  otherwise  in  the  history  of  Christianity  ? 
Our  Lord  Himself  found  His  first  disciples,  not  in  a 
hungry  and  ragged  community,  but  amid  the  prosperity 
and  opulence  of  Galilee.  They  left  all  to  follow  Him 
and  achieved  their  ministry  in  poverty  and  persecution, 
but  they  brought  to  that  ministry  the  force  of  minds 
and  bodies  trained  in  a  very  fertile  land  and  by  a 
prosperous  commerce.^  Paul,  in  his  apostolate,  sus- 
tained himself  by  the  labour  of  his  hands,  but  he  was 
the  child  of  a  rich  civilisation  and  the  citizen  of  a 
great  empire.  The  Reformation  was  preceded  by  the 
Renaissance,  and  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  drew  its 
forces,  not  from  the  enslaved  and  impoverished  popu- 
lations of  Italy  and  Southern  Austria,  but  from  the 
large  civic  and' commercial  centres  of  Germany.  An 
acute  historian,  in  his  recent  lectures  on  the  Economic 
Interpretation  of  History,^  observes  that  every  religious 
revival  in  England  has  happened  upon  a  basis  of  com- 
parative prosperity.  He  has  proved  "  the  opulence 
of  Norfolk  during  the  epoch  of  Lollardy,"  and  pointed 
out  that  "  the  Puritan  movement  was  essentially  and 
originally  one  of  the  middle  classes,  of  the  traders  in 
towns  and  of  the  farmers  in  the  country  " ;  that  the 
religious  state  of  the  Church  of  England  was  never  so 
low  as  among  the  servile  and  beggarly  clergy  of  the 
seventeenth  and  part  of  the  eighteenth  centuries ;  that 
the  Nonconformist  bodies  who  kept  religion  alive 
during  this    period    were    closely    identified    with    the 


'  Cf,  Hist.  Geog.,  Chap.  XXL,  especially  p.  463. 
'  By  Thorold  Rogers,  pp.  80  ff. 


4a6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

leading  movements  of  trade  and  finance  ;*  and  that  even 
Wesley's  great  revival  of  religion  among  the  labouring 
classes  of  England  took  place  at  a  time  when  prices 
were  far  lower  than  in  the  previous  century,  wages 
had  slightly  risen  and  "  most  labourers  were  small 
occupiers ;  there  was  therefore  in  the  comparative 
plenty  of  the  time  an  opening  for  a  religious  movement 
among  the  poor,  and  Wesley  was  equal  to  the  occasion." 
He  might  have  added  that  the  great  missionary  move- 
ment of  the  nineteenth  century  is  contemporaneous 
with  the  enormous  advance  of  our  commerce  and  our 
empire. 

On  the  whole,  then,  the  witness  of  history  is  uniform. 
Poverty  and  persecution,  famine,  nakedness,  peril  and 
sword,  put  a  keenness  upon  the  spirit  of  religion,  while 
luxury  rots  its  very  fibres ;  but  a  stable  basis  of  pro- 
sperity is  indispensable  to  every  social  and  religious 
reform,  and  God's  Spirit  finds  fullest  course  in  com- 
munities of  a  certain  degree  of  civilisation  and  of 
freedom  from  sordidness. 

We  may  draw  from  this  an  impressive  lesson  for 
our  own  day.  Joel  predicts  that,  upon  the  new  pro- 
sperity of  his  land,  the  lowest  classes  of  society  shall 
be  permeated  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy.  Is  it  not  part 
of  the  secret  of  the  failure  of  Christianity  to  enlist 
large  portions  of  our  population,  that  the  basis  of  their 
life  is  so  sordid  and  insecure  ?  Have  we  not  yet 
to  learn  from  the  Hebrew  prophets,  that  some  amount 
of  freedom  in  a  people  and  some  amount  of  health  are 
indispensable  to  a  revival  of  religion  ?  Lives  which 
are  strained  and  starved,  lives  which  are  passed  in  rank 
discomfort    and    under   grinding  poverty,   without  the 

'  E.g.  the  Quakers  and  the  Independents.  The  Independents  of  the 
seventeenth  century  "  were  ♦he  founders  of  the  Bank  of  England." 


Joel  ii.  18-32]     PROSPERITY  AND   THE  SPIRIT  427 

possibility  of  the  independence  of  the  individual  or  of 
the  sacredness  of  the  home,  cannot  be  religious  except 
in  the  most  rudimentary  sense  of  the  word.  For  the 
revival  of  energetic  religion  among  such  lives  we  must 
wait  for  a  better  distribution,  not  of  wealth,  but  of  the 
bare  means  of  comfort,  leisure  and  security.  When,  to 
our  penitence  and  our  striving,  God  restores  the  years 
which  the  locust  has  eaten,  when  the  social  plagues 
of  rich  men's  selfishness  and  the  poverty  of  the  very 
poor  are  lifted  from  us,  then  may  we  look  for  the 
fulfilment  of  Joel's  prediction — even  upon  all  the  slaves 
and  upon  the  handmaidens  will  I  pour  out  My  Spirit  in 
those  days. 

The  economic  problem,  therefore,  has  also  its  place 
in  the  warfare  for  the  kingdom  of  God. 

And  it  shall  be  that  after  such  things,  I  will  pour  out 

My  Spirit  on  all  flesh; 
And  your  sons  and  your  daughters  shall  prophesy, 
Your  old  men  shall  dream  dreams, 
Your  young  men  shall  see  visions : 
And  even  upon  all  the  slaves  and  the  handmaidens 

in  those  days  will  I  pour  out  My  Spirit. 
And  I  will  set  signs  in  heaven  and  on  earth, 
Blood  and  fire  and  pillars  of  smoke. 
The  sun  shall  be  turned  to  darkness. 
And  the  moon  to  blood, 
Before  the  coming  of  the  Day  0/  Jehovah,  the  great 

and  the  awful. 
And  it  shall  be  that  every  one  who  calls  on  the  name 

of  Jehovah  shall  be  saved  : 
For  in  Mount  Zion  and  in  Jerusalem  shall  be  a 

remnant,  as  Jehovah  hath  spoken, 
And  among  the  fugitives  those  whom  Jehovah  calleth. 


428  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

This  prophecy  divides  into  two  parts — the  outpour- 
ing of  the  Spirit,  and  the  appearance  of  the  terrible  Day 
of  the  Lord. 

The  Spirit  of  God  is  to  be  poured  on  all  flesh,  says 
the  prophet.  By  this  term,  which  is  sometimes  applied 
to  all  things  that  breathe,  and  sometimes  to  mankind 
as  a  whole,^  Joel  means  Israel  only  :  the  heathen  are 
to  be  destroyed.*  Nor  did  Peter,  when  he  quoted  the 
passage  at  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  mean  anything  more. 
He  spoke  to  Jews  and  proselytes  :  for  the  promise  is  to 
you  and  your  children,  and  to  them  that  are  afar  off: 
it  was  not  till  afterwards  that  he  discovered  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  granted  to  the  Gentiles,  and  then 
he  was  unready  for  the  revelation  and  surprised  by 
it.*  But  within  Joel's  Israel  the  operation  of  the  Spirit 
was  to  be  at  once  thorough  and  universal.  All  classes 
would  be  affected,  and  affected  so  that  the  simplest 
and  rudest  would  become  prophets. 

The  limitation  was  therefore  not  without  its  advan- 
tages. In  the  earlier  stages  of  all  religions,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  be  both  extensive  and  intensive.  With  a  few 
exceptions,  the  Israel  of  Joel's  time  was  a  narrow  and 
exclusive  body,  hating  and  hated  by  other  peoples. 
Behind  the  Law  it  kept  itself  strictly  aloof.  But  without 
doing  so,  Israel  could  hardly  have  survived  or  pre- 
pared itself  at  that  time  for  its  influence  on  the  world. 
Heathenism  threatened  it  from  all  sides  with  the 
most  insidious  of  infections ;  and  there  awaited  it 
in  the  near  future  a  still  more  subtle  and  powerful 
means  of  disintegration.     In  the  wake  of  Alexander's 


'  All   living  things,  Gen.   vi.    17,    19,    etc.;    mankind,  Isa.  xL   5, 
xlix.  26.     See  Driver's  note. 

'  Next  chapter.  '  Acts  x.  45. 


Joel  ii.  18-32]      PROSPERITY  AND    THE  SPIRIT  429 

expeditions,  Hellenism  poured  across  all  the  East. 
There  was  not  a  community  nor  a  religion,  save  Israel's, 
which  was  not  Hellenised.  That  Israel  remained  Israel, 
ic  spite  of  Greek  arms  and  the  Greek  mind,  was  due 
to  the  legalism  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  and  to  what 
we  call  the  narrow  enthusiasm  of  Joel.  The  hearts 
which  kept  their  passion  so  confined  felt  all  the  deeper 
for  its  limits.  They  would  be  satisfied  with  nothing 
less  than  the  inspiration  of  every  Israelite,  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  prayer  of  Moses :  Would  to  God  that  all 
JehovaKs  people  I'^ere  prophets  I  And  of  itself  this  carries 
Joel's  prediction  to  a  wider  fulfilment.  A  nation  of 
prophets  is  meant  for  the  world.  But  even  the  best  of 
men  do  not  see  the  full  force  of  the  truth  God  gives 
to  them,  nor  follow  it  even  to  its  immediate  conse- 
quences. Few  of  the  prophets  did  so,  and  at  first  none 
of  the  apostles.  Joel  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that 
the  heathen  shall  be  destroyed.  He  does  not  think 
of  Israel's  mission  as  foretold  by  the  Second  Isaiah  ; 
nor  of  "  Malachi's  "  vision  of  the  heathen  waiting  upon 
Jehovah.  But  in  the  near  future  of  Israel  there  was 
waiting  another  prophet  to  carry  Joel's  doctrine  to 
its  full  effect  upon  the  world,  to  rescue  the  gospel  of 
God's  grace  from  the  narrowness  of  legalism  and  the 
awful  pressure  of  Apocalypse,  and  by  the  parable  of 
Jonah,  the  type  of  the  prophet  nation,  to  show  to 
Israel  that  God  had  granted  to  the  Gentiles  also  repent- 
ance unto  life. 

That  it  was  the  lurid  clouds  of  Apocalypse,  which 
thus  hemmed  in  our  prophet's  view,  is  clear  from 
the  next  verses.  They  bring  the  terrible  manifesta- 
tions of  God's  wrath  in  nature  very  closely  upon  the 
lavish  outpouring  of  the  Spirit :  the  sun  turned  to  dark- 
ness and  the  moon  to  bloody  the  great  and  terrible  Day 


430  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  the  Lord.  Apocalypse  must  always  paralyse  the 
missionary  energies  of  religion.  Who  can  think  of 
converting  the  world,  when  the  world  is  about  to  be 
convulsed  ?  There  is  only  time  for  a  remnant  to  be 
saved. 

But  when  we  get  rid  of  Apocalypse,  as  the  Book 
of  Jonah  does,  then  we  have  time  and  space  opened 
up  again,  and  the  essential  forces  of  such  a  prophecy 
of  the  Spirit  as  Joel  has  given  us  burst  their  national 
and  temporary  confines,  and  are  seen  to  be  applicable 
to  all  mankind. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

THE  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  HEATHEN 
Joel  iii.  (Eng. ;  iv.  Heb.) 

HITHERTO  Joel  has  spoken  no  syllable  of  the 
heathen,  except  to  pray  that  God  by  His  plagues 
will  not  give  Israel  to  be  mocked  by  them.  But  in 
the  last  chapter  of  the  Book  we  have  Israel's  captivity 
to  the  heathen  taken  for  granted,  a  promise  made  that 
it  will  be  removed  and  their  land  set  free  from  the 
foreigner.  Certain  nations  are  singled  out  for  judg- 
ment, which  is  described  in  the  terms  of  Apocalypse ; 
and  the  Book  closes  with  the  vision,  already  familiar  in 
prophecy,  of  a  supernatural  fertility  for  the  land. 

It  is  quite  another  horizon  and  far  different  interests 
from  those  of  the  preceding  chapter.  Here  for  the 
first  time  we  may  suspect  the  unity  of  the  Book,  and 
listen  to  suggestions  of  another  authorship  than  Joel's. 
But  these  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  conclusive. 
Every  prophet,  however  national  his  interests,  feels 
it  his  duty  to  express  himself  upon  the  subject  of 
foreign  peoples,  and  Joel  may  well  have  done  so. 
Only,  in  that  case,  his  last  chapter  was  delivered  by 
him  at  another  time  and  in  different  circumstances  from 
the  rest  of  his  prophecies.  Chaps,  i. — ii.  (Eng. ;  i. — iii. 
Heb.)  are   complete  in  themselves.     Chap.   iii.   (Eng. ; 

*3i 
} 


43*  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

iv.  Heb.)  opens  without  any  connection  of  time  or 
subject  with  those  that  precede  it.^ 

The  time  of  the  prophecy  is  a  time  when  Israel's 
fortunes  are  at  low  ebb,^  her  sons  scattered  among  the 
heathen,  her  land,  in  part  at  least,  held  by  foreigners. 
But  it  would  appear  (though  this  is  not  expressly  said, 
and  must  rather  be  inferred  from  the  general  proofs 
of  a  post-exilic  date)  that  Jerusalem  is  inhabited. 
Nothing  is  said  to  imply  that  the  city  needs  to  be 
restored.' 

All  the  heathen  nations  are  to  be  brought  together 
for  judgment  into  a  certain  valley,  which  the  prophet 
calls  first  the  Vale  of  Jehoshaphat  and  then  the  Vale 
of  Decision.  The  second  name  leads  us  to  infer  that 
the  first,  which  mtaxi?,  Jehovah-judges,  is  also  symbolic. 
That  is  to  say,  the  prophet  does  not  single  out  a 
definite  valley  already  called  Jehoshaphat.  In  all 
probability,  however,  he  has  in  his  mind's  eye  some 
vale  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Jerusalem,  for  since 
Ezekiel  *  the  judgment  of  the  heathen  in  face  of  Jeru- 
salem has  been  a  standing  feature  in  Israel's  vision  of 
the  last  things ;  and  as  no  valley  about  that  city  lends 
itself  to  the  picture  of  judgment  so  well  as  the  valley 
of  the  Kedron  with  the  slopes  of  Olivet,  the  name 
Jehoshaphat    has  naturally  been  applied  to   it.*     Cer- 


'  I  am  unable  to  feel  Driver's  and  Nowack's  arguments  for  a  con- 
nection conclusive.  The  only  reason  Davidson  gives  is  (p.  204)  that 
the  judgment  of  the  heathen  is  an  essential  element  in  the  Day  of 
Jehovah,  a  reason  which  does  not  make  Joel's  authorship  of  the  last 
chapter  certain,  but  only  possible. 

*  The  phrase  of  ver.  i,  wJien  I  turn  again  the  captivity  ofjudah  and 
Jerusalem,  may  be  rendered  zvhen  I  restore  the  fortunes  of  Israel. 

'  See  above,  p.  3S6,  especially  n.  5.  *  xxxviii. 

'  Some  have  unnecessarily  thought  of  the  Vale  of  Berakhah,  in 
which  Jehoshaphat  defeated  Moab,  Amraon  and  Edom  (2  Chron.  xx.), 


Joeliii.]        THE  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  HEATHEN  433 

tain  nations  are  singled  out  by  name.  These  are  not 
Assyria  and  Babylon,  which  had  long  ago  perished,  nor 
the  Samaritans,  Moab  and  Ammon,  which  harassed  the 
Jews  in  the  early  days  of  the  Return  from  Babylon, 
but  Tyre,  Sidon,  Philistia,  Edom  and  Egypt.  The 
crime  of  the  first  three  is  the  robbery  of  Jewish 
treasures,  not  necessarily  those  of  the  Temple,  and 
the  selling  into  slavery  of  many  Jews.  The  crime  of 
Edom  and  Egypt  is  that  they  have  shed  the  innocent 
blood  of  Jews.  To  what  precise  events  these  charges 
refer  we  have  nc  means  of  knowing  in  our  present 
ignorance  of  Syrian  history  after  Nehemiah.  That 
the  chapter  has  no  explicit  reference  to  the  cruelties 
of  Artaxerxes  Ochus  in  360  would  seem  to  imply  for  it 
a  date  earlier  than  that  year.  But  it  is  possible  that 
ver.  17  refers  to  that,  the  prophet  refraining  from 
accusing  the  Persians  for  the  very  good  reason  that 
Israel  was  still  under  their  rule. 

Another  feature  worthy  of  notice  is  that  the 
Phoenicians  are  accused  of  selling  Jews  to  the  sons  of 
the  Jevanim,  lonians  or  Greeks.^  The  latter  lie  on  the 
far  horizon  of  the  prophet,*  and  we  know  from  classical 
writers  that  from  the  fifth  century  onwards  numbers  of 
Syrian  slaves  were  brought  to  Greece.  The  other 
features  of  the  chapter  are  borrowed  from  earlier 
prophets. 

For,  behold,  in  those  days  and  in  that  time, 

When  I  bring  again  the  captivity^  of  Judah  and 

Jerusalem, 
I  will  also  gather  all  the  nations, 
And  bring  them  down  to  the  Vale  of  Jehoshaphat ;  * 

'  See  above,  p.  381,  nn.  5,  6.   •  Or  turn  again  the  fortunes. 
'^  Ver.  6i.  *  Jehovah-judges.     See  above,  p.  432, 

VOL.  II.  28 


434  TiiE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

And  I  will  enter  into  judgment  with  them  there^ 

For  My  people  and  for  My  heritage  Israel, 

Whom  they  have  scattered  among  the  heatheHf 

And  My  land  have  they  divided. 

And  they  have  cast  lots  for  My  people  : ' 

77!^  have  given  a  boy  for  a  harlot,^ 

And  a  girl  have  they  sold  for  wine  and  drunk  it. 

And  again,  what  are  ye  to  Me,  Tyre  and  Sidon  and 

all  circuits  of  Philistia  ?  * 
Is  it  any  deed  of  Mine  ye  are  repaying? 
Or  are  ye  doing  anything  to  Me  ?  * 
Swiftly,  speedily  will  I  return  your  deed  on  your 

head, 
Who  have  taken  My  silver  and  My  gold, 
And  My  goodly  jewels  ye  have  brought  into  your 

palaces. 
The  sons  of  fudah  and  the  sons  of  ferusalem  have 

ye  sold  to  the  sons  of  the  Greeks, 
In  order  that  ye  might  set  them  as  far  as  possible 

from  their  own  border. 
Lo  !  I  will  stir  them  up  from  the  place  to  which  ye 

have  sold  them, 
And  I  will  return  your  deed  upon  your  head. 
I  will  sell  your  sons  and  your  daughters  into  the 

hands  of  the  sons  of  fudah. 
And  they  shall  sell  them  to  the  Shebans,^ 
To  a  nation  far  off;  for  Jehovah  hath  spoken. 


'  See  above,  Obadiah  1 1  and  Nahum  iii.  lO. 
'  nj1T3.     Oort  suggests  }irD3, /or /ooo?. 

'  Gelildth,  the  plural  feminine  of  Galilee — the  circuit  (of  the  Gen- 
'ies).     Hist.  Geog.,  p.  413. 

*  S;  il.  that  I  must  repay. 

*  LXX.  they  shall  give  them  tnto  captivity. 


Joeliii.]       THE  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  HEATHEN  435 

Proclaim  this  among  the  heathen,  hallow  a  war, 
Wake   up   the   warriors,    let  all   the  fighting-men 

muster  and  go  up} 
Beat  your  ploughshares  into  swords^ 
And  your  pruning -hooks  into  lances. 
Let  the  weakling  say,  I  am  strong. 
.  .  .  *  and  come,  all  ye  nations  round  aboutf 
And  gather  yourselves  together. 
Thither  bring  down  Thy  warriors,  Jehovah, 
Let  the  heathen  be  roused, 
And  come  up  to  the  Vale  ofjehoshaphat, 
For  there  will  I  sit  to  judge  all  the  nations  round 

about. 
Put  in  the  sickle^  for  ripe  is  the  harvest. 
Come,  get  you  down;  for  the  press  is  ftdl. 
The  vats  overflow,  great  is  their  wickedness. 
Multitudes,  multitudes  in  the  Vale  of  Decision  f 
For  near  is  Jehovah's  day  in  the  Vale  of  Decision. 
Sun  and  moon  have  turned  black. 
And  the  stars  withdrawn  their  shining. 
Jehovah  thunders  from  Zion, 
And  from  Jerusalem  gives  *  forth  His  voice: 
Heaven  and  earth  do  quake. 
But  Jehovah  is  a  refuge  to  His  people. 
And  for  a  fortress  to  the  sons  of  Israel. 
And  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  Jehovah  your  God, 
Who  dwell  in  Zion,  the  mount  of  My  holiness; 
And  Jerusalem  shall  be  holy. 
Strangers  shall  not  pass  through  her  again. 

'  Technical  use  of  H^V,  to  go  up  to  war. 

*  IC^'IVi  not  found   elsewhere,  but  supposed  to  mean  gather.     Cf. 
Zeph.  ii.  I.     Others  read  ISi'in,  hasten  (Driver);  Wellhausen  1~l"iy. 

*  '?5D,  only  here  and    in  Jer.  1.   i6:    other  Heb.  word  for  sickle 
^ermesh  (Deut  xvi.  9,  xxiii.  26).  *  Driver,  future. 


436  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

And  it  shall  be  on  that  day 

The  mountains  shall  drop  sweet  wine. 

And  the  hills  be  liquid  with  milky 

And  all  the  channels  ofjudah  flow  with  water; 

A  fountain  shall  spring  from  the  house  of  Jehovah, 

And  shall  water  the  Wady  of  Shittim} 

Egypt  shall  be  desolation. 

And  Edom  desert-land, 

For  the  outrage  done  to  the  children  ofjudah^ 

Because  they  shed  innocent  blood  in  their  land. 

Judah  shall  abide  peopled  for  ever, 

And  Jerusalem  for  generation  upon  generation. 

And  I  will  declare  innocent  their  bloody  which  I  have 

not  declared  innocent. 
By* Jehovah  who  dwelleth  m  Zion. 


'  Not  the  well-known  scene  of  early  Israel's  camp  across  Jordan, 
but  it  must  be  some  dry  and  desert  valley  near  Jerusalem  (so  mosf 
comm.).  Nowack  thinks  of  the  Wadi  el  Sant  on  the  way  to  Askalon 
but  this  did  not  need  watering  and  is  called  the  Vale  of  Elah. 

*  Merx  applies  this  to  the  Jews  of  the  Messianic  era.  LXX,  read 
^/cf)7Ti}(T«  =  *nDpJ1.     So  Syr.    Cf.  2  Kings  ix.  7. 

Steiner  :  Shall  I  leave  their  blood  unpunished  ?  I  will  not  leave  t* 
unpunished.  Nowack  deems  this  to  be  unlikely,  and  suggests,  /  wiU 
avenge  their  blood  ;  I  will  not  leave  unpunished  the  shedders  of  it 

•  Heb.  construction  is  found  also  in  Hosea  xii,  5. 


INTRODUCTION  TO   THE  PROPHETS  OJ^ 
THE   GRECIAN  PERIOD 

(331 B.C.) 


437 


CHAPTER   XXXI 

ISRAEL  AND   THE   GREEKS 

APART  from  the  author  of  the  tenth  chapter  of 
Genesis,  who  defines  Javan  or  Greece  as  the 
father  of  Elishah  and  Tarshish,  of  Kittim  or  Cyprus 
and  Rodanim  or  Rhodes/  the  first  Hebrew  writer 
who  mentions  the  Greeks  is  Ezekiel,^  c.  580  B.C.  He 
describes  them  as  engaged  in  commerce  with  the 
Phoenicians,  who  bought  slaves  from  them.  Even 
while  Ezekiel  wrote  in  Babylonia,  the  Babylonians 
were  in  touch  with  the  Ionian  Greeks  through  the 
Lydians.'  The  latter  were  overthrown  by  Cyrus  about 
545,  and  by  the  beginning  of  the  next  century  the 
Persian  lords  of  Israel  were  in  close  straggle  with  the 
Greeks  for  the  supremacy  of  the  world,  and  had  vir- 
tually been  defeated  so  far  as  concerned  Europe,  the 
west  of  Asia  Minor,  and  the  sovereignty  of  the  Medi- 
terranean and  Black  Seas.  In  460  Athens  sent  an 
expedition  to  Egypt  to  assist  a  revolt  against  Persia, 
and  even    before   that  Greek    fleets   had    scoured   the 


'  Gen.  X.  2,  4.  V\>,  Javan,  is  lapwc,  or  lawv,  the  older  form  of  the 
name  of  the  lonians,  the  first  of  the  Greek  race  with  whom  Eastern 
peoples  came  into  contact.  They  are  perhaps  named  on  the  Tell- 
el-Amarna  tablets  as  "Yivana,"  serving  "in  the  country  of  Tyre" 
(c.  1400  B.C.) ;  and  on  an  inscription  of  Sargon  (c.  ^o<))  Cyprus  is 
railed  Yavanu.  *  xxvii.  13. 

^  Isaiah  xl. — Ixvi.  (Expositor's  Bible),  108  f. 
439 


440  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Levant  and  Greek  soldiers,  though  in  the  pay  of 
Persia,  had  trodden  the  soil  of  Syria.  Still  Joel, 
writing  towards  400  B.C.,  mentions  Greece  ^  only  as 
a  market  to  which  the  Phoenicians  carried  Jewish 
slaves ;  and  in  a  prophecy  which  some  take  to  be 
contemporary  with  Joel,  Isaiah  Ixvi.,  the  coasts  of 
Greece  are  among  the  most  distant  of  Gentile  lands.* 
In  401  the  younger  Cyrus  brought  to  the  Euphrates 
to  fight  against  Artaxerxes  Mnemon  the  ten  thousand 
Greeks  whom,  after  the  battle  of  Cunaxa,  Xenophon 
led  north  to  the  Black  Sea.  For  nearly  seventy  years 
thereafter  Athenian  trade  slowly  spread  eastward,  but 
nothing  was  yet  done  by  Greece  to  advertise  her  to 
the  peoples  of  Asia  as  a  claimant  for  the  world's  throne. 
Then  suddenly  in  334  Alexander  of  Macedon  crossed 
the  Hellespont,  spent  a  year  in  the  conquest  of  Asia 
Minor,  defeated  Darius  at  Issus  in  332,  took  Damascus, 
Tyre  and  Gaza,  overran  the  Delta  and  founded  Alex- 

'  iii.  6  (Eng. ;  iv.  6  Heb.). 

*  The  sense  of  distance  between  the  two  peoples  was  mutual. 
Writing  in  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  Herodotus  has  heard 
of  the  Jews  only  as  a  people  that  practise  circumcision  and  were 
defeated  by  Pharaoh  Necho  at  Megiddo  (II.  104,  159;  on  the  latter 
passage  see  Hist.  Geog.,  p.  405  n.).  He  does  not  even  know  them  by 
name.  The  fragment  of  Choerilos  of  Samos,  from  the  end  of  the 
fifth  century,  which  Josephus  cites  (^Contra  Apionent,  I.  22)  as  a 
reference  to  the  Jews,  is  probably  of  a  people  in  Asia  Minor,  Even 
in  the  last  half  of  the  fourth  century  and  before  Alexander's  cam- 
paigns, Aristotle  knows  of  the  Dead  Sea  only  by  a  vague  report 
{Meleor.,  II.  iii.  39).  His  pupil  Theophrastus  (</.  287)  names  and 
describes  the  Jews  (Porphyr.  de  Abstinentia,  II.  26;  YLnsehms,  Prepar. 
Evang.,  IX.  2:  cf.  Josephus,  C.  Apion.,  I.  22);  and  another  pupil, 
Clearchus  of  Soli,  records  the  mention  by  Aristotle  of  a  travelled  Jew 
of  Ccele-Syria,  but  "  Greek  in  soul  as  in  tongue,"  whom  the  great 
philosopher  had  met,  and  learned  from  him  that  the  Jews  were 
descended  from  the  philosophers  of  India  (quoted  by  Josephus, 
C.  Apion.,  I.  22). 


ISRAEL  AND   THE   GREEKS  441 


andria.  In  331  he  marched  back  over  Syria,  crossed 
the  Euphrates,  overthrew  the  Persian  Empire  on  the 
field  of  Arbela,  and  for  the  next  seven  years  till  his 
death  in  324  extended  his  conquests  to  the  Oxus  and 
the  Indus.  The  story,  that  on  his  second  passage 
of  Syria  Alexander  visited  Jerusalem,^  is  probably 
false.  But  he  must  have  encamped  repeatedly  within 
forty  miles  of  it,  and  he  visited  Samaria.^  It  is  im- 
possible that  he  received  no  embassy  from  a  people 
who  had  not  known  political  independence  for  centuries 
and  must  have  been  only  too  ready  to  come  to  terms 
with  the  new  lord  of  the  world.  Alexander  left  behind 
him  colonies  of  his  veterans,  both  to  the  east  and 
west  of  the  Jordan,  and  in  his  wake  there  poured  into 
all  the  cities  of  the  Syrian  seaboard  a  considerable 
volume  of  Greek  immigration.'  It  is  from  this  time 
onward  that  we  find  in  Greek  writers  the  earliest 
mention  of  the  Jews  by  name.  Theophrastus  and 
Clearchus  of  Soh,  disciples  of  Aristotle,  both  speak 
of  them  ;  but  while  the  former  gives  evidence  of  some 
knowledge  of  their  habits,  the  latter  reports  that  in 
the  perspective  of  his  great  master  they  had  been  so 
distant  and  vague  as  to  be  confounded  with  the 
Brahmins  of  India,  a  confusion  which  long  survived 
among  the  Greeks.* 

Alexander's  death  delivered  his  empire  to  the 
ambitions  of  his  generals,  of  whom  four  contested  for 
the  mastery  of  Asia  and  Egypt — Antigonus,  Ptolemy, 
Lysimachus  and  Seleucus.  Of  these  Ptolemy  and 
Seleucus  emerged  victorious,  the  one  in  possession  of 
Egypt,  the  other  of  Northern  Syria   and   the   rest  of 


'  Jos.,  XI.  Ann.  iv.  5.  »  Hist.  Geog.,  pp.  593  f. 

*  Hist.  Gcog.,  p.  347.  *  See  above,  p.  440,  n.  2. 


442  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


Asia.  Palestine  lay  between  them,  and  both  in  the 
wars  which  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  two 
kingdoms  and  in  those  which  for  centuries  followed, 
Palestine  became  the  battle-field  of  the  Greeks. 

Ptolemy  gained  Egypt  within  two  years  of  Alex- 
ander's death,  and  from  its  definite  and  strongly  en- 
trenched territory  he  had  by  320  conquered  Syria  and 
Cyprus.  In  315  or  314  Syria  was  taken  from  him  by 
Antigonus,  who  also  expelled  Seleucus  from  Babylon 
Seleucus  fled  to  Egypt  and  stirred  up  Ptolemy  to 
the  reconquest  of  Syria.  In  312  Ptolemy  defeated 
Demetrius,  the  general  of  Antigonus,  at  Gaza,  but  the 
next  year  was  driven  back  into  Egypt  by  Antigonus 
himself  Meanwhile  Seleucus  regained  Babylon.^  In 
311  the  three  made  peace  with  each  other,  but 
Antigonus  retained  Syria.  In  306  they  assumed  the 
title  of  kings,  and  in  the  same  year  renewed  their 
quarrel.  After  a  naval  battle  Antigonus  wrested  Cyprus 
from  Ptolemy,  but  in  301  he  was  defeated  and  slain 
by  Seleucus  and  Lysimachus  at  the  battle  of  Ipsus  in 
Phrygia.  His  son  Demetrius  retained  Cyprus  and 
part  of  the  Phoenician  coast  till  287,  when  he  was 
forced  to  yield  them  to  Seleucus,  who  had  moved  the 
centre  of  his  power  from  Babylon  to  the  new  Antioch 
jn  the  Orontes,  with  a  seaport  at  Seleucia.  Meanwhile 
in  301  Ptolemy  had  regained  what  the  Greeks  then 
knew  as  Coele-Syria,  that  is  all  Syria  to  the  south  of 
Lebanon  except  the  Phoenician  coast.*  Damascus 
belonged  to  Seleucus.  But  Ptolemy  was  not  allowed 
to  retain  Palestine  in  peace,  for  in  297  Demetrius 
appears   to  have  invaded  it,  and  Seleucus,  especial!}' 

'  Hence  the  Seleucid  era  dates  from  312. 
*  Hist.  Geog.,  538. 


ISRAEL  AND   THE  GREEKS  443 

after  his  marriage  with  Stratonike,  the  daughter  of 
Demetrius,  never  wholly  resigned  his  claims  to  it* 
Ptolemy,  however,  established  a  hold  upon  the  land, 
which  continued  practically  unbroken  for  a  century, 
and  yet  during  all  that  time  had  to  be  maintained  by 
frequent  wars,  in  the  course  of  which  the  land  itself 
must  have  severely  suffered  (264 — 248). 

Therefore,  as  in  the  days  of  their  earliest  prophets, 
the  people  of  Israel  once  more  lay  between  two  rival 
empires.  And  as  Hosea  and  Isaiah  pictured  them  in 
the  eighth  century,  the  possible  prey  either  of  Egypt 
or  Assyria,  so  now  in  these  last  years  of  the  fourth 
they  were  tossed  between  Ptolemy  and  Antigonus, 
and  in  the  opening  years  of  the  third  were  equally 
wooed  by  Ptolemy  and  Seleucus.  Upon  this  new 
alternative  of  tyranny  the  Jews  appear  to  have  bestowed 
the  actual  names  of  their  old  oppressors.  Ptolemy  was 
Egypt  to  them ;  Seleucus,  with  one  of  his  capitals 
at  Babylon,  was  still  Assyria,  from  which  came  in 
time  the  abbreviated  Greek  form  of  Syria.'  But, 
unlike  the  ancient  empires,  these  new  rival  lords 
were  of  one  race.  Whether  the  tyranny  came  from 
Asia  or  Africa,  its  quality  was  Greek ;  and  in  the 
sons  of  Javan  the  Jews  saw  the  successors  of  those 
world-powers    of    Egypt,    Assyria   and    Babylonia,   in 

»  Cf.  Ewald,  Hist.  (Eng.  Ed.),  V.  226 1 

*  Asshur  or  Assyria  fell  in  607  (as  we  have  seen),  but  her  name 
was  transferred  to  her  successor  Babylon  (2  Kings  xxiii.  29; 
Jer.  IL  18 ;  Lam.  v.  6),  and  even  to  Babylon's  successor  Persia 
(Ezra  vi.  22).  When  Seleucus  secured  what  was  virtually  the  old 
Assyrian  Empire  with  large  extensions  to  Phrygia  on  the  west  and 
the  Punjaub  on  the  east,  the  name  would  naturally  be  continued  to  his 
dominion,  especially  as  his  first  capital  was  Babylon,  from  his  capture 
of  which  in  312  the  Seleucid  era  took  its  start.  There  is  actual 
record    of  this.     Brugsch    {Gesch.  Aeg.,  p.   218)  states   that   in  the 


444  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

which  had  been  concentrated  against  themselves  the 
whole  force  of  the  heathen  world.  Our  records  of 
the  times  are  fragmentary,  but  though  Alexander 
spared  the  Jews  it  appears  that  they  had  not  long 
to  wait  before  feeling  the  force  of  Greek  arms. 
Josephus  quotes^  from  Agatharchides  of  Cnidos 
(i8o — 145  B.C.)  to  the  effect  that  Ptolemy  I.  surprised 
Jerusalem  on  a  Sabbath  day  and  easily  took  it;  and 
he  adds  that  at  the  same  time  he  took  a  great  many 
captives  from  the  hill-country  of  Judaea,  from  Jerusalem 
and  from  Samaria,  and  led  them  into  Egypt.  Whether 
this  was  in  320  or  312  or  301^  we  cannot  tell.  It 
is  possible  that  the  Jews  suffered  in  each  of  these 
Egyptian  invasions  of  Syria,  as  well  as  during  the 
southward  marches  of  Demetrius  and  Antigonus.  The 
later  policy,  both  of  the  Ptolemies,  who  were  their 
lords,  and  of  the  Seleucids,  was  for  a  long  time  ex- 
ceedingly friendly  to  Israel.  Their  sufferings  from 
the  Greeks  were  therefore  probably  over  by  280, 
although  they  cannot  have  remained  unscathed  by 
the  wars  between  264  and  248. 

The  Greek  invasion,  however,  was  not  like  the 
Assyrian  and  Babylonian,  of  arms  alone  ;  but  of  a 
force  of  intellect  and  culture  far  surpassing  even  the 
influences  which  the  Persians  had  impressed  upon  the 

hieroglyphic  inscriptions  of  the  Ptolemaean  period  the  kingdom  of 
the  Seleucids  is  called  Asharu  (cf.  Stade,  Z.A.T.W.,  1882,  p.  292, 
and  Cheyne,  Book  of  Psalms,  p.  253,  and  Introd.  to  Book  of  Isaiah 
p.  107,  n.  3).  As  the  Seleucid  kingdom  shrank  to  this  side  of  the 
Euphrates,  it  drew  the  name  Assyria  with  it.  But  in  Greek  mouths 
this  had  long  ago  (cf.  Herod.)  been  shortened  to  Syria  :  Herodotus 
also  appears  to  have  applied  it  only  to  the  west  of  the  Euphrates. 
Cf.  Hist.  Geog.,  pp.  3  f. 

'  XII.  Antt.  i. :  cf.  Con.  Apion.,  I.  22. 

'^  See  above,  p.  442.  Eusebius,  Chron.  Arm.,  II.  225,  assigns  it  to  320. 


ISRAEL  AND   THE  GREEKS  44S 

religion  and  mental  attitude  of  Israel.  The  ancient 
empires  had  transplanted  the  nations  of  Palestine  to 
Assyria  and  Babylonia.  The  Greeks  did  not  need 
to  remove  them  to  Greece  ;  for  they  brought  Greece 
to  Palestine.  "  The  Orient,"  says  Wellhausen,  "  became 
their  America."  They  poured  into  Syria,  infecting, 
exploiting,  assimilating  its  peoples.  With  dismay  the 
Jews  must  have  seen  themselves  surrounded  by  new 
Greek  colonies,  and  still  more  by  the  old  Palestinian  cities 
Hellenised  in  polity  and  religion.  The  Greek  translator 
of  Isaiah  ix.  12  renders  Philistines  by  Hellenes.  Israel 
were  compassed  and  penetrated  by  influences  as  subtle 
as  the  atmosphere :  not  as  of  old  uprooted  from  their 
fatherland,  but  with  their  fatherland  itself  infected  and 
altered  beyond  all  powers  of  resistance.  The  full 
alarm  of  this,  however,  was  not  felt  for  many  years 
to  come.  It  was  at  first  the  policy  both  of  the 
Seleucids  and  the  Ptolemies  to  flatter  and  foster  the 
Jews.  They  encouraged  them  to  feel  that  their  religion 
had  its  own  place  beside  the  forces  of  Greece,  and  was 
worth  interpreting  to  the  world.  Seleucus  I.  gave  to 
Jews  the  rights  of  citizenship  in  Asia  Minor  and 
Northern  Syria ;  and  Ptolemy  I.  atoned  for  his  previous 
violence  by  granting  them  the  same  in  Alexandria. 
In  the  matter  of  the  consequent  tribute  Seleucus 
respected  their  religious  scruples ;  and  it  was  under 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus  (283 — 247),  if  not  at  his  in- 
stigation, that  the  Law  was  first  translated  into  Greek. 

To  prophecy,  before  it  finally  expired,  there  was 
granted  the  opportunity  to  assert  itself,  upon  at  least 
the  threshold  of  this  new  era  of  Israel's  history. 

We  have  from  the  first  half-century  of  the  era 
perhaps   three   or   four,   but   certamly   two,   prophetic 


446  THE   TIVELVE  PROPHETS 

pieces.  By  many  critics  Isaiah  xxiv. — xxvii.  are 
assigned  to  the  years  immediately  following  Alexander's 
campaigns.  Others  assign  Isaiah  xix.  16-25  to  the  last 
years  of  Ptolemy  I.^  And  of  our  Book  of  the  Twelve 
Prophets,  the  chapters  attached  to  the  genuine  pro- 
phecies of  Zechariah,  or  chaps,  ix. — xiv.  of  his  book, 
most  probably  fall  to  be  dated  from  the  contests  of 
Syria  and  Egypt  for  the  possession  of  Palestine ; 
while  somewhere  about  300  is  the  most  likely  date 
for  the  Book  of  Jonah. 

In  "  Zech."  ix. — xiv.  we  see  prophecy  perhaps  at 
its  lowest  ebb.  The  clash  with  the  new  foes  produces 
a  really  terrible  thirst  for  the  blood  of  the  heathen  : 
there  are  schisms  and  intrigues  within  Israel  which 
in  our  ignorance  of  her  history  during  this  time  it  is 
not  possible  for  us  to  follow :  the  brighter  gleams, 
which  contrast  so  forcibly  with  the  rest,  may  be  more 
ancient  oracles  that  the  writer  has  incorporated  with 
his  own  stern  and  dark  Apocalypse. 

In  the  Book  of  Jonah,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find 
a  spirit  and  a  style  in  which  prophecy  may  not 
unjustly  be  said  to  have  given  its  highest  utterance. 
And  this  alone  suffices,  in  our  uncertainty  as  to  the 
exact  date  of  the  book,  to  take  it  last  of  all  our 
Twelve.  For  "  in  this  book,"  as  Cornill  has  finely 
said,  "  the  prophecy  of  Israel  quits  the  scene  of  battle 
as  victor,  and  as  victor  in  its  severest  struggle — that 
against  self" 

'  Cheyne,  Introd.  to  Book  of  Isaiah,  p.  10$. 


^gECH ARIAS* 


447 


Lo,  thy  King  comelh  to  thee,  vindicated  and  victorious,  meek  and 
•  <ding  on  an  ass,  and  on  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass. 

Up,  Sword,  against  My  Shepherd  !  .  .  .  Smite  the  Shepherd,  thai  the 
sheep  may  be  scattered  ! 

And  I  will  pour  upon  the  house  oj  David  and  upon  all  the  inhabitants 
ofjerusakni  the  spirit  of  grace  and  of  supplication,  and  they  shall  look 
to  Flint  whotn  they  have  pierced ;  and  they  shall  lament  for  Him,  as  with 
lamentation  for  an  only  son,  and  bitterly  grieve  for  Him,  as  with  grief 
for  a  fir^t-born. 


448 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

CHAPTERS  IX.— XIV.  OF  "  ZECHARIAH 

WE  saw  that  the  first  eight  chapters  of  the  Book 
of  Zechariah  were,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  verses,  from  the  prophet  himself.  No  one  has 
ever  doubted  this.  No  one  could  doubt  it :  they  are 
obviously  from  the  years  of  the  building  of  the  Temple, 
520 — 516  B.C.  They  hang  together  with  a  consistency 
exhibited  by  few  other  groups  of  chapters  in  the  Old 
Testament. 

But  when  we  pass  into  chap.  ix.  we  find  ourselves 
in  circumstances  and  an  atmosphere  altogether  different. 
Israel  is  upon  a  new  situation  of  history,  and  the  words 
addressed  to  her  breathe  another  spirit.  There  is  not 
the  faintest  allusion  to  the  building  of  the  Temple — 
the  subject  from  which  all  the  first  eight  chapters 
depend.  There  is  not  a  single  certain  reflection  of 
the  Persian  period,  under  the  shadow  of  which  the 
first  eight  chapters  were  all  evidently  written.  We 
have  names  of  heathen  powers  mentioned,  which  not 
only  do  not  occur  in  the  first  eight  chapters,  but  of 
which  it  is  not  possible  to  think  that  they  had  any 
interest  whatever  for  Israel  between  520  and  516: 
Damascus,  Hadrach,  Hamath,  Assyria,  Egypt  and 
Greece.  The  peace,  and  the  love  of  peace,  in  which 
Zechariah  wrote,  has  disappeared.*     Nearly  everything 

'  Except  in  the  passage  ix.  10-12,  which  seems  strangely  out  of 
place  in  the  rest  of  ix. — xiv. 

VOL.  II.  449  29 


aso  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

breathes  of  war  actual  or  imminent.  The  heathen  art 
spoken  of  with  a  ferocity  which  finds  few  parallels 
in  the  Old  Testament.  There  is  a  revelling  in  their 
blood,  of  which  the  student  of  the  authentic  prophecies 
of  Zechariah  will  at  once  perceive  that  gentle  lover  of 
peace  could  not  have  been  capable.  And  one  passage 
figures  the  imminence  of  a  thorough  judgment  upon 
Jerusalem,  very  different  from  Zechariah's  outlook 
upon  his  people's  future  from  the  eve  of  the  completion 
of  the  Temple.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that 
one  of  the  earliest  efforts  of  Old  Testament  criticism 
should  have  been  to  prove  another  author  than  Zech- 
ariah for  chaps,  ix. — xiv.  of  the  book  called  by  his  name. 
The  very  first  attempt  of  this  kind  was  made  so 
far  back  as  1632  by  the  Cambridge  theologian  Joseph 
Mede,^  who  was  moved  thereto  by  the  desire  to 
vindicate  the  correctness  of  St.  Matthew's  ascription ' 
of  "Zech."  xi.  13  to  the  prophet  Jeremiah.  Mede's 
effort  was  developed  by  other  English  exegetes. 
Hammond  assigned  chaps,  x. — xii.,  Bishop  Kidder' 
and  William  Whiston,  the  translator  of  Josephus,  chaps, 
ix. — xiv.,  to  Jeremiah.  Archbishop  Newcome  *  divided 
them,  and  sought  to  prove  that  while  chaps,  ix. — xi. 
must  have  been  written  before  721,  or  a  century  earlier 
than  Jeremiah,  because  of  the  heathen  powers  they 
name,  and  the  divisions  between  Judah  and  Israel, 
chaps,  xii. — xiv.  reflect  the  imminence  of  the  Fall  of 
Jerusalem.     In  1784  Flugge  ^  offered  independent  proof 

'   Works,  4th  ed.  1677,  pp.  786  fl'.  (1632),  834.     Mede  died  1638. 
'^  Matt,  xxvii.  9. 

*  Dentonstration  of  the  Messias,  1700. 

*  An  Attempt  towards  an  Improved  Version  of  the  Twelve  Minor 
Prophets,  1785  (not  seen).     See  also  Wright  on  Archbishop  Seeker. 

*  Die  Weissagungen,  welche  bet  den  Schriften  des  Proph.  Sacharja 
beygebogen  sind,  iiberseiet,  etc.,  Hamburg  (not  seen). 


CHAPTERS  IX.^XIV.  OF  "ZECHARIAH"  45  > 

that  chaps,  ix. — xiv,  were  by  Jeremiah;  and  in  1814 
Bertholdt  ^  suggested  that  chaps,  ix. — xi.  might  be  by 
Zechariah  the  contemporary  of  Isaiah,*  and  on  that 
account  attached  to  the  prophecies  of  his  younger 
namesake.  These  opinions  gave  the  trend  to  the 
main  volume  of  criticism,  which,  till  fifteen  years  ago, 
deemed  "  Zech."  ix. — xiv.  to  be  pre-exilic.  So  Hitzig, 
who  at  first  took  the  whole  to  be  from  one  hand,  but 
afterwards  placed  xii. — xiv.  by  a  different  author  under 
Manasseh.  So  Ewald,  Bleek,  Kuenen  (at  first),  Samuel 
Davidson,  Schrader,  Duhm  (in  1875),  and  more  recently 
Konig  and  Orelli,  who  assign  chaps,  ix. — xi.  to  the 
reign  of  Ahaz,  but  xii. — xiv.  to  the  eve  of  the  Fall  of 
Jerusalem,  or  even  a  little  later. 

Some  critics,  however,  remained  unmoved  by  the 
evidence  offered  for  a  pre-exilic  date.  They  pointed 
out  in  particular  that  the  geographical  references  were 
equally  suitable  to  the  centuries  after  the  Exile. 
Damascus,  Hadrach  and  Hamath,'  though  politically 
obsolete  by  720,  entered  history  again  with  the  cam- 
paigns of  Alexander  the  Great  in  332 — 331,  and  the 
establishment  of  the  Seleucid  kingdom  in  Northern 
Syria.*  Egypt  and  Assyria®  were  names  used  after 
the  Exile  for  the  kingdom  of  the  Ptolemies,  and  for 
those  powers  which  still  threatened  Israel  from  the 
north,  or  Assyrian  quarter.  Judah  and  Joseph  or 
Ephraim*  were  names  still  used  after  the  Exile  to 
express  the  whole  of  God's  Israel ;  and  in  chaps. 
ix. — xiv.  they  are  presented,  not  divided  as  before  721, 
but  united.  None  of  the  chapters  give  a  hint  of  any 
king  in  Jerusalem  ;  and  all  of  them,  while  representing 

'  Einleitung  in  A.  u.  N.  T.  (not  seen).     ♦  See  above,  Chap.  XXXI. 

*  Isa,  viii.  2.     See  above,  p.  265.  •  x.  10. 

'  ix.  I.  •  ix.  10,  13,  etc. 


45a  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  great  Exile  of  Judah  as  already  begun,  show  a 
certain  dependence  in  style  and  even  in  language  upon 
Jeremiah,  Ezekiel  and  Isaiah  xl. — Ixvi.  Moreover  the 
language  is  post-exilic,  sprinkled  with  Aramaisms  and 
with  other  words  and  phrases  used  only,  or  mainly, 
by  Hebrew  writers  from  Jeremiah  onwards. 

But  though  many  critics  judged  these  grounds  to  be 
sufficient  to  prove  the  post-exilic  origin  of  "  Zech." 
ix, — xiv.,  they  differed  as  to  the  author  and  exact  date 
of  these  chapters.  Conservatives  like  Hengstenberg,  ^ 
Delitzsch,  Keil,  Kohler  and  Pusey  used  the  evidence 
to  prove  the  authorship  of  Zechariah  himself  after  516, 
and  interpreted  the  references  to  the  Greek  period  as 
pure  prediction.  Pusey  says^  that  chaps,  ix. — xi. 
extend  from  the  completion  of  the  Temple  and  its 
deliverance  during  the  invasion  of  Alexander,  and 
from  the  victories  of  the  Maccabees,  to  the  rejection  of 
the  true  shepherd  and  the  curse  upon  the  false ;  and 
chaps,  xi. — xii.  "  from  a  future  repentance  for  the  death 
of  Christ  to  the  final  conversion  of  the  Jews  and 
Gentiles."* 

But  on  the  same  grounds  Eichhom  saw  in  the 
chapters  not  a  prediction  but  a  reflection  of  the  Greek 
period.  He  assigned  chaps,  ix.  and  x.  to  an  author  in 
the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great ;  xl — xiii.  6  he  placed 
a  little  later,  and  brought  down  xiii.  7 — xiv.  to  the 
Maccabean  period.  Bottcher®  placed  the  whole  in 
the  wars  of  Ptolemy  and  Seleucus  after  Alexander's 
death ;  and  Vatke,  who  had  at  first  selected  a  date  in 
the  reign  of  Artaxerxes  Longhand,  464 — 425,  finally 
decided  for  the  Maccabean  period,  170  ff.' 

'  Dan.  u.  Sacharja.  •  Einl.  in  the  beginning  of  the  century. 

*  Page  503.  •  Neue  Exeg.  kriU  AehrenUst  m.  A.  T.,  1 864, 

•  Sec  Addenda,  p.  462.    •  Einl.,  1882,  p.  709. 


CHAPTERS  IX.~XIV.   OF  "ZECHARIAH"  453 

In  recent  times  the  most  thorough  examination  of 
the  chapters  has  been  that  by  Stade,*  and  the  con- 
clusion he  comes  to  is  that  chaps,  ix. — ^xiv.  are  all  from 
one  author,  who  must  have  written  during  the  early 
wars  between  the  Ptolemies  and  Seleucids  about  280 
B.C.,  but  employed,  especially  in  chaps,  ix.,  x.,  an 
earlier  prophecy.  A  criticism  and  modification  of 
Stade's  theory  is  given  by  Kuenen.  He  allows  that 
the  present  form  of  chaps,  ix. — xiv.  must  be  of  post- 
exilic  origin :  this  is  obvious  from  the  mention  of  the 
Greeks  as  a  world-power;  the  description  of  a  siege 
of  Jerusalem  by  all  the  heathen ;  the  way  in  which 
(chaps,  ix.  1 1  f.,  but  especially  x.  6-9)  the  captivity  is 
presupposed,  if  not  of  all  Israel,  yet  of  Ephraim  ;  the 
fact  that  the  House  of  David  are  not  represented 
as  governing ;  and  the  thoroughly  priestly  character 
of  all  the  chapters.  But  Kuenen  holds  that  an  ancient 
prophecy  of  the  eighth  century  underlies  chaps,  ix. — xi., 
xiii.  7-9,  in  which  several  actual  phrases  of  it  survive  ;  * 
and  that  in  their  present  form  xii. — xiv,  are  older 
than  ix. — xi.,  and  probably  by  a  contemporary  of  Joel, 
about  400  B.C. 

In  the  main  Cheyne,*  Cornill,*  Wildeboer*  and 
Staerk®  adhere  to  Stade's  conclusions.  Cheyne  proves 
the  unity  of  the  six  chapters  and  their  date  before  the 
Maccabean  period.     Staerk  brings  down  xi.  4-17  and 

'  Z.A.T.W.,  1881,  1882.  See  further  proof  of  the  late  character 
of  language  and  style,  and  of  the  unity,  by  Eckardt,  Z.A.T.W.,  1893, 
pp.  76  fif. 

^  §  81,  n.  3,  10.     See  p.  457,  end  of  note  2. 

'  Jewish  Quart.  Review,  1889. 

«  Einl* 

*  A.T.  Litt. 

'  Untersuchung  fiber  die  Komposihon  u.  Abfassungsseit  von  Zach, 
9-14,  etc.     Halle,  1891  (not  seen). 


454  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

xiii.  7-9  to  171  B.C.  Wellhausen  argues  for  the  unity, 
and  assigns  it  to  the  Maccabean  times.  Driver  judges 
ix. — xi.,  with  its  natural  continuation  xiii.  7-9,  as  not 
earlier  than  333  ;  and  the  rest  of  xii. — xiv.  as  certainly 
post-exilic,  and  probably  from  432 — 300.  Rubinkam^ 
places  ix.  i-io  in  Alexander's  time,  the  rest  in  that  of 
the  Maccabees,  but  Zeydner^  all  of  it  to  the  latter. 
Kirkpatrick,'  after  showing  the  post-exilic  character  of 
all  the  chapters,  favours  assigning  ix. — xi.  to  a  different 
author  from  xii. — xiv.  Asserting  that  to  the  question  of 
the  exact  date  it  is  impossible  to  give  a  definite  answer, 
he  thinks  that  the  whole  may  be  with  considerable 
probability  assigned  to  the  first  sixty  or  seventy  years 
of  the  Exile,  and  is  therefore  in  its  proper  place 
between  Zechariah  and  "  Malachi."  The  reference  to 
the  sons  of  Javan  he  takes  to  be  a  gloss,  probably 
added  in  Maccabean  times.* 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  catalogue  of  conclusions 
that  the  prevailing  trend  of  recent  criticism  has  been  to 
assign  "  Zech. "  ix. — xiv.  to  post-exilic  times,  and  to  a 
different  author  from  chaps,  i. — viii. ;  and  that  while 
a  few  critics  maintain  a  date  soon  after  the  Return,  the 
bulk  are  divided  between  the  years  following  Alexander's 
campaigns  and  the  time  of  the  Maccabean  struggles.* 

There  are,  in  fact,  in  recent  years  only  two  attempts 
to  support  the  conservative  position  of  Pusey  and 
Hengstenberg  that  the  whole  book  is  a  genuine  work 
of  Zechariah  the  son  of  Iddo.  One  of  these  is  by 
C.    H.    H.   Wright  in   his   Bampton   Lectures.     The 

'  189a  :  quoted  by  Wildeboer.        *  1893  :  quoted  by  Wildeboer. 

*  Doctrine  of  the  Prophets,  438  ff.,  in  which  the  English  reader  will 
find  a  singularly  lucid  and  fair  treatment  of  the  question.  See,  too, 
Wright. 

'  Page  472,  Note  A.  '  Kautzsch-  the  Greek  period. 


CHAPTERS  IX.    XIV.   OF  "ZECHARIAH"  4SS 

Other  is  by  George  L.  Robinson,  now  Professor 
at  Toronto,  in  a  reprint  (1896)  from  the  American 
Journal  of  Semitic  Languages  and  Literatures,  which 
offers  a  valuable  history  of  the  discussion  of  the  whole 
question  from  the  days  of  Mede,  with  a  careful  argument 
of  all  the  evidence  on  both  sides.  The  very  original 
conclusion  is  reached  that  the  chapters  reflect  the 
history  of  the  years  518 — 516  B.C. 

In  discussing  the  question,  for  which  our  treatment 
of  other  prophets  has  left  us  too  little  space,  we  need 
not  open  that  part  of  it  which  lies  between  a  pre- 
exilic  and  a  post-exilic  date.  Recent  criticism  of  all 
schools  and  at  both  extremes  has  tended  to  establish 
the  latter  upon  reasons  which  we  have  already 
stated,*  and  for  further  details  of  which  the  student 
may  be  referred  to  Stade's  and  Eckardt's  investiga- 
tions in  the  Zeitsckrift filr  A.  T.  Wissenschaft  and  to 
Kirkpatrick's  impartial  summary.  There  remain  the 
questions  of  the  unity  of  chaps,  ix. — xiv.  ;  their  exact 
date  or  dates  after  the  Exile,  and  as  a  consequence 
of  this  their  relation  to  the  authentic  prophecies  of 
Zechariah  in  chaps,  i. — viii. 

On  the  question  of  unity  we  take  first  chaps,  ix. — xi., 
to  which  must  be  added  (as  by  most  critics  since 
Ewald)  xiii.  7-9,  which  has  got  out  of  its  place  as  the 
natural  continuation  and  conclusion  of  chap.  xi. 

Chap.  ix.  1-8  predicts  the  overthrow  of  heathen 
neighbours  of  Israel,  their  possession  by  Jehovah 
and  His  safeguard  of  Jerusalem.  Vv.  9-12  follow 
with  a  prediction  of  the  Messianic  King  as  the  Prince 
of  Peace  ;  but  then  come  vv.  13-17,  with  no  mention  of 
the  King,  but  Jehovah  appears  alone  as  the  hero  of 

'  Above,  pp.  451  f. 


456  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

His  people  against  the  Greeks,  and  there  is  indeed 
sufficiency  of  war  and  blood.  Chap.  x.  makes  a  new 
start:  the  people  are  warned  to  seek  their  blessings 
from  Jehovah,  and  not  from  Teraphim  and  diviners, 
whom  their  false  shepherds  follow.  Jehovah,  visiting 
His  flock,  shall  punish  these,  give  proper  rulers,  make 
the  people  strong  and  gather  in  their  exiles  to  fill 
Gilead  and  Lebanon.  Chap.  xi.  opens  with  a  burst 
of  war  on  Lebanon  and  Bashan  and  the  overthrow 
of  the  heathen  (vv.  1-3),  and  follows  with  an  allegory, 
in  which  the  prophet  first  takes  charge  from  Jehovah 
of  the  people  as  their  shepherd,  but  is  contemptuously 
treated  by  them  (4-14),  and  then  taking  the  guise 
of  an  evil  shepherd  represents  what  they  must  suffer 
from  their  next  ruler  (15-17).  This  tyrant,  however, 
shall  receive  punishment,  two-thirds  of  the  nation  shall 
be  scattered,  but  the  rest,  further  purified,  shall  be 
God's  own  people  (xiii.  7-9). 

In  the  course  of  this  prophesying  there  is  no  conclu- 
sive proof  of  a  double  authorship.  The  only  passage 
which  offers  strong  evidence  for  this  is  chap.  ix. 
The  verses  predicting  the  peaceful  coming  of  Messiah 
(9-12)  do  not  accord  in  spirit  with  those  which  follow 
predicting  the  appearance  of  Jehovah  with  war  and 
great  shedding  of  blood.  Nor  is  the  difference 
altogether  explained,  as  Stade  thinks,  by  the  similar 
order  of  events  in  chap,  x.,  where  Judah  and  Joseph 
are  first  represented  as  saved  and  brought  back  in 
ver.  6,  and  then  we  have  the  process  of  their  redemp- 
tion and  return  described  in  vv.  7  ff.  Why  did  the 
same  writer  give  statements  of  such  very  different 
temper  as  chap.  ix.  9-12  and  13-17?  Or,  if  these 
be  from  different  hands,  why  were  they  ever  put 
together  ?     Otherwise  there  is  no  reason  for  breaking 


CHAPTERS  IX.— XIV.   OF  ''ZECHARIAH"  457 

up  chaps,  ix. — xi.,  xiii.  7-9.  Rubinkam,  who  separates 
ix.  i-io  by  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  from  the  rest ; 
Bleek,  who  divides  ix.  from  x. ;  and  Staerk,  who 
separates  ix. — xi.  3  from  the  rest,  have  been  answered 
by  Robinson  and  others.^  On  the  ground  of  language, 
grammar  and  syntax,  Eckardt  has  fully  proved  that 
ix. — xi.  are  from  the  same  author  of  a  late  date,  who, 
however,  may  have  occasionally  followed  earlier  models 
and  even  introduced  their  very  phrases.^ 

More  supporters  have  been  found  for  a  division  of 
authorship  between  chaps,  ix. — xi.,  xiii.  7-9,  and  chaps, 
xii. — xiv.  (less  xiii.  7-9).  Chap.  xii.  opens  with  a  title 
of  its  own.  A  strange  element  is  introduced  into  the 
historical  relation.  Jerusalem  is  assaulted  not  by  the 
heathen  only,  but  by  Judah,  who,  however,  turns  on 
finding  that  Jehovah  fights  for  Jerusalem,  and  is  saved 
by  Jehovah  before  Jerusalem  in  order  that  the  latter 
may  not  boast  over  it  (xii.  1-9).  A  spirit  of  grace  and 
supplication  is  poured  upon  the  guilty  city,  a  fountain 
opened  for  uncleanness,  idols  abolished,  and  the 
prophets,  who  are  put  on  a  level  with  them,  abolished 
too,  where  they  do  not  disown  their  profession  (xii.  10 
— xiii.  6).  Another  assault  of  the  heathen  on  Jerusalem 
is  described,  half  of  the  people  being  taken  captive. 
Jehovah  appears,  and  by  a  great  earthquake  saves  the 
rest.  The  land  is  transformed.  And  then  the  prophet 
goes  back  to  the  defeat  of  the  heathen  assault  on  the 
city,  in  which  Judah  is  again  described  as  taking  part ; 
and  the  surviving  heathen  are  converted,  or,  if  they 
refuse  to   be,    punished   by   the    withholding  of  rain, 

'  Robinson,  pp.  76  ff. 

'  Z.A.T.W.,  1893,  76 ff.  See  also  the  summaries  of  linguistic 
evidence  given  by  Robinson.  Kuenen  finds  in  ix. — xi.  the  following 
pre-exilic  elements  :  ix.  1-5,  8-10,  \^n  (?)  ;  x.  I  f.,  10  f. ;  xi.  4-14  or  17. 


458  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Jerusalem  is  holy  to  the  Lord  (xiv.).  In  all  this  there  is 
more  that  differs  from  chaps,  ix. — xi.,  xiii.  7-9,  than  the 
strange  opposition  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem.  Ephraim, 
or  Joseph,  is  not  mentioned,  nor  any  return  of  exiles, 
nor  punishment  of  the  shepherds,  nor  coming  of  the 
Messiah,^  the  latter's  place  being  taken  by  Jehovah. 
But  in  answer  to  this  we  may  remember  that  the 
Messiah,  after  being  descrih'='d  in  ix.  9-12,  is  immedi- 
ately lost  behind  the  warlike  coming  of  Jehovah.  Both 
sections  speak  of  idolatry,  and  of  the  heathen,  their 
punishment  and  conversion,  and  do  so  in  the  same 
apocalyptic  style.  Nor  does  the  language  of  the  two 
differ  in  any  decisive  fashion.  On  the  contrary,  as 
Eckardt*  and  Kuiper  have  shown,  the  language  is 
on  the  whole  an  argument  for  unity  of  authorship.' 
There  is,  then,  nothing  conclusive  against  the  position, 
which  Stade  so  clearly  laid  down  and  strongly  fortified, 
that  chaps,  ix. — xiv.  are  from  the  same  hand,  although, 
as  he  admits,  this  cannot  be  proved  with  absolute 
certainty.  So  also  Cheyne  :  "  With  perhaps  one  or  two 
exceptions,  chaps,  ix. — xi.  and  xii. — xiv.  are  so  closely 
welded  together  that  even  analysis  is  impossible."  * 

The  next  questions  we  have  to  decide  are  whether 
chaps,  ix. — xiv.  offer  any  evidence  of  being  by  Zechariah, 
the  author  of  chaps,  i. — viii.,  and  if  not  to  what  other 
post-exilic  date  they  may  be  assigned. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  in  language  and  in  style 
the  two  parts  of  the  Book  of  Zechariah  have  features 
in  common.  But  that  these  have  been  exaggerated  by 
defenders  of  the  unity  there  can  be  no  doubt.     We 

*  Kuenen. 

•  S«e  above,  p.  453,  n.  I. 

•  See  also  Robinson. 

*  Jewish  Qttarterly  Review,  1889,  p.  8l. 


CHAPTERS  IX.-^XIV.   OF  ''ZECHARIAH"  459 

cannot  infer  anything  from  the  fact  ^  that  both  parts 
contain  specimens  of  clumsy  diction,  of  the  repetition 
of  the  same  word,  of  phrases  (not  the  same  phrases) 
unused  by  other  writers ;  *  or  that  each  is  lavish  in 
vocatives ;  or  that  each  is  variable  in  his  spelling. 
Resemblances  of  that  kind  they  share  with  other  books  : 
some  of  them  are  due  to  the  fact  that  both  sections  are 
post-exilic.  On  the  other  hand,  as  Eckardt  has  clearly 
shown,  there  exists  a  still  greater  number  of  differ- 
ences between  the  two  sections,  both  in  language  and 
in  style.'  Not  only  do  characteristic  words  occur  in 
each  which  are  not  found  in  the  other,  not  only  do 
chaps,  ix. — xiv.  contain  many  more  Aramaisms  than 
chaps,  i. — viii.,  and  therefore  symptoms  of  a  later  date ; 
but  both  parts  use  the  same  words  with  more  or  less 
different  meanings,  and  apply  different  terms  to  the 
same  objects.  There  are  also  differences  of  grammar, 
of  favourite  formulas,  and  of  other  features  of  the 
phraseology,  which,  if  there  be  any  need,  complete 
the  proof  of  a  distinction  of  dialect  so  great  as  to 
require  to  account  for  it  distinction  of  authorship. 

The  same  impression  is  sustained  by  the  contrast  of 
the  historical  circumstances  reflected  in  each  of  the  two 
sections.  Zech.  i. — viii.  were  written  during  the  build- 
ing of  the  Temple.  There  is  no  echo  of  the  latter  in 
"Zech."  ix. — xiv.  Zech.  i. — viii.  picture  the  whole  earth 
as  at  peace,  which  was  true  at  least  of  all  Syria  :  they 
portend  no  danger  to  Jerusalem  from  the  heathen,  but 
describe  her  peace  and  fruitful  expansion  in  terms 
most  suitable  to  the  circumstances  imposed  nnon  her 


'  As  Robinson,  e.g.,  does. 

•  E.g.  holy  land,  ii.  16,  and  Mount  of  Olives,  xiv.  4. 

'  Op.  cit.,  103-109  :  cf.  Driver,  Introd.\  354. 


46o  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

by  the  solid  and  clement  policy  of  the  earlier  Persian 
kings.  This  is  all  changed  in  "Zech."  ix. — xiv.  The 
nations  are  restless ;  a  siege  of  Jerusalem  is  imminent, 
and  her  salvation  is  to  be  assured  only  by  much  war 
and  a  terrible  shedding  of  blood.  We  know  exactly 
how  Israel  fared  and  felt  in  the  early  sections  of  the 
Persian  period  :  her  interests  in  the  politics  of  the 
world,  her  feelings  towards  her  governors  and  her 
whole  attitude  to  the  heathen  were  not  at  that  time 
those  which  are  reflected  in   "Zech."  ix. — xiv. 

Nor  is  there  any  such  resemblance  between  the 
religious  principles  of  the  two  sections  of  the  Book  of 
Zechariah  as  could  prove  identity  of  origin.  That 
both  are  spiritual,  or  that  they  have  a  similar  ex- 
pectation of  the  ultimate  position  of  Israel  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  proves  only  that  both  were  late 
offshoots  from  the  same  religious  development,  and 
worked  upon  the  same  ancient  models.  Within  these 
outlines,  there  are  not  a  few  divergences,  Zech.  i. — viii. 
were  written  before  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  had  imposed 
the  Levitical  legislation  upon  Israel ;  but  Eckardt  has 
shown  the  dependence  on  the  latter  of  "  Zech."  ix. — xiv. 

We  may,  therefore,  adhere  to  Canon  Driver's  asser- 
tion, that  Zechariah  in  chaps,  i. — viii.  "  uses  a  different 
phraseology,  evinces  different  interests  and  moves  in 
a  different  circle  of  ideas  from  those  which  prevail  in 
chaps,  ix. — xiv."^  Criticism  has  indeed  been  justified 
in  separating,  by  the  vast  and  growing  majority  of  its 
opinions,  the  two  sections  from  each  other.  This  was 
one  of  the  earliest  results  which  modern  criticism 
achieved,  and  the  latest  researches  have  but  established 
it  on  a  firmer  basis. 

'  Tntrod.^,  p.  354. 


CHAPTERS  IX.— XIV.   OF  "  ZECUARIAH"  461 

If,  then,  chaps,  ix. — xiv.  be  not  Zechariah's,  to  what 
date  may  we  assign  them  ?  We  have  already  seen  that 
they  bear  evidence  of  being  upon  the  whole  later  than 
Zechariah,  though  they  appear  to  contain  fragments 
from  an  earlier  period.  Perhaps  this  is  all  we  can 
with  certainty  affirm.  Yet  something  more  definite  is 
at  least  probable.  The  mention  of  the  Greeks,  not 
as  Joel  mentions  them  about  400,  the  most  distant 
nation  to  which  Jewish  slaves  could  be  carried,  but  as 
the  chief  of  the  heathen  powers,  and  a  foe  with  whom 
the  Jews  are  in  touch  and  must  soon  cross  swords,' 
appears  to  imply  that  the  Syrian  campaign  of  Alexander 
is  happening  or  has  happened,  or  even  that  the  Greek 
kingdoms  of  Syria  and  Egypt  are  already  contending 
for  the  possession  of  Palestine.  With  this  agrees  the 
mention  of  Damascus,  Hadrach  and  Hamath,  the 
localities  where  the  Seleucids  had  their  chief  seats.^  In 
that  case  Asshur  would  signify  the  Seleucids  and  Egypt 
the  Ptolemies  : '  it  is  these,  and  not  Greece  itself,  from 
whom  the  Jewish  exiles  have  still  to  be  redeemed.  All 
this  makes  probable  the  date  which  Stade  has  proposed 
for  the  chapters,  between  300  and  280  B.C.  To  bring 
them  further  down,  to  the  time  of  the  Maccabees,  as 
some  have  tried  to  do,  would  not  be  impossible  so  ur 
as  the  historical  allusions  are  concerned ;  but  had  they 
been  of  so  late  a  date  as  that,  viz.  170  or  160,  we  may 
assert  that  they  could  not  have  found  a  place  in  the 
prophetic  canon,  which  was  closed  by  200,  but  must 
have  fallen  along  with  Daniel  into  the  Hagiographa. 

The  appearance  of  these  prophecies  at  the  close  of 
the  Book  of  Zechariah  has  been  explained,  not  quite 
satisfactorily,  as  follows.     With  the  Book  of  "  Malachi " 

'  ix.  13.  *  ix.  if,  *  X.  II.     See  above,  p.  451- 


462  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

they  formed  originally  three  anonymous  pieces/  which 
because  of  their  anonymity  were  set  at  the  end  of  the 
Book  of  the  Twelve.  The  first  of  them  begins  with 
the  very  peculiar  construction  "Massa'  Debar  Jehovah," 
oracle  of  the  word  of  Jehovah,  which,  though  partly  be- 
longing to  the  text,  the  editor  read  as  a  title,  and  attached 
as  a  title  to  each  of  the  others.  It  occurs  nowhere  else. 
The  Book  of  "  Malachi "  was  too  distinct  in  character 
to  be  attached  to  another  book,  and  soon  came  to 
have  the  supposed  name  of  its  author  added  to  its 
title.^  But  the  other  two  pieces  fell,  like  all  anonymous 
works,  to  the  nearest  writing  with  an  author's  name. 
Perhaps  the  attachment  was  hastened  by  the  desire  to 
make  the  round  number  of  Twelve  Prophets. 

■  See  above,  pp.  331  ff.,  for  proof  of  the  original  anonymity  of  the 
Book  of  "  Malachi." 
*  Above,  p.  331. 

Addenda. 

Whiston's  work  (p.  450)  \s  An  Essay  towards  restoring  the  True  Text 
of  the  O.  T.  and  for  vindicating  the  Citations  made  thence  in  the  N.  T., 
1722,  pp.  93  ff.  (not  seen).  Besides  those  mentioned  on  p.  452  (see  n.  3) 
as  supporting  the  unity  of  Zechariah  there  ought  to  be  named 
De  Wette,  Umbreit,  von  Hoffmann,  Ebrard,  etc.  Kuiper's  work 
(p.  458)  is  Zacharia  9-14,  Utrecht,  1894  (not  seen).  Nowack's  con- 
clusions are  :  ix. — xi.  3  date  from  the  Greek  period  (we  cannot  date 
them  more  exactly,  unless  ix.  8  refers  to  Ptolemy's  capture  of  Jerusalem 
in  320) ;  xi.,  xiii.  7-9,  are  post-exilic ;  xii. — xiii.  6  long  after  Exile ; 
xiv.  long  after  Exile,  later  than  "  Malachi." 


CHAPTER    XXXIII 

THE   CONTENTS   OF  "ZECHARIAH''IX.—XIV 

FROM  the  number  of  conflicting  opinions  which 
prevail  upon  the  subject,  we  have  seen  how 
impossible  it  is  to  decide  upon  a  scheme  of  division 
for  "  Zech."  ix. — xiv.  These  chapters  consist  of  a 
number  of  separate  oracles,  which  their  language  and 
general  conceptions  lead  us  on  the  whole  to  believe 
were  put  together  by  one  hand,  and  which,  with  the 
possible  exception  of  some  older  fragments,  reflect  the 
troubled  times  in  Palestine  that  followed  on  the  invasion 
of  Alexander  the  Great.  But  though  the  most  of  them 
are  probably  due  to  one  date  and  possibly  come  from 
the  same  author,  these  oracles  do  not  always  exhibit 
a  connection,  and  indeed  sometimes  show  no  relevance 
to  each  other.  It  will  therefore  be  simplest  to  take 
them  piece  by  piece,  and,  before  giving  the  translation 
of  each,  to  explain  the  difficulties  in  it  and  indicate  the 
ruling  ideas. 

I.  The  Coming  of  the  Greeks  (ix.  1-8). 

This  passage  runs  exactly  in  the  style  of  the  early 
prophets.  It  figures  the  progress  of  war  from  the 
north  of  Syria  southwards  by  the  valley  of  the  Orontes 
to  Damascus,  and  then  along  the  coasts  of  Phoenicia 
and  the  Philistines.  All  these  shall  be  devastated, 
but   Jehovah  will   camp   about    His  own    House   and 

463 

^ 


464  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

it  shall  be  inviolate.  This  is  exactly  how  Amos  or 
Isaiah  might  have  pictured  an  Assyrian  campaign,  or 
Zephaniah  a  Scythian.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore, 
that  even  some  of  those  who  take  the  bulk  of 
"Zech,"  ix. — xiv.  as  post-exilic  should  regard  ix.  1-5 
as  earlier  even  than  Amos,  with  post-exilic  additions 
only  in  vv.  6-8.^  This  is  possible.  Vv.  6-8  are 
certainly  post-exilic,  because  of  their  mention  of  the 
half-breeds,  and  their  intimation  that  Jehovah  will 
take  unclean  food  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  heathen  ; 
but  the  allusions  in  vv.  1-5  suit  an  early  date.  They 
equally  suit,  however,  a  date  in  the  Greek  period.  The 
progress  of  war  from  the  Orontes  valley  by  Damascus 
and  thence  down  the  coast  of  Palestine  follows  the  line 
of  Alexander's  campaign  in  332,  which  must  also  have 
been  the  line  of  Demetrius  in  3 1 5  and  of  Antigonus  in 
311.  The  evidence  of  language  is  mostly  in  favour 
of  a  late  date.^  If  Ptolemy  I,  took  Jerusalem  in  320,^ 
then  the  promise,  no  assailant  shall  return  (ver.  8),  is 
probably  later  than  that. 

In  face  then  of  Alexander's  invasion  of  Palestine, 
or  of  another  campaign  on  the  same  line,  this  oracle 
repeats  the  ancient  confidence  of  Isaiah.  God  rules  : 
His  providence  is  awake  alike  for  the  heathen  and 
for  Israel.  Jehovah  hath  an  eye  for  mankind^  and  all 
the  tribes  of  Israel.^  The  heathen  shall  be  destroyed, 
but  Jerusalem  rest  secure ;  and  the  remnant  of  the 
heathen  be  converted,  according  to  the  Levitical  noticn, 
by  having  unclean  foods  taken  out  of  their  mouths. 

'  So  Staerk,  who  thinks  Amos  I,  made  use  of  vv.  1-5. 

*  ix.  I,  DIN,  mankind,  in  contrast  to  the  tribes  of  Israel;  3,  ^YWi, 
gold;  5,  yy^  as  passive,  cf.  xii.  6;  JJ"'2in,  Hi.  of  CJ'-IB,  in  passive 
sense  only  after  Jeremiah  (cf.  above,  p.  412,  on  Joel);  in  2  Sam. 
xix.  6   Hosea  ii.  7,  it  is  active.  *  See  p.  442.  *  ix.  I. 


THE   CONTENTS  OF  ''ZECHARIAH"  IX— XIV.     465 

Oracle. 

The  Word  of  Jehovah  is  on  the  land  of  Hadrach^  and 
Damasctis  is  its  goal^ — for  Jehovah  hath  an  eye  upon  the 
heathen^  and  all  the  tribes  of  Israel — and  on  '  Hamath, 
which  borders  upon  it,  Tyre  and  Sidon,  for  they  were 
very  wise}  And  Tyre  built  her  a  fortress,  and  heaped 
up  silver  like  dust,  and  gold  like  the  dirt  of  the  streets. 
Lo,  the  Lord  will  dispossess  her,  and  strike  her  rampart  ^ 
into  the  sea,  and  she  shall  be  consumed  in  fire.  Ashklon 
shall  see  and  shall  fear,  and  Gaza  writhe  in  anguish, 
and  Ekron,  for  her  confidence '  is  abashed,  and  the  king 
shall  perish  from  Gaza  and  Ashklon  lie  uninhabited. 
Half-breeds '  shall  dwell  in  Ashdod,  and  I  will  cut  down 
the  pride  of  the  Philistines.  And  I  will  take  their  blood 
from  their  mouth  and  their  abominations  from  between 
their  teeth^  and  even  they  shall  be  left  for  our  God,  and 
shall  become  like  a  clan  in  Judah,  and  Ekron  shall  be 
as  the  Jebusite.  And  I  shall  encamp  for  a  guard^  to 
My   House,   so   that   none  pass   by   or  return,  and  no 

'  Heb.  resting-place :  cf.  Zech.  vi.  8,  bring  Mine  anger  to  rest.  This 
meets  the  objection  of  Bredenkamp  and  others,  that  nmJD  is  other- 
wise used  of  Jehovah  alone,  in  consequence  of  which  they  refer  the 
suffix  to  Him. 

-  The  expression  hath  an  eye  is  so  unusual  that  Klostermann,  Theo. 
Litt.  Zeit.,  1879,  566  (quoted  by  Nowack),  proposes  to  read  for  \'']i 
'•'ly,  Jehovah's  are  the  cities  of  the  heathen.  For  DHX,  mankind,  as 
=  heathen  cf.  Jer.  xxxii.  20.  *  Cf.  Nahum  iii.  8;  Isa.  zxvi.  1. 

*  So  LXX. :  Heb.  also.  *  Read  nntpnO. 

*  So  LXX. :  Heb.  has  verb  in  sing.     '  Deut.  xxiii.  3  (Heb.,  2  Eng.). 

*  The  prepositions  refer  to  the  half-breeds.  Ezekiel  uses  the  term 
to  eat  upon  the  blood,  i.e.  meat  eaten  without  being  ritually  slain  and 
consecrated,  for  illegal  sacrifices  (xxxiii.  35  :  cf.  I  Sam.  xiv.  32  f. ; 
Lev.  xix.  26,  xvii.  11-14). 

*  n^-li'O  for  N3^*"iD  •  but  to  be  amended  to  n^VO    i  Sam.  xiv.  12, 

T--  TtI.)  TT->  ' 

a   military  post.     Ewald  reads  HD'^'P     rampart.     LXX.  dydffTrjfM  « 
VOL.  II.  30 


466  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

assailant  again  pass  upon  ihem,  for  now  do  I  regard  it 

with  Mine  eyes, 

2.  The  Prince  of  Peace  (ix.  9-12). 

This  beautiful  picture,  applied  by  the  Evangelist  with 
such  fitness  to  our  Lord  upon  His  entry  to  Jerusalem, 
must  also  be  of  post-exilic  date.  It  contrasts  with  the 
warlike  portraits  of  the  Messiah  drawn  in  pre-exilic 
times,  for  it  clothes  Him  with  humility  and  with  peace. 
The  coming  King  of  Israel  has  the  attributes  already 
imputed  to  the  Servant  of  Jehovah  by  the  prophet  of 
the  Babylonian  captivity.  The  next  verses  also  imply 
the  Exile  as  already  a  fact.  On  the  whole,  too,  the 
language  is  of  a  late  rather  than  of  an  early  date.' 
Nothing  in  the  passage  betrays  the  exact  point  of 
its  origin  after  the  Exile. 

The  epithets  applied  to  the  Messiah  are  of  very  great 
interest.  He  does  not  bring  victory  or  salvation,  but 
is  the  passive  recipient  of  it.^  This  determines  the 
meaning  of  the  preceding  adjective,  righteous,  which 
has  not  the  moral  sense  of  justice,  but  rather  that  of 
vindication,  in  which  righteousness  and  n^liteous  are  so 
frequently  used  in  Isa.  xl. — Iv.^  He  is  lowly,  like  the 
Servant  of  Jehovah ;  and  comes  riding  not  the  horse, 
an  animal  for  war,  because  the  next  verse  says  that 
horses   and  chariots  are  to   be  removed  from  Israel,^ 

'  ix.  10,  7^12,  cf.  Dan.  xi.  4;  |*"IK  ^DDN  only  in  late  writings 
(unless  Deut.  xxxiii.  17  be  early)— see  Eckardt,  p.  80;  12,  J11V3  is 
ciTraf  \ey6fievov;  the  last  clause  of  12  is  based  on  Isa.  Ixi.  7.  If  our 
mtcrpreUtion  of  pHV  and  V'^)}  be  right,  they  are  also  sjmiptoms  of 
a  late  date. 

*  ytJ'W  (ver.  9) :  the  passive  participle. 

'  Cf.  Isaiah  xl.—  lxvi.  (Expositor's  Bible),  p.  219. 

*  VJhy  chariot  from  Ephraim  and  horse  from  J erttsalem  is  explained 
in  Hist.  Geog.,  pp.  329-331. 


THE  CONTENTS  OF  "  ZECHARIAH"  IX.— XIV.     467 

but  the  ass,  the  animal  not  of  lowliness,  as  some 
have  interpreted,  but  of  peace.  To  this  day  in  the 
East  asses  are  used,  as  they  are  represented  in  the 
Song  of  Deborah,  by  great  ofificials,  but  only  when 
these  are  upon  civil,  and  not  upon  military,  duty. 

It  is  possible  that  this  oracle  closes  with  ver.  10, 
and  that  we  should  take  vv.  11  and  12,  on  the 
deliverance  from  exile,  with  the  next. 

Rejoice  mightily,  daughter  of  Zion  I  shout  aloud, 
daughter  of  ferusalem  I  Lo,  thy  King  cometh  to  thee, 
vindicated  and  victorious,^  meek  and  riding  on  an  ass* 
and  on  a  colt  the  she-ass'  foal. ^  And  I*  will  cut  off  the 
chariot  from  Ephraim  and  the  horse  from  ferusalem,  and 
the  war-bow  shall  be  cut  off,  and  He  shall  speak  peace  to 
the  nations,  and  His  rule  shall  be  from  sea  to  sea  and 
from  the  river  even  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Thou, 
too, — by  thy  covenant-blood,^  I  have  set  free  thy  prisoners 
from  the  pit.^  Return  to  the  fortress,  ye  prisoners  oj 
hope;  even  to-day  do  I  proclaim :  Double  will  I  return 
to  thee.'' 

3.  The  Slaughter  of  the  Greeks  (ix.  13-17). 

The  next  oracle  seems  singularly  out  of  keeping 
with  the  spirit  of  the  last,  which  declared  the  arrival 
of  the  Messianic  peace,  while  this  represents  Jehovah 
as  using  Israel  for  His  weapons    in  the   slaughter  of 

'  See  above.  •  Son  of  she-asses. 

*  Symbol  of  peace  as  the  horse  was  of  war,       *  Mass. :  LXX.  Ht. 

'  Heb.  blood  of  thy  covenant,  but  the  suffix  refers  to  the  whole 
phrase  (Duhm,  Theol.  der  Proph.,  p.  143).  The  covenant  is  Jehovah's ; 
the  blood,  that  which  the  people  shed  in  sacrifice  to  ratify  the 
covenant. 

•  Heb.  adds  there  is  no  water  in  it,  but  this  is  either  a  gloss,  or 
perhaps  an  attempt  to  make  sense  out  of  a  dittography  of  "I13D, 
or  a  corniptioB  of  none  shall  be  ashamed.  '  Isa.  Ixi.  7. 


468  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  Greeks  and  heathens,  in  whose  blood  they  shall 
revel.  But  Stade  has  pointed  out  how  often  in  chaps, 
ix. — xiv.  a  result  is  first  stated  and  then  the  oracle 
goes  on  to  describe  the  process  by  which  it  is  achieved. 
Accordingly  we  have  no  ground  for  affirming  ix.  13-17 
to  be  by  another  hand  than  ix.  9-12.  The  apocalyptic 
character  of  the  means  by  which  the  heathen  are  to 
be  overthrown,  and  the  exultation  displayed  in  their 
slaughter,  as  in  a  great  sacrifice  (ver.  15),  betray 
Israel  in  a  state  of  absolute  political  weakness,  and 
therefore  suit  a  date  after  Alexander's  campaigns, 
which  is  also  made  sure  by  the  reference  to  the  sons 
of  JavaUf  as  if  Israel  were  now  in  immediate  contact 
with  them.  Kirkpatrick's  note  should  be  read,  in 
which  he  seeks  to  prove  the  sons  of  Javan  a  late 
gloss ;  *  but  his  reasons  do  not  appear  conclusive. 
The  language  bears  several  traces  of  lateness.^ 

For  I  have  drawn  Jndah  for  My  bow,  I  have  charged 
it  with  Ephraim;  and  I  will  urge  thy  sons,  O  Zion, 
against  the  sons  of  Javan,  and  make  thee  like  the  sword 
of  a  hero.  Then  will  Jehovah  appear  above  them,  and 
His  shaft  shall  go  forth  like  lightning;  and  the  Lord 
Jehovah  shall  blow  a  blast  on  the  trumpet,  and  travel  in 
the  storms  of  the  south}  Jehovah  will  protect  them,  and 
they  shall  devour  (?)*  and  trample  .   .  .  /"  and  they 


■  Doctrine  of  the  Prophets,  Note  A,  p.  472. 

*  14,  on  ICn  see  Eckardt;  15,  nT^T,  Aramaism  ;  5^33  is  late;  17, 
DD13nn,  only   here  and  Psalm  Ix.  6 ;  213,  probably  late. 

'  So  LXX.  :  Heb.  reads,  thy  sons,  O  Javan. 

*  LXX.  iv  <rd\({j  rrji  dweiXiji  airrov,  in  the  tossing  of  His  threat, 
nyj  "li?'^2  (?)  or  nyn  ly^a.  it  is  natural  to  see  here  a  reference 
to  the  Theophanies  of  Hab.  iii.  3,  Deut.  xxxiii.  (see  above,  pp.  l5of.). 

*  Perhaps  •1?3''1    overcome  them.     LXX.  KaTavaKiivovffw. 

*  Heb.  stones  of  a  sling,  y^p  ^33N.  Wellhausen  and  Nowack  read 
sons,  ^33,  but  what  then  is  y?p  ? 


THE  CONTENTS  OF  "ZECHARIAH"  IX.— XIV.     469 

shall  drink  their  hlood^  like  wine,  and  be  drenched  with 
it,  like  a  bowl  and  like  the  corners  of  the  altar.  And 
Jehovah  their  God  will  give  them  victory  in  that  day.  .  .  .^ 
How  good  it '  is,  and  how  beautiful !  Com  shall  make 
the  young  men  flourish  and  new  wine  the  maidens. 

4.  Against  the   Teraphim  and  Sorcerers   (x.  i,  2). 

This  little  piece  is  connected  with  the  previous  one 
only  through  the  latter's  conclusion  upon  the  fertility 
of  the  land,  while  this  opens  with  rain,  the  requisite  of 
fertility.  It  is  connected  with  the  piece  that  follows  only 
by  its  mention  of  the  shepherdless  state  of  the  people, 
the  piece  that  follows  being  against  the  false  shepherds. 
These  connections  are  extremely  slight.  Perhaps  the 
piece  is  an  independent  one.  The  subject  of  it  gives 
no  clue  to  the  date.  Sorcerers  are  condemned  both 
by  the  earlier  prophets,  and  by  the  later.*  Stade 
points  out  that  this  is  the  only  passage  of  the  Old 
Testament  in  which  the  Teraphim  are  said  to  speak.^ 
The  language  has  one  symptom  of  a  late  period." 

After  emphasising  the  futility  of  images,  enchant- 
ments and  dreams,  this  little  oracle  says,  therefore  the 

•  Reading  DfDT  for  Heb.  IDHI,  and  roar. 

'  Heb.  like  a  flock  of  sheep  His  people,  (but  how  is  one  to  construe 
this  with  the  context?)  for  (?  like)  stones  of  a  diadem  lifting  them- 
selves up  (?  shimmering)  over  His  land.  Wellhausen  and  Nowack 
d  elate  _/br  stones  .  .  .  shimmering  as  a  gloss.  This  would  leave  like 
a  flock  of  sheep  His  people  in  His  land,  to  which  it  is  proposed  to  add 
He  will  feed.     This  gives  good  sense. 

'  Wellhausen,  reading  Il^ltD,  fern,  suffix  for  neuter.  Ewald  and 
others  He.     Hitzig  and  others  they,  the  people. 

*  Of  these  cf.  "Mai.  "  iii.  5;  the  late  Jer.  xliv.  8ff.;  Isa.  Ixv.  3-5  ; 
and,  in  the  Priestly  Law,  Lev.  xix.  31,  xx,  6. 

'  Z.A.T.IV.,  I.  60.     He  compares  this  verse  with  i  Sam.  xv.  23, 
[n  Ezek.  xxi.  26  they  give  oracles. 
"  TVn,  lightning-flash,  only  here  and  in  Job  xxviii.  26,  xxxviii.  25, 


470  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


people  wander  like  sheep :  they  have  no  shepherd. 
Shepherd  in  this  connection  cannot  mean  civil  ruler, 
but  must  be  religious  director. 

Ask  from  Jehovah  rain  in  the  time  of  the  latter  rain} 
Jehovah  is  the  maker  of  the  lightning-flashes,  and  the 
winter  rain  He  gives  to  them — to  every  man  herbage  in 
the  field.  But  the  Teraphim  speak  nothingness,  and  the 
sorcerers  see  lies,  and  dreams  discourse  vanity,  and  they 
comfort  in  vain.  Wherefore  they  wander  (?)^  like  a 
flock  of  sheep,  and  flee  about,^  for  there  is  no  shepherd. 

5.  Against  Evil  Shepherds  (x.  3-12). 

The  unity  of  this  section  is  more  apparent  than  its 
connection  with  the  preceding,  which  had  spoken  of 
the  want  of  a  shepherd,  or  religious  director,  of  Israel, 
while  this  is  directed  against  their  shepherds  and 
leaders,  meaning  their  foreign  tyrants.*  The  figure  is 
taken  from  Jeremiah  xxiii.  i  fF.,  where,  besides,  to  visit 
upon  *  is  used  in  a  sense  of  punishment,  but  the  simple 
visit*  in  the  sense  of  to  look  after,  just  as  within 
ver.  3  of  this  tenth  chapter.  Who  these  foreign 
tyrants  are  is  not  explicitly  stated,  but  the  reference 
to  Egypt  and  Assyria  as  lands  whence  the  Jewish 
captives  shall  be  brought  home,  while  at  the  same  time 
there  is  a  Jewish  nation  in  Judah,  suits  only  the  Greek 
period,   after    Ptolemy   had   taken   so   many  Jews   to 

'  LXX.  read  :  in  season  early  rain  and  latter  rain. 

*  1VD3,  used  of  a  nomadic  life  in  Jer.  xxxi,  24  (23),  and  so  it  is 
possible  that  in  a  later  stage  of  the  language  it  had  come  to  mean  to 
wander  or  stray.  But  this  is  doubtful,  and  there  may  be  a  false 
reading,  as  appears  from  LXX.  i^ripivd-qcav, 

»  For  Wy>  read  IW^V     The  LXX.  iKaKdidrjffav  read  1y^<1. 

*  There  can  therefore  be  none  of  that  connection  between  the  tW9 
pieces  which  Kirkpatrick  assumes  (p.  454  and  note  2). 


THE  CONTENTS  OF  "  ZECHARIAH"  IX.— XIV.     471 


Egypt/  and  there  were  numbers  still  scattered  through- 
out the  other  great  empire  in  the  north,  to  which, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  the  Jews  applied  the  name 
of  Assyria.  The  reference  can  hardly  suit  the  years 
after  Seleucus  and  Ptolemy  granted  to  the  Jews  in 
their  territories  the  rights  of  citizens.  The  captive 
Jews  are  to  be  brought  back  to  Gilead  and  Lebanon. 
Why  exactly  these  are  mentioned,  and  neither  Samaria 
nor  Galilee,  forms  a  difficulty,  to  whatever  age  we 
assign  the  chapter.  The  language  of  x.  3-12  has 
several  late  features.'  Joseph  or  Ephraim,  here  and 
elsewhere  in  these  chapters,  is  used  of  the  portion  of 
Israel  still  in  captivity,  in  contrast  to  Judah,  the  re- 
turned community. 

The  passage  predicts  that  Jehovah  will  change  His 
poor  leaderless  sheep,  the  Jews,  into  war-horses,  and 
give  them  strong  chiefs  and  weapons  of  war.  They 
shall  overthrow  the  heathen,  and  Jehovah  will  bring 
back  His  exiles.  The  passage  is  therefore  one  with 
chap.  ix. 

My  wrath  is  hot  against  the  shepherds,  and  I  will 
make  visitation  on  the  he-goats : '  yea,  Jehovah  of  Hosts 
wiW^  visit  His  flock,  the  house  of  Judah,  and  will  make 
them  like  His  splendid  war-horses.  From  Him  the 
corner-stone,  from  Him  the  stay,^  from  Him  the  war- 
bow,  from  Him  the  oppressor — shall  go  forth  together. 
And  in  battle  shall  they  trample  on  heroes  as  on  the  dirt 

'  See  above,  p.  444. 

*  X.  5,  D)3,  Eckardt,  p.  82;  6,  12,  133^  Pi.,  cf.  Eccles.  x.  10,  where 
it  alone  occurs  besides  here  ;  5,  IIi  "lii"3n  in  passive  sense. 

*  As  we  should  say,  bell-wethers  :  cf.  Isa.  xiv.  9,  also  a  late  meaning. 
«  So  LXX.,  reading  ipD''-''D  for  npD-'-D. 

*  Corner-stone  as  name  for  a  chief:  cf.  Judg.  xx.  2 ;  I  Sam.  xiv.  38; 
Isa.  xix.  13.  Stay  or  tent-pin,  Isa.  xxii.  23.  Front  Him,  others 
front  thew. 


472  THE    TWELVE   PROPHETS 

of  the  streets,^  and  fight,  for  Jehovah  is  with  them,  and 
the  riders  on  horses  shall  be  abashed.  And  the  house 
ofjudah  will  I  make  strong  and  work  salvation  for  the 
house  of  Joseph^  and  bring  them  back^  for  I  have  pity 
for  them^  and  they  shall  be  as  though  I  had  not  put  them 
away^  for  I  am  Jehovah  their  God^  and  I  will  hold 
converse  with  them?  And  Ephraim  shall  be  as  heroes,'^ 
and  their  heart  shall  be  glad  as  with  wine,  and  their 
children  shall  behold  and  be  glad:  their  heart  shall 
rejoice  in  Jehovah.  I  will  whistle  for  them  and  gather 
them  in,  for  I  have  redeemed  them,  and  they  shall  be 
as  many  as  they  once  were.  I  scattered  them^  among 
the  nations,  but  among  the  far-away  they  think  of  Me, 
and  they  will  bring  up^  their  children,  and  come  back. 
And  I  will  fetch  them  home  from  the  land  of  Misraim, 
and  from  Asshur'^  will  I  gather  them,  and  to  the  land 
of  Gilead  and  Lebanon  will  I  bring  them  in,  though 
these  be  not  found  sufficient _/br  them.  And  they^  shall 
pass  through  the  sea  of  Egypt,^  and  He  shall  smite  the 
sea  of  breakers,  and  all  the  deeps  of  the  Nile  shall  be 
dried,  and  the  pride  of  Assyria  brought  down,  and  the 
sceptre  of  Egypt  swept  aside.     And  their  strength  ^^  shall 

'  Read  Dn233  and  ti''P3  (Wellhausen). 

"  Read  D''nintJ'm  for  the  Mass.  CnnK^n),  attd  I  will  make  them 
to  dwell. 

'  D^nDm  and  DTinaT,  Dn^n'PS  and  DJWN,  key-words  of  Hosea 
i. — iii. 

•  LXX. ;  sing.  Heb. 

'  Changing  the  Heb.  points  which  make  the  verb  future.  See 
Nowack's  note. 

•  With  LXX.  read  -VHI  for  Mass.  Vm 
'  See  above,  pp.  451,  471, 

•  So  LXX. ;  Mass.  sing. 

'  Heb.  m^',  narrow  sea:  so  LXX.,  but  Wellhausen  suggests 
D''"I^O,  which  Nowack  adopts. 

'"  amnj  for  nTiini 


THE  CONTENTS  OF  "ZECHARIAH"  IX.- XIV.     473 

he  in  Jehovah^  and  in  His  Name  shall  they  boast  them- 
selves * — oracle  of  Jehovah. 

6.  War  upon  the  Syrian  Tyrants  (xi.  1-3). 

This  is  taken  by  some  with  the  previous  chapter,  by 
others  with  the  passage  following.  Either  connection 
seems  precarious.  No  conclusion  as  to  date  can  be 
drawn  from  the  language.  But  the  localities  threatened 
were  on  the  southward  front  of  the  Seleucid  kingdom. 
Open,  Lebanon,  thy  doors  suits  the  Egyptian  invasions 
of  that  kingdom.  To  which  of  these  the  passage 
refers  cannot  of  course  be  determined.  The  shepherds 
are  the  rulers. 

Open,  Lebanon,  thy  doors,  that  the  fire  may  devour  in 
thy  cedars.  Wail,  O  pine-tree,  for  the  cedar  is  fallen ;  '^ 
wail,  O  oaks  of  Bash  an,  Jor  fallen  is  the  impenetrable  ^ 
wood.  Hark  to  the  wailing  oj  the  shepherds !  for  their 
glory  is  destroyed.  Hark  how  the  lions  roar  1  for  blasted 
is  the  pride  *  of  Jordan. 

7.  The  Rejection  and  Murder  of  the  Good 

Shepherd  (xi.  4-17,  xiii.  7-9). 

There  follows  now,  in  the  rest  of  chap,  xi.,  a  longer 
oracle,  to  which  Ewald  and  most  critics  after  him  have 
suitably  attached  chap.  xiii.  7-9. 

This  passage  appears  to  rise  from  circumstances 
similar  to  those  of  the  preceding  and  from  the  same 
circle  of  ideas.     Jehovah's   people  are    His   flock   and 

'  For  D'pnn''  read  l'?'?^n^  with  LXX.  and  Syr. 
^  Heb.  adds  here  a  difficult  clause,  for  nobles  are  wasted.     Probably 
a  gloss. 

*  After  the  Keri. 

*  I.e.  rankness;  applied  to  the  thick  vegetation  in  the  larger  bed  of 
the  stream  :  see  Hist.  Geog.,  p.  484. 


474  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


have  suffered.  Their  rulers  are  their  shepherds ;  and 
the  rulers  of  other  peoples  are  their  shepherds.  A 
true  shepherd  is  sought  for  Israel  in  place  of  the  evil 
ones  which  have  distressed  them.  The  language  shows 
traces  of  a  late  date.^  No  historical  allusion  is  obvious 
in  the  passage.  The  buyers  and  sellers  of  God's  sheep 
might  reflect  the  Seleucids  and  Ptolemies  between  whom 
Israel  were  exchanged  for  many  years,  but  probably 
mean  their  native  leaders.  The  three  shepherds  cut  off 
in  a  month  were  interpreted  by  the  supporters  of  the 
pre-exilic  date  of  the  chapters  as  Zechariah  and  Shallum 
(2  Kings  XV.  8-13),  and  another  whom  these  critics 
assume  to  have  followed  them  to  death,  but  of  him  the 
history  has  no  trace.  The  supporters  of  a  Maccabean 
date  for  the  prophecy  recall  the  quick  succession  of 
high  priests  before  the  Maccabean  rising.  The  one 
month  probably  means  nothing  more  than  a  very  short 
time. 

The  allegory  which  our  passage  unfolds  is  given, 
like  so  many  more  in  Hebrew  prophecy,  to  the  prophet 
himself  to  enact.  It  recalls  the  pictures  in  Jeremiah 
and  Ezekiel  of  the  overthrow  of  the  false  shepherds 
of  Israel,  and  the  appointment  of  a  true  shepherd.^ 
Jehovah  commissions  the  prophet  to  become  shepherd 
to  His  sheep  that  have  been  so  cruelly  abused  by  their 
guides  and  rulers.     Like  the  shepherds  of  Palestine, 

•  xi.  5,  X'TNI,  Hiph.,  but  intransitive,  j'row  y?cA ;  6,  N"'^*DO;  7,  10, 
DW  (?) ;  8,  ^\\2.,  Aram. ;  13,  '^\l\  Aram.,  Jer.  xx.  5,  Ezek.  xxii.  25, 
Job  xxviii.  lo ;  in  Esther  ten,  in  Daniel  four  times  (Eckardt)  ;  xiii.  7, 
n^Dy,  one  of  the  marks  of  the  affinity  of  the  language  of  "  Zech." 
ix. — xiv  to  that  of  the  Priestly  Code  (cf.  Lev.  v.  21,  xviii.  20,  etc.), 
but  in  P  it  is  concrete,  here  abstract;  D*"iyV;  8,  yi3,  see  Eckardt, 
p.  85. 

^  Jer.  xxiii.  1-8 ;  Ezek.  xxxiv.,  xxxvii.  24  ffi :  cf.  Kirkpatrick 
p.  462. 


THE  CONTENTS  OF  "  ZECHARIAH"  IX.— XIV.     475 

the  prophet  took  two  staves  to  herd  his  flock.  He 
called  one  Grace,  the  other  Union.  In  a  month  he 
cut  off  three  shepherds — both  month  and  three  are 
probably  formal  terms.  But  he  did  not  get  on  well 
with  his  charge.  They  were  wilful  and  quarrel- 
some. So  he  broke  his  staff  Grace,  in  token  that  his 
engagement  was  dissolved.  The  dealers  of  the  sheep 
saw  that  he  acted  for  God.  He  asked  for  his  wage, 
if  they  cared  to  give  it.  They  gave  him  thirty  pieces 
of  silver,  the  price  of  an  injured  slave,^  which  by 
God's  command  he  cast  into  the  treasury  of  the  Temple, 
as  if  in  token  that  it  was  God  Himself  whom  they 
paid  with  so  wretched  a  sum.  And  then  he  broke 
his  other  staff,  to  signify  that  the  brotherhood  between 
Judah  and  Israel  was  broken.  Then,  to  show  the 
people  that  by  their  rejection  of  the  good  shepherd 
they  must  fall  a  prey  to  an  evil  one,  the  prophet 
assumed  the  character  of  the  latter.  But  another  judg- 
ment follows.  In  chap.  xiii.  7-9  the  good  shepherd  is 
smitten  and  the  flock  dispersed. 

The  spiritual  principles  which  underlie  this  allegory 
are  obvious.  God's  own  sheep,  persecuted  and  helpless 
though  they  be,  are  yet  obstinate,  and  their  obstinacy 
not  only  renders  God's  good-will  to  them  futile,  but 
causes  the  death  of  the  one  man  who  could  have  done 
them  good.  The  guilty  sacrifice  the  innocent,  but  in 
this  execute  their  own  doom.  That  is  a  summary  of 
the  history  of  Israel.  But  had  the  writer  of  this  allegory 
any  special  part  of  that  history  in  view  ?  Who  were 
the  dealers  of  the  flock  ? 

Thus  saith  Jehovah  my  God :  ^  Shepherd  the  flock  of 
slaughter,  whose  purchasers  slaughter  them  impenitently, 

•  Exod.  xxi.  32,  '  LXX.  God  of  Hoata. 


476  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

and  whose  sellers  say,^  Blessed  be  Jehovah,  for  I  am 
yich  ! — and  their  shepherds  do  not  spare  them.  [For 
I  will  no  more  spare  the  inhabitants  of  the  land — 
oracle  of  Jehovah ;  but  lo  !  I  am  about  to  give  man- 
kind^ over,  each  into  the  hand  of  his  shepherd,^  and 
into  the  hand  of  his  king;  and  they  shall  destroy  the 
land,  and  I  will  not  secure  it  from  their  hands.*] 
And  I  shepherded  the  flock  of  slaughter  for  the  sheep 
merchants,^  and  I  took  to  me  two  staves — the  one  1 
called  Grace,  and  the  other  I  called  Union  ^ — and  so  I 
shepherded  the  sheep.  And  I  destroyed  the  three  shep- 
herds in  one  month.  Then  was  my  soul  vexed  with  them, 
and  they  on  their  part  were  displeased  with  me.  And 
I  said :  I  will  not  shepherd  you  :  what  is  dead,  let  it  die ; 
and  what  is  destroyed,  let  it  be  destroyed ;  and  those  that 
survive,  let  them  devour  one  another' s  flesh  !  And  I  took 
my  staff  Grace,  and  I  brake  it  so  as  to  annul  my  cove- 
nant which  I  made  ivith  all  the  peoples^  And  in  that 
day  it  was  annulled,  and  the  dealers  of  the  sheep,^  who 
watched  me,  knew  that  it  was  JehovaKs  word.     And  1 

'  Read  plural  with  LXX. 

''■  That  is  the  late  Hebrew  name  for  the  heathen  :   c£  is.  i. 

'  Heb.    -inj/n     neighbour;    read  -iny.'l. 

*  Many  take  this  verse  as  an  intrusion.  It  certainly  seems  to  add 
nothing  to  the  sense  and  to  interrupt  the  connection,  which  is  clear 
when  it  is  removed. 

'  Heb.  jK-^n  ^''JJ?  15?,  wherefore  the  miserable  of  the  flock,  which 
makes  no  sense.  But  LXX.  read  eU  t\\v  ^avaa.viTi)v,  and  this  suggests 
the  Heb.  "'J^JID'?,  to  the  Canaanites,  i.e.  merchants,  of  the  sheep :  so  in 
ver.  1 1 . 

"  Lit.  Bands. 

'  The  sense  is  here  obscure.     Is  the  text  sound  ?     In  harmony 
with  the  context  D*DJ?  ought   to  mean  tribes  of  Israel.      But  every 
passage  in  the  O.T.  in  which  W'O]}  might  mean  tribes  has  been  shown 
to   have  a  doubtful   text :    Deut.   xxxii.   8,  xxxiii.  3 ;  Hosea   x.  14 
Micah  i.  2. 

*  See  above,  note  5,  on  the  same  mis-read  phrase  in  ver.  7. 


THE   CONTENTS  OF  "ZECHARIAH"  IX.— XIV.     477 

said  to  them,  If  it  be  good  in  your  sight,  give  me  my 
wage,  and  if  it  be  not  good,  let  it  go  !  And  they  weighed 
out  my  wage,  thirty  pieces  oj  silver.  Then  said  Jehovah 
to  me.  Throw  it  into  the  treasury  ^  {the  precious  wage 
at  which  I^  had  been  valued  of  them).  So  I  took  the 
thirty  pieces  of  silver,  and  cast  them  to  the  House  of  Jehovah, 
to  the  treasury.^  And  I  brake  my  second  staff,  Union,  so 
as  to  dissolve  the  brotherhood  between  Judah  and  Israel.* 
And  Jehovah  said  to  me  :  Take  again  to  thee  the  imple- 
ments of  a  worthless  shepherd :  for  lo  !  I  am  about  to 
appoint  a  shepherd  over  the  land;  the  destroyed  he  will 
not  visit,  the  .  .  .^  he  will  not  seek  out,  the  wounded  he 
will  not  heal,  the  .  .  .*  he  will  not  cherish,  but  he  will 
devour  the  flesh  of  the  fat  and  .  .  .  .' 

Woe  to  My  worthless  *  shepherd,  that  deserts  the  flock  ! 
The  sword  be  upon  his  arm  and  his  right  eye  I  May 
his  arm  wither,  and  his  right  eye  be  blinded. 

Upon  this  follows  the  section  xiii.  7-9,  which  de- 
velops the  tragedy  of  the  nation  to  its  climax  in  the 
murder  of  the  good  shepherd. 

Up,  Sword,   against  My  shepherd  and  the  man  My 


'  Heb.  "1  Vi*n  the  potter.  LXX.  ^wj'euTijpto;',  smelting  furnace.  Read 
"l^isn   by  change  of  N  for  ^ :  the  two  are  often  confounded  ;  see  n.  3. 

^  Wellhausen  and  Nowack  read  thou  hast  been  valued  of  thent.  But 
there  is  no  need  of  this.  The  clause  is  a  sarcastic  parenthesis  spoken 
by  the  prophet  himself. 

'  Again  Heb.  the  potter,  LXX.  the  smelting  furnace,  as  above  in 
ver.  13.  The  additional  clause  House  of  God  proves  how  right  it 
is  to  read  the  treasury,  and  disposes  of  the  idea  that  to  throw  to  the 
potter  was  a  proverb  for  throwing  away, 

*  Two  codd.  read  Jerusalem,  which  Wellhausen  and  Nowack 
adopt. 

'  Heb.  "11^^ D   ^^*  scattered.     LXX.  rbv  iffKopirlffnevor. 

*  nsyiin    obscure:  some  translate  the  sound  or  stablt, 

*  Heb.  and  their  hoofs  he  will  tear  (?). 

»  For  Heb.  "p^bxH  read  as  in  ver.  1 5  '•'p^lNH. 


478  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

compatriot  ^ — oracle  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts.  Smite  *  the 
shepherd,  that  the  sheep  may  be  scattered;  and  I  will  turn 
My  hand  against  the  little  ones.^  And  it  shall  come  to 
pass  in  all  the  land — oracle  of  Jehovah — that  two-thirds 
shall  be  cut  off  in  it,  and  perish,  but  a  third  shall  be  left  in 
it.  And  I  shall  bring  the  third  into  the  fire,  and  smelt  it 
as  men  smelt  silver  and  try  it  as  men  try  gold.  It  shall 
call  upon  My  Name,  and  I  will  answer  it.  And  I  will* 
say,  It  is  My  people,  and  it  will  say,  Jehovah  my  God  I 

8.  JuDAH  versus  Jerusalem  (xii.  1-7). 

A  title,  though  probably  of  later  date  than  the  text/ 
introduces  with  the  beginning  of  chap.  xii.  an  oracle 
plainly  from  circumstances  different  from  those  of  the 
preceding  chapters.  The  nations,  not  particularised  as 
they  have  been,  gather  to  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  and, 
very  singularly,  Judah  is  gathered  with  them  against 
her  own  capital.  But  God  makes  the  city  like  one  of 
those  great  boulders,  deeply  embedded,  which  husband- 
men try  to  pull  up  from  their  fields,  but  it  tears  and 
wounds  the  hands  of  those  who  would  remove  it. 
Moreover  God  strikes  with  panic  all  the  besiegers,  save 
only  Judah,  who,  her  e3^es  being  opened,  perceives 
that  God  is  with  Jerusalem  and  turns  to  her  help. 
Jerusalem  remains  in  her  place  ;  but  the  glory  of  the 
victory  is  first  Judah's,  so  that  the  house  of  David  may 
not  have  too  much  fame  nor  boast  over  the  country 
districts.  The  writer  doubtless  alludes  to  some  tem- 
porary schism  between  the  capital  and  country  caused 

'  n"'Dy  :  only  in  Lev.  and  here. 

*  in.     Perhaps  we  should  read  HSN    I  smite,  with  Matt.  xxvi.  31. 

*  Some  take  this  as  a  promise  :  turn  My  hand  towards  the  littU  otus. 

*  LXX.     Heb.  imQX,  but  the  1  has  fallen  from  the  front  of  it. 

*  See  above,  p.  462. 


THE   CONTENTS  OF  "  ZECHARIAH"  IX. ~ XIV.     479 

by  the  arrogance  of  the  former.  But  we  have  no 
means  of  knowing  when  this  took  place.  It  must  often 
have  been  imminent  in  the  days  both  before  and 
especially  after  the  Exile,  when  Jerusalem  had  absorbed 
all  the  religious  privilege  and  influence  of  the  nation. 
The  language  is  undoubtedly  late.^ 

The  figure  of  Jerusalem  as  a  boulder,  deeply  bedded 
in  the  soil,  which  tears  the  hands  that  seek  to  remove 
it,  is  a  most  true  and  expressive  summary  of  the  history 
of  heathen  assaults  upon  her.  Till  she  herself  was 
rent  by  internal  dissensions,  and  the  Romans  at  last 
succeeded  in  tearing  her  loose,  she  remained  planted 
on  her  own  site.*  This  was  very  true  of  all  the  Greek 
period,  Seleucids  and  Ptolemies  alike  wounded  them- 
selves upon  her.  But  at  what  period  did  either  of 
them  induce  Judah  to  take  part  against  her  ?  Not  in 
the  Maccabean. 

Oracle  of  the   Word  of  Jehovah  upon  Israel. 

Oracle  of  Jehovah,  who  stretched  out  the  heavens  and 

founded  the  earth,  and  formed  the  spirit  of  man  within 

him :  Lo,  I  am  about  to  make  Jerusalem  a  cup  of  reeling 

for  all  the  surrounding  peoples,  and  even  Judah  ^  shall 

•  xii.  2,  ?yTj  a  noun  not  found  elsewhere  in  O.  T.  We  found  the 
verb  in  Nahum  ii.  4  (see  above,  p.  106),  and  probably  in  Hab.  ii.  16 
for  ?"ll?ri1  (see  above,  p.  147,  n.  3):  it  is  common  in  Aramean ;  other 
forms  belong  to  later  Hebrew  (of.  Eckardt,  p.  85).  3,  tDIJ^  is  used 
in  classic  Heb.  only  of  intentional  cutting  and  tattooing  of  oneself; 
in  the  sense  of  wounding  which  it  has  here  it  is  frequent  in  Aramean. 
3  has  besides  nODJ/D  pt<,  not  found  elsewhere.  4  has  three  nouns 
terminating  in  Jl",  two  of  them— JlHlDn,  panic,  and  11111^,  judicial  blind- 
ness — in  O.  T.  only  found  here  and  in  Deut.  xxviii.  28,  the  former  also 
in  Aramean.  7,  X?  JJfD?  is  also  cited  by  Eckardt  as  used  only  in 
Ez(  k.  xix.  6,  xxvi.  20,  and  four  times  in  Psalms. 

»  xii.  6,  n^nnn. 

^  The  text  reads  against  Judah,  as  if  it  with  Jerusalem  suffered 


48o  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

be  at  the  siege  of  Jerusalem.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass 
in  that  day  that  I  will  make  Jerusalem  a  stone  to  be 
lifted^  by  all  the  peoples — all  who  lift  it  do  indeed  wound ^ 
themselves — and  there  are  gathered  against  it  all  nations 
oj  the  earth.  In  that  day — oracle  of  Jehovah — /  will 
smite  every  horse  with  panic,  and  their  riders  with  mad- 
ness; but  as  for  the  house  of  Judah,  I  will  open  its ' 
eyes,  though  every  horse  of  the  peoples  I  smite  with 
blindness.  Then  shall  the  chiefs  *  of  Judah  say  in  their 
hearts,  .  .  .*  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  through  Jehovah 
of  Hosts  their  God.  In  that  day  will  I  make  the  districts 
of  Judah  like  a  pan  of  fire  among  timber  and  like  a  torch 
among  sheaves,  so  that  they  devour  right  and  left  all  the 
peoples  round  about,  but  Jerusalem  shall  still  abide  on  its 

the  siege  of  the  heathen.  But  (i)  this  makes  an  unconstruable 
clause,  and  (2)  the  context  shows  that  Judah  was  against  Jerusalem. 
Therefore  Geiger  {Urschrift,  p.  58)  is  right  in  deleting  ?y,  and  re- 
storing to  the  clause  both  sense  in  itself  and  harmony  with  the 
context.  It  is  easy  to  see  why  7y  was  afterwards  introduced. 
LXX.  KoX  h>  ry  'lovSalq,. 

'  Since  Jerome,  commentators  have  thought  of  a  stone  by  throwing 
or  lifting  which  men  try  their  strength,  what  we  call  a  "putting 
stone."  But  is  not  the  idea  rather  of  one  of  the  large  stones  half- 
buried  in  the  earth  which  it  is  the  effort  of  the  husbandman  to  tear 
from  its  bed  and  carry  out  of  his  field  before  he  ploughs  it  ?  Keil 
and  Wright  think  of  a  heavy  stone  for  building.  This  is  not  so 
likely. 

*  tOIK',  elsewhere  only  in  Lev.  xxi.  5,  is  there  used  of  intentional 
cutting  of  oneself  as  a  sign  of  mourning.  Nowack  takes  the  clause 
as  a  later  intrusion  ;  but  there  is  no  real  reason  for  this. 

*  Heb.  upon  Judah  will  I  keep  My  eyes  open  to  protect  him,  and  this 
has  analogies,  Job  xiv.  3,  Jer.  xxxii.  19.  But  the  reading  its  eyes. 
which  is  made  by  inserting  a  1  that  might  easily  have  dropped  out 
through  confusion  with  the  initial  1  of  the  next  word,  has  also  analogies 
(Isa.  xlii.  7i  etc.),  and  stands  in  better  parallel  to  the  next  clause,  as 
well  as  to  the  clauses  describing  the  panic  of  the  heathen. 

*  Others  read  'Q?i<,  thousands,  i.e.  districts. 

*  Heb.  I  will  find  fnc ;  LXX.  evpT^rrofiev  iavroTs. 


THE  CONTENTS  OF  "  ZECHARIAH"   IX.— XIV.     481 

own  site}  And  Jehovah  shall  first  give  victory  to  the 
tents  ^  ofjudah,  so  that  the  fame  of  the  house  of  David 
and  the  fame  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  be  not  too 
great  in  contrast  to  Judah. 

9.  Four  Results  of  Jerusalem's  Deliverance 
(xii.  8 — xiii.  6). 

Upon  the  deliverance  of  Jerusalem,  by  the  help  of 
the  converted  Judah,  there  follow  four  results,  each 
introduced  by  the  words  that  it  happened  in  that  day 
(xii.  8,  9,  xiii.  i,  2).  First,  the  people  of  Jerusalem 
shall  themselves  be  strengthened.  Second,  the  hostile 
heathen  shall  be  destroyed,  but  on  the  house  of  David 
and  all  Jerusalem  the  spirit  of  penitence  shall  be  poured, 
and  they  will  lament  for  the  good  shepherd  whom 
they  slew.  Third,  a  fountain  for  sin  and  uncleanness 
shall  be  opened.  Fourth,  the  idols,  the  unclean  spirit, 
and  prophecy,  now  so  degraded,  shall  all  be  abolished. 
The  connection  of  these  oracles  with  the  preceding 
is  obvious,  as  well  as  with  the  oracle  describing  the 
murder  of  the  good  shepherd  (xiii.  7-9).  When  we 
see  how  this  is  presupposed  by  xii.  9  ff.,  we  feel  more 
than  ever  that  its  right  place  is  between  chaps,  xi.  and 
xii.  There  are  no  historical  allusions.  But  again  the 
language  gives  evidence  of  a  late  date.'  And  through- 
out the  passage  there  is  a  repetition  of  formal  phrases 

'  Hebrew  adds  a  gloss  :  in  Jerusalem. 

*  The  population  in  time  of  war. 

'  xii.  10,  ni"l  "IDK',  not  earlier  than  Ezek.  xxxix.  29,  Joel  iii.  i,  2 
(Heb.)  ;  DOIjnn,  only  in  Job,  Proverbs,  Psalms  and  Daniel;  "IDH, 
an  intrans.  Hiph. ;  xiii.  I,  TlpD,  fountain,  before  Jeremiah  only  in 
Hosea  xiii.  15  (perhaps  a  late  intrusion),  but  several  times  in  post- 
exilic  writings  instead  of  pre-exilic  "1N2  (Eckardt)  ;  iTn^  only  after 
Ezekiel;  3,  cf.  xii.  10,  "Ipl,  chiefly,  but  not  only,  in  post-exilic 
writings. 

VOL.  IL  3 


482  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


which  recalls  the  Priestly  Code  and  the  general  style  of 
the  post-exilic  age.^  Notice  that  no  king  is  mentioned, 
although  there  are  several  points  at  which,  had  he 
existed,  he  must  have  been  introduced. 

1.  The  first  of  the  four  effects  of  Jerusalem's  deliver- 
ance from  the  heathen  is  the  promotion  of  her  weaklings 
to  the  strength  of  her  heroes,  and  of  her  heroes  to 
divine  rank  (xii.  8).  In  that  day  Jehovah  will  pro- 
tect the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem^  and  the  lame  among 
them  shall  in  that  day  be  like  David  himself,  and  the 
house  of  David  like  God,  like  the  Angel  of  Jehovah 
before  them. 

2.  The  second  paragraph  of  this  series  very  remark- 
ably emphasises  that  upon  her  deliverance  Jerusalem 
shall  not  give  way  to  rejoicing,  but  to  penitent  lamenta- 
tion for  the  murder  of  him  whom  she  has  pierced — 
the  good  shepherd  whom  her  people  have  rejected  and 
slain.  This  is  one  of  the  few  ethical  strains  which  run 
through  these  apocalyptic  chapters.  It  forms  their 
highest  interest  for  us.  Jerusalem's  mourning  is  com- 
pared to  that  for  Hadad-Rimmon  in  the  valley  or  plain 
of  Megiddo.  This  is  the  classic  battle-field  of  the  land, 
and  the  theatre  upon  which  Apocalypse  has  placed  the 
last  contest  between  the  hosts  of  God  and  the  hosts 
of  evil.^  In  Israel's  history  it  had  been  the  ground 
not  only  of  triumph  but  of  tears.  The  greatest  tragedy 
of  that  history,  the  defeat  and  death  of  the  righteous 
Josiah,  took  place  there  ;  ^  and  since  the  earliest  Jewish 
interpreters    the    mourning  of  Hadad-Rimmon    in    the 

•  See  especially  xii.  I2ff.,  which  is  very  suggestive  of  the  Priestly 
Code. 

Hist.  Geog.,  Chap.  XIX.  On  the  name  plain  of  Megiddo  see 
especially  notes,  p.  386. 

•  2  Chron.  xxxv.  22  ff. 


THE   CONTENTS  OF  "  ZECHARIAH"  IX.— XIV.      483 

valley  of  Megiddo  has  been  referred  to  the  mourning 
for  Josiah.^  Jerome  identifies  Hadad-Rimmon  with 
Rummani,*  a  village  on  the  plain  still  extant,  close  to 
Megiddo.  But  the  lamentation  for  Josiah  was  at 
Jerusalem  ;  and  it  cannot  be  proved  that  Hadad-Rimmon 
is  a  place-name.  It  may  rather  be  the  name  of  the 
object  of  the  mourning,  and  as  Hadad  was  a  divine 
name  among  Phoenicians  and  Arameans,  and  RimmQn 
the  pomegranate  was  a  sacred  tree,  a  number  of  critics 
have  supposed  this  to  be  a  title  of  Adonis,  and  the 
mourning  like  that  excessive  grief  which  Ezekiel  tells 
us  was  yearly  celebrated  for  Tammuz.^  This,  how- 
ever, is  not  fully  proved.*  Observe,  further,  that  while 
the  reading  Hadad-Rimmon  is  by  no  means  past  doubt, 
the  sanguine  blossoms  and  fruit  of  the  pomegranate, 
"  red-ripe  at  the  heart,"  would  naturally  lead  to  its 
association  with  the  slaughtered  Adonis. 

And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day  that  I  will 
seek  to  destroy  all  the  nations  who  have  come  in  upon 
Jerusalem.  And  I  will  pour  upon  the  house  of  David 
and  upon  all  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  the  spirit  of 
grace  and  of  supplication,  and  they  shall  look  to  him'" 
whom  they  have  pierced;  and  they  shall  lament  for  him, 
as  with  lamentation  for  an  only  son,  and  bitterly  grieve 
for  him,  as  with  grief  for  a  first-born.  In  that  day 
lamentation  shall  be  as  great  in  Jerusalem  as  the  lamenta- 

'  Another  explanation  offered  by  the  Targum  is  the  mourning  for 
"  Ahab  son  of  Omri,  slain  by  Hadad-Rimmon  son  of  Tab-Rimmon." 
^  LXX.  gives  for  Hadad-Rimmon  only  the  second  part,  ^owr. 

•  Ezek,  viii.  14. 

•  Baudissin,  Studien  z.  Sem.  Rel.  Gesch.,  I.  295  ff. 

•  Heb.  Me ;  several  codd.  him :  some  read  vX^  to  (him)  whom 
they  have  pierced;  but  this  would  require  the  elision  of  the  sign  of 
the  ace.  before  who.  Wellhausen  and  others  think  something  has 
fallen  from  the  text. 


484  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

tion  for  Hadad-Rimmon  *  in  the  valley  of  Megtddo. 
And  the  land  shall  mourn,  every  family  by  itself :  the 
family  of  the  house  of  David  by  itself  and  their  wives 
by  themselves;  the  family  of  the  house  of  Nathan  by 
itself,  and  their  wives  by  themselves;  the  family  of  the 
house  of  Levi  by  itself  and  their  wives  by  themselves ; 
the  family  of  Shime'i^  by  itself,  and  their  wives  by  them- 
selves; all  the  families  who  are  left,  every  family  by 
itself  and  their  wives  by  themselves. 

3.  The  third  result  of  Jerusalem's  deliverance  from 
the  heathen  shall  be  the  opening  of  a  fountain  of 
cleansing.  This  purging  of  her  sin  follows  fitly  upon 
her  penitence  just  described.  In  that  day  a  fountain 
shall  be  opened  for  the  house  of  David,  and  for  the 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness.^ 

4.  The  fourth  consequence  is  the  removal  of  idolatry, 
of  the  unclean  spirit  and  of  the  degraded  prophets  from 
her  midst.  The  last  is  especially  remarkable :  for 
it  is  not  merely  false  prophets,  as  distinguished  from 
true,  who  shall  be  removed ;  but  prophecy  in  general. 
It  is  singular  that  in  almost  its  latest  passage  the  pro- 
phecy of  Israel  should  return  to  the  line  of  its  earliest 
representative,  Amos,  who  refused  to  call  himself 
prophet.  As  in  his  day,  the  prophets  had  become 
mere  professional  and  mercenary  oracle-mongers, 
abjured  to  the  point  of  death  by  their  own  ashamed 
and  wearied  relatives. 

And  it  shall  be  in  that  day — oracle  of  Jehovah  of 
Hosts — /  ivill  cut  off  the  names  of  the  idols  from  the 
land,  and  they  shall  not  be  remembered  any  more.  And 
also   the  prophets   and  the   unclean   spirit  will  I  expel 

I  See  above,  p.  482.  *  Cf.  Ezek.  xxxvi.  25,  xIviL  I. 

^  LXX.  'Zvfxedv 


THE  CONTENTS   OF  "ZECHARIAH"  IX.— XIV.     485 

from  the  land.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  if  any  man 
prophesy  again,  then  shall  his  father  and  mother  who 
begat  him  say  to  him,  Thou  shall  not  live,  for  thou 
speakest  falsehood  in  the  name  of  fehovah;  and  his 
father  and  mother  who  begat  him  shall  stab  him  for  his 
prophesying.  And  it  shall  be  in  that  day  that  the 
prophets  shall  be  ashamed  of  their  visions  when  they 
prophesy,  and  shall  not  wear  the  leather  cloak  in  order 
to  lie.  And  he  will  say.  No  prophet  am  II  A  tiller 
of  the  ground  I  am,  for  the  ground  is  my  possession  ^ 
from  my  youth  up.  And  they  shall  say  to  him.  What 
are  these  wounds  in  ^  thy  hands  ?  and  he  shall  say, 
What  I  was  wounded  with  in  the  house  of  my  lovers  I 

10.   Judgment  of  the  Heathen  and   Sanctification 
OF  Jerusalem  (xiv.). 

In  another  apocalyptic  vision  the  prophet  beholds 
Jerusalem  again  beset  by  the  heathen.  But  Jehovah 
Himself  intervenes,  appearing  in  person,  and  an 
earthquake  breaks  out  at  His  feet.  The  heathen  are 
smitten,  as  they  stand,  into  mouldering  corpses.  The 
remnant  of  them  shall  be  converted  to  Jehovah  and 
take  part  in  the  annual  Feast  of  Booths.  If  any  refuse 
they  shall  be  punished  with  drought.  But  Jerusalem 
shall  abide  in  security  and  holiness  :  every  detail  of  her 
equipment  shall  be  consecrate.  The  passage  has  many 
resemblances  to  the  preceding  oracles.^  The  language 
is  undoubtedly  late,  and  the  figures  are  borrowed  from 
other  prophets,  chiefly  Ezekiel.  It  is  a  characteristic 
specimen  of  the  Jewish  Apocalypse.  The  destruction 
of  the  heathen  is  described  in  verses  of  terrible  grim- 


'  Read   ^^^^R  PlOnX  for  the  Mass.  *33pn  DHN :  so  Wellhausen. 
*  Heb.  between.  '  But  see  below,  p.  490. 


486  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

ness  :  there  is  no  tenderness  nor  hope  exhibited  for 
them.  And  even  in  the  picture  of  Jerusalem's  hoHness 
we  have  no  really  ethical  elements,  but  the  details 
are  purely  ceremonial. 

Lo  !  a  day  is  coming  for  Jehovah^  when  thy  spoil  will 
be  divided  in  thy  midst.  And  I  will  gather  all  the  nations 
to  besiege  Jerusalem,  and  the  city  will  be  takeri  and  the 
houses  plundered  and  the  women  ravished,  and  the  half 
of  the  city  shall  go  into  captivity,  but  the  rest  of  the  people 
shall  not  be  cut  off  from  the  city.  And  Jehovah  shall 
go  forth  and  do  battle  with  those  nations,  as  in  the  day 
when  He  fought  in  the  day  of  contest.  And  His  feet  shall 
stand  in  that  day  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  which  is  over 
against  Jerusalem  on  the  east,  and  the  Mount  of  Olives 
shall  be  split  into  halves  from  east  to  west  by  a  very  great 
ravine,  and  half  of  the.  Mount  will  slide  northwards  and 
half  southwards.  .  .  .  ,^  for  the  ravine  of  mountains^  shall 
extend  to  ^Asal,^  and  ye  shall  flee  as  ye  fled  from  before 
the  earthquake  in  the  days  of  Uzziah  king  of  Judah,^ 
and  Jehovah  my  God  will  come  and^  all  the  holy  ones 
with  Him?    And  in  that  day  there  shall  not  be  light,  .  .  . 

'  ninv :  or  belonging  to  Jehovah  ;  or  like  the  Lamed  auctoris  or 
Lamed  when  construed  with  passive  verbs  (see  Oxford  Heb.-Eng. 
Dictionary,  pp.  513  and  514,  col.  l),froni,  by  means  of ,  Jehovah. 

*  Heb. :  and  ye  shall  flee,  the  ravine  of  My  mountains.  The  text 
is  obviously  corrupt,  but  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  it  should  be  repaired. 
LXX.,  Targ.  Symniachus  and  the  Babylonian  codd.  (Baer,  p.  84) 
read  DFIP^I^  sliall  be  closed,  for  DFlDJI  ye  shall  flee,  and  this  is  adopted 
by  a  number  of  critics  (Bredenkamp,  Wellhausen,  Nowack).  But  it 
is  hardly  possible  before  the  next  clause,  which  says  the  vallej- 
extends  to  'Asal. 

'  Wellhausen  suggests  the  ravine  (N^J)  of  Hinnom. 

*  ?^5<,  place-name :  of.  ?V^,  name  of  a  family  of  Benjamin,  viii. 
37  f.,  ix.  43  f. ;  and  TJ^S^n  JT'Q  Micah  i.  11.  Some  would  read  ?VN 
the  adverb  near  by. 

"  Amos  L  1.  •  LXX.  '  LXX. ;  Heb.  /A#*. 


THE  CONTENTS   OF  "ZECHARIAH'   IX.~XlV.     487 

congeal}  And  it  shall  be  one  ^  day — it  is  known  to 
Jehovah^ — neither  day  nor  night;  and  it  shall  come  to 
pass  that  at  evening  time  there  shall  be  light. 

And  it  shall  be  in  that  day  that  living  waters  shall /low 
forth  fro]n  Jerusalem,  half  of  them  to  the  eastern  sea  and 
half  of  them  to  the  western  sea :  both  in  summer  and 
in  winter  shall  it  be.  And  Jehovah  shall  be  King  over 
all  the  earth  :  in  that  day  Jehovah  will  be  One  and  His 
Name  One.  All  the  land  shall  be  changed  to  plain ^  from 
Geba  to  Rimmon^  south  of  Jerusalem;  but  she  shall  be 
high  and  abide  in  her  place^  from  the  Gate  of  Benjamin 
up  to  the  place  of  the  First  Gate,  up  to  the  Corner  Gate, 
and  from  the  Tower  of  Hananel  as  far  as  the  King's 
Winepresses.  And  they  shall  dwell  in  it,  and  there 
shall  be  no  more  Ban,^  and  Jerusalem  shall  abide  in 
security.  And  this  shall  be  the  stroke  with  which  Jehovah 
will  smite  oil  the  peoples  who  have  warred  against 
Jerusaletn  :  He  will  make  their  flesh  moulder  while  they 
still  stand  upon  their  feet,  and  their  eyes  shall  moulder 

»  Heb.  Ketb  bh  J-1X3p^  Oi"'!^!,  jewels  (?  hardly  stars  as  some 
have  sought  t)  prove  from  Job  xxxi.  26)  grow  dead  or  congealed- 
Heb.  Kere,  j'twels  and  frost,  pXS|51,  LXX.  koX  fuxv  "ai  Trdyos, 
IIXSpl  ri-llj^V  and  cold  and  frost.  Founding  on  this  Wellhausen 
proposes  to  read  DIP!  for  "IIX,  and  renders,  there  shall  be  neither 
heat  nor  ccH  nor  frost.  So  Nowack.  But  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how 
Din  ever  got  changed  to  "IIX. 

*  Unique  or  the  same  ? 

*  Taken  as  a  gloss  by  Wellhausen  and  Nowack. 

*  n3"iy  the  name  for  the  Jordan  Valley,  the  Ghdr  (Hist.  Geog., 
pp.  482-484).  It  is  employed,  not  because  of  its  fertility,  but  because 
of  its  level  character.  Cf.  Josephus'  name  for  it,  "  the  Great  Plain  " 
(IV.  Wars  viii.  2  ;  IV.  Anlt.  vi.  l)  :  also  I  Mace.  v.  52,  xvi.  II. 

*  Geba  "long  the  limit  of  Judah  to  the  north,  2  Kings  xxiii.  8" 
(Hist.  Geog.,  pp.  252,  291).  Rimmon  was  on  the  southern  border  of 
Palestine  (Josh.  xv.  32,  xix.  7),  the  present  Umm  er  Rummamin  N, 
of  Beersheba  (Rob.,  B.  R.). 

*  Or  be  inhabited  as  it  stands.  '  Cf.  "  Mai."  iii.  24  (Heb.). 


488  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

in  their  sockets,  and  their  tongue  shall  moulder  in  their 
mouth. 

[And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  there  shall  be 
a  great  confusion  from  Jehovah  among  them,  and  they 
shall  grasp  every  man  the  hand  of  his  neighbour,  and  his 
hand  shall  be  lifted  against  the  hand  of  his  neighbour} 
And  even  Judah  shall  fight  against  Jerusalem,  and  the 
wealth  of  all  the  nations  round  about  shall  be  swept  up, 
gold  and  silver  and  garments,  in  a  very  great  mass. 
These  two  verses,  13  and  14,  obviously  disturb  the 
connection,  which  ver.  15  as  obviously  resumes  with 
ver.  12.  They  are,  therefore,  generally  regarded  as  an 
intrusion.*  But  why  they  have  been  inserted  is  not 
clear.  Ver.  14  is  a  curious  echo  of  the  strife  between 
Judah  and  Jerusalem  described  in  chap,  xii.  They 
may  be  not  a  mere  intrusion,  but  simply  out  of  their 
proper  place  :  yet,  if  so,  where  this  proper  place  lies  in 
these  oracles  is  impossible  to  determine.] 

And  even  so  shall  be  the  plague  upon  the  horses,  mules, 
camels  and  asses,  and  all  the  beasts  which  are  in  those 
camps — -just  like  this  plague.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass 
that  all  that  survive  of  all  the  nations  who  have  come  up 
against  Jerusalem,  shall  come  up  front  year  to  year  to  do 
obeisance  to  King  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  and  to  keep  the  Feast 
of  Booths.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  ivhosoever  oj 
all  the  races  of  the  earth  will  not  come  up  to  Jerusalem 
to  do  obeisance  to  King  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  upon  them 
there  shall  be  no  rain.  And  if  the  race  of  Egypt  go  not 
up  nor  come  in,  upon  them  also  shall  ^  come  the  plague, 
with  which  Jehovah  shall  strike  the  nations  that  go  not 


•  Ezek.  xxxviii.  2i. 

■  So  Wellhausen  and  Nowack. 

»  So  LXX.  and  Syr.     The  Heb.  text  inserts  a  not. 


THE  CONTENTS   OF  "ZECHARIAH"  IX.— XIV.     489 

Up  to  keep  the  Feast  of  Booths.  Such  shall  be  the 
punishment^  of  Egypt,  and  the  punishment^  of  all  nations 
who  do  not  come  up  to  keep  the  Feast  of  Booths. 

The  Feast  of  Booths  was  specially  one  of  thanksgiving 
for  the  harvest ;  that  is  why  the  neglect  of  it  is 
punished  by  the  withholding  of  the  rain  which  brings 
the  harvest.  But  such  a  punishment  for  such  a  neglect 
shows  how  completely  prophecy  has  become  subject 
to  the  Law.  One  is  tempted  to  think  what  Amos 
or  Jeremiah  or  even  "  Malachi  "  would  have  thought  of 
this.  Verily  all  the  writers  of  the  prophetical  books 
do  not  stand  upon  the  same  level  of  religion.  The 
writer  remembers  that  the  curse  of  no  rain  cannot 
affect  the  Egyptians,  the  fertility  of  whose  rainless  land 
is  secured  by  the  annual  floods  of  her  river.  So  he 
has  to  insert  a  special  verse  for  Egypt.  She  also  will 
be  plagued  by  Jehovah,  yet  he  does  not  tell  us  in  what 
fashion  her  plague  will  come. 

The  book  closes  with  a  little  oracle  of  the  most 
ceremonial  description,  connected  not  only  in  temper 
but  even  by  subject  with  what  has  gone  before.  The 
very  horses,  which  hitherto  have  been  regarded  as 
too  foreign,*  or — as  even  in  this  group  of  oracles  ^ — 
as  too  warlike,  to  exist  in  Jerusalem,  shall  be  conse- 
crated to  Jehovah.  And  so  vast  shall  be  the  multitudes 
who  throng  from  all  the  earth  to  the  annual  feasts  and 
sacrifices  at  the  Temple,  that  the  pots  of  the  latter 
shall  be  as  large  as  the  great  altar-bowls,*  and 
every  pot  in  Jerusalem  and  Judah  shall  be  consecrated 
for  use  in  the  ritual.     This  hallowing  of  the   horses 

'  riNDn,    in    classic    Heb.   sin;    but  as   in    Num.    xxxii.    23   aad 
Isa.  V.  18,  the  punishment  that  sin  brings  down. 

*  Hosea  xiv.  3.  *  So  Wellhausen. 

*  ix.  10. 


49° 


THE    riVELVE   PROPHETS 


raises  the  question,  whether  the  passage  can  be  from 
the  same  hand  as  wrote  the  prediction  of  the  dis- 
appearance of  all  horses  from  Jerusalem.^ 

In  that  day  there  shall  be  upon  the  bells  of  the  horses, 
Holiness  mi  to  Jehovah.  And  the  very  pots  in  the  House 
of  Jehovah  shall  be  as  the  bowls  before  the  altar.  Yea, 
every  pot  in  Jerusalem  and  in  Judah  shall  be  holy  to 
Jehovah  of  Hosts,  and  all  who  sacrifice  shall  come  and 
take  of  them  and  cook  in  them.  And  there  shall  be  no 
more  any  pedlar^  in  the  House  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts  in 
that  dav. 


'    IX.   lO. 

'  Heb.  Canaanite.     Cf.  Christ's  action  in  cleansing  the  Temple  ol 
all  dealers  (Matt.  xxL  12-14)- 


fONAM 


Ar9\ 


"  And  this  is  the  tragedy  of  the  Book  of  Jonah,  that  a  Book  which 
is  made  the  means  of  one  of  the  most  subHme  revelations  of  truth 
in  the  Old  Testament  should  be  known  to  most  only  for  its  con- 
nection with  a  whale." 


492 


CHAPTER    XXXIV 

THE    BOOK    OF  JONAH 

THE  Book  of  Jonah  is  cast  throughout  in  the  form 
of  narrative — the  only  one  of  our  Twelve  which  is 
so.  This  fact,  combined  with  the  extraordinary  events 
which  the  narrative  relates,  starts  questions  not  raised  by 
any  of  the  rest.  Besides  treating,  therefore,  of  the  book's 
origin,  unity,  division  and  other  commonplaces  of  intro- 
duction, we  must  further  seek  in  this  chapter  reasons 
for  the  appearance  of  such  a  narrative  among  a  collection 
of  prophetic  discourses.  We  have  to  ask  whether  the 
narrative  be  intended  as  one  of  fact ;  and  if  not,  why 
the  author  was  directed  to  the  choice  of  such  a  form  to 
enforce  the  truth  committed  to  him. 

The  appearance  of  a  narrative  among  the  Twelve 
Prophets  is  not,  in  itself,  so  exceptional  as  it  seems  to- 
be.  Parts  of  the  Books  of  Amos  and  Hosea  treat  of  the 
personal  experience  of  their  authors.  The  same  is  true 
of  the  Books  of  Isaiah,  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel,  in  which 
the  prophet's  call  and  his  attitude  to  it  are  regarded  as 
elements  of  his  message  to  men.  No  :  the  peculiarity 
of  the  Book  of  Jonah  is  not  the  presence  of  narrative, 
but  the  apparent  absence  of  all  prophetic  discourse.^ 

Yet  even  this  might  be  explained  by  reference  to  the 
first   part   of  the  prophetic  canon — Joshua   to   Second 

'  Unless  the  Psalm  were  counted  as  such.     See  below,  p.  5 1 1. 
493 


494  THE    TIVELVE  FROFHETS 


Kings.*  These  Former  Prophets,  as  they  are  called,  are 
wholly  narrative — narrative  in  the  prophetic  spirit  and 
written  to  enforce  a  moral.  Many  of  them  begin  as  the 
Book  of  Jonah  does  :^  they  contain  stories,  for  instance, 
of  Elijah  and  Elisha,  who  flourished  immediately  before 
Jonah  and  like  him  were  sent  with  commissions  to 
foreign  lands.  It  might  therefore  be  argued  that  the 
Book  of  Jonah,  though  narrative,  is  as  much  a  prophetic 
book  as  they  are,  and  that  the  only  reason  why  it  has 
found  a  place,  not  with  these  histories,  but  among  the 
Later  Prophets,  is  the  exceedingly  late  date  of  its 
composition.' 

This  is  a  plausible,  but  not  the  real,  answer  to  our 
question.  Suppose  we  were  to  find  the  latter  by 
discovering  that  the  Book  of  Jonah,  though  in  narrative 
form,  is  not  real  history  at  all,  nor  pretends  to  be ; 
but,  from  beginning  to  end,  is  as  much  a  prophetic 
sermon  as  any  of  the  other  Twelve  Books,  yet  cast 
in  the  form  of  parable  or  allegory  ?  This  would 
certainly  explain  the  adoption  of  the  book  among  the 
Twelve ;  nor  would  its  allegorical  character  appear 
without  precedent  to  those  (and  they  are  among  the 
most  conservative  of  critics)  who  maintain  (as  the 
present  writer  does  not)  the  allegorical  character  oi 
the  story  of  Hosea's  wife.* 

It  is,  however,  when  we  pass  from  the  form  to  the 
substance  of  the  book  that  we  perceive  the  full  justifi- 
cation of  its  reception  among  the  prophets.     The  truth 


'  Minus  Ruth  of  course. 

*  Cf.  with  Jonah  i.  I,  'il^l^  Josh.  i.  i,  I  Sam.  i.  I,  2  Sam.  i.  I. 
The  corrupt  state  of  the  text  of  Ezek.  L  I  does  not  permit  us  to 
adduce  it  also  as  a  parallel. 

*  See  below,  p.  496. 

*  See  above,  Vol.  I.,  p.  236. 


Tin:  BOOK   OF  JONAH  495 

which  we  find  in  the  Book  of  Jonah  is  as  full  and 
fresh  a  revelation  of  God's  will  as  prophecy  anywhere 
achieves.  That  God  has  granted  to  the  Gentiles  also 
repentance  unto  lije  ^  is  nowhere  else  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment so  vividly  illustrated.  It  lifts  the  teaching  of  the 
Book  of  Jonah  to  equal  rank  with  the  second  part  of 
Isaiah,  and  nearest  of  all  our  Twelve  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment. The  very  form  in  which  this  truth  is  insinuated 
into  the  prophet's  reluctant  mind,  by  contrasting  God's 
pity  for  the  dim  population  of  Niniveh  with  Jonah's  own 
pity  for  his  perished  gourd,  suggests  the  methods  of  our 
Lord's  teaching,  and  invests  the  book  with  the  morning 
air  of  that  high  day  which  shines  upon  the  most 
evangelic  of  His  parables. 

One  other  remark  is  necessary.  In  our  effort  to 
appiVciate  this  lofty  gospel  we  labour  under  a  dis- 
advM  tage.  That  is  our  sense  of  humour — our  modern 
sense  of  humour.  Some  of  the  figures  in  which 
our  author  conveys  his  truth  cannot  but  appear  to 
us  grotesque.  How  many  have  missed  the  sublime 
spirit  of  the  book  in  amusement  or  offence  at  its 
curious  details  1  Even  in  circles  in  which  the  ac- 
ceptance of  its  literal  interpretation  has  been  demanded 
as  a  condition  of  belief  in  its  inspiration,  the  story  has 
too  often  served  as  a  subject  for  humorous  remarks. 
This  is  almost  inevitable  if  we  take  it  as  history.  But 
we  shall  find  that  one  advantage  of  the  theory,  which 
treats  the  book  as  parable,  is  that  the  features,  which 
appear  so  grotesque  to  many,  are  traced  to  the 
popular  poetry  of  the  writer's  own  time  and  shown 
to  be  natural.  When  we  prove  this,  we  shall  be  able 
to    treat   the    scenery  of   the  book  as  we  do   that    of 

'  Acts  xi.  8. 


496  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

some  early  Christian  fresco,  in  which,  however  rude 
it  be  or  untrue  to  nature,  we  discover  an  earnestness 
and  a  success  in  expressing  the  moral  essence  of  a 
situation  that  are  not  always  present  in  works  of  art 
more  skilful  or  more  correct. 

I.  The  Date  of  the  Book. 

Jonah  ben-Amittai,  from  Gath-hepher^  in  Galilee, 
came  forward  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
Jeroboam  II.  to  announce  that  the  king  would  regain 
the  lost  territories  of  Israel  from  the  Pass  of  Hamath 
to  the  Dead  Sea.*  He  flourished,  therefore,  about 
780,  and  had  this  book  been  by  himself  we  should 
have  had  to  place  it  first  of  all  the  Twelve,  and  nearly 
a  generation  before  that  of  Amos.  But  the  book 
neither  claims  to  be  by  Jonah,  nor  gives  any  proof  of 
coming  from  an  eye-witness  of  the  adventures  which 
it  describes,'  nor  even  from  a  contemporary  of  the 
prophet.  On  the  contrary,  one  verse  implies  that  when 
it  was  written  Niniveh  had  ceased  to  be  a  great  city.* 
Now  Niniveh  fell,  and  was  practically  destroyed,  in 
606  B.C.*  In  all  ancient  history  there  was  no  collapse 
of  an  imperial  city  more  sudden  or  so  complete.*  We 
must  therefore  date  the  Book  of  Jonah  some  time  after 
606,  when  Niniveh's  greatness  had  become  what  it 
was  to  the  Greek  writers,  a  matter  of  tradition. 

"  Cf.  Gittah-hepher,  Josh.  xix.  13,  by  some  held  to  be  El  Meshhed, 
three  miles  north-east  of  Nazareth.  The  tomb  of  Jonah  is  pointed 
out  there. 

*  2  Kings  xiv.  25. 

'  Cf.  Kuenen,  Einl.,  II.  417,  418. 

*  iii.  3  :   nriM,  was. 

*  See  above,  pp.  2 1  ft'.,  96  flf. 

*  Cf.  George  Smith,  Assyrian  Discoveries,  p.  94  ;  Sayce,  Ancienl 
Empires  of  the  Easf,  p.  141.     Cf.  previous  note. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JONAH  497 

A  late  date  is  also  proved  by  the  language  of 
the  book.  This  not  only  contains  Aramaic  elements 
which  have  been  cited  to  support  the  argument  for  a 
northern  origin  in  the  time  of  Jonah  himself/  but  a 
number  of  words  and  grammatical  constructions  which 
we  find  in  the  Old  Testament,  some  of  them  in  the 
later  and  some  only  in  the  very  latest  writings.^ 
Scarcely  less  decisive  are  a  number  of  apparent  quota- 
tions and  echoes  of  passages  in  the  Old  Testament, 
mostly  later  than  the  date  of  the  historical  Jonah,  and 


•  As,  e.g.,  by  Volck,  article  "Jona"  in  Herzog's  Real.  Ettcycl.*:  the 
use  of  /ly  for  "X^^,  ^s,  e.g.,  in  the  very  early  Song  of  Deborah.  But 
the  same  occurs  in  many  late  passages  :  Eccles.  i.  7,  1 1,  it.  21,  22,  etc. , 
Psalms  cxxii.,  cxxiv.,  cxxxv.  2,  8,  cxxxvii.  8,  cxlvi,  3. 

*  A.  Grammatical  constructions  :— i.  7,  *pVt^•2  •  12,  ^pIVJ  ;  that  "P^l 
has  not  altogether  displaced  ?"1I^'N2  KOnig  (Eitil.,  378)  thinks  a 
proof  of  the  date  of  Jonah  in  the  early  Aramaic  period,  iv,  6,  the  use 
of  i?  for  the  accusative,  cf.  Jer.  xl.  2,  Ezra  viii.  24 :  seldom  in  earlier 
Hebrew,  I  Sam.  xxiii.  lO,  2  Sam.  iii.  30,  especially  when  the  object 
stands  before  the  verb,  Isa.  xi.  9  (this  may  be  late),  I  Sam.  xxii.  7, 
Job  v.  2;  but  continually  in  Aramaic,  Dan.  ii.  10,  12,  14,  24,  etc. 
The  first  personal  pronoun  *3N  (five  times)  occurs  oftener  than 
^33i<  (twice),  just  as  in  all  exilic  and  post-exilic  writings.  The 
numerals  ii.  I,  iii.  3,  precede  the  noun,  as  in  earlier  Hebrew. 

B.  Words: — njD  in  Pi.  is  a  favourite  term  of  our  author,  ii.  I, 
iv.  6,  8 ;  is  elsewhere  in  O.T.  Hebrew  found  only  in  Dan.  i.  5,  10, 

18,  I  Chron.  ix.  29,  Psalm  Ixi.  8;  but  in  O.T.  Aramaic  N30  Pi. 
"••iD  occurs  in  Ezra  vii.  25,  Dan.  ii.  24,  49,  iii.  12,  etc.  n^DD,  i.  5, 
is  not  elsewhere  found  in  O.T.,  but  is  common  in  later  Hebrew 
and  in  Aramaic,  rit^ynn,  i.  6,  to  think,  for  the  Heb.  2^n,  cf.  Psalm 
cxlvi.  4,  but  Aram.  cf.  Dan.  vi.  4  and  Targums.  DJ?L3  in  the  sense 
to  order  or  command,  iii.  7,  is  found  elsewhere  in  the  O.T.  only  in 
the  Aramaic  passages  Dan.  iii.  10,  Ezra  vi.  i,  etc.  12"1,  iv.  II,  for 
the  earlier  n33"1  occurs  only  in  later  Hebrew,  Ezra  ii.  64,  Neh.  vii. 
66,  72,  I  Chron.  xxix.  7  (Hosea  viii.  12,  Kethibh  is  suspected). 
pniJ',  i.  II,  12,  occurs  only  in  Psalm  cvii.  30,  Prov.  xxvi.  20.  "POy, 
iv.  10,  instead  of  the  usual  yi\  The  expression  God  of  Heaven, 
i.  9,  occurs  only  2  Chron.  xxxvi.  23,  Psalm  cxxxvi.  26,  Dan.  ii.  l8, 

19,  44,  and  frequently  in  Ezra  and  Nehemiah. 

VOL.  II.  .3 


498  THE   TIVELVE  PROPHETS 


some  of  them  even  later  than  the  Exile.*  If  it  could 
be  proved  that  the  Book  of  Jonah  quotes  from  Joel, 
that  would  indeed  set  it  down  to  a  very  late  date — 
probably  about  300  b.c,  the  period  of  the  composition 
of  Ezra-Nehemiah,  with  the  language  of  which  its 
own  shows  most  affinity.^  This  would  leave  time  for 
its  reception  into  the  Canon  of  the  Prophets,  which 
was  closed  by  200  b.c.^  Had  the  book  been  later  it 
would  undoubtedly  have  fallen,  like  Daniel,  within  the 
Hagiographa, 

2.  The  Character  of  the  Book. 

Nor  does  this  book,  written  so  many  centuries  after 
Jonah  had  passed  away,  claim  to  be  real  history.  On 
the  contrary,  it  offers  to  us  all  the  marks  of  the  parable 
or   allegory.     We  have,  first  of  all,  the   residence   of 


'  In  chap.  iv.  there  are  undoubted  echoes  of  the  story  of  Elijah's 
depression  in  I  Kings  xix.,  though  the  alleged  parallel  between 
Jonah's  tree  (iv.  8)  and  Elijah's  broom-bush  seems  to  me  forced, 
iv.  9  has  been  thought,  though  not  conclusively,  to  depend  on  Gen. 
iv.  6,  and  the  appearance  of  DTI^N  Hin*  has  been  referred  to  its 
frequent  use  in  Gen.  ii.  f.  More  important  are  the  parallels  with 
Joel:  iii.  9  with  Joel  ii.  14a,  and  the  attributes  of  God  in  iv,  2  with 
Joel  ii.  13.     But  which  of  the  two  is  the  original? 

"  Kleinert  assigns  the  book  to  the  Exile;  Evvald  to  the  fifth  or  sixth 
century;  Driver  to  the  fifth  century  {Introd.^,  301)  ;  Orelli  to  the  last 
Chaldean  or  first  Persian  age ;  Vatke  to  the  third  century.  These  assign 
generally  to  after  the  Exile  :  Cheyne  {T/ieol.  Rev.,  XIV.,  p.  218  :  cf.  art. 
"Jonah  "in  the  Encycl.  Brit.'),  Kdnig  (Einl.),  Rob.  Smith,  Kuenen, 
Wildeboer,  Budde,  Cornill,  Farrar,  etc.  Hitzig  brings  it  down  as 
far  as  the  Maccabean  age,  which  is  impossible  if  the  prophetic  canon 
closed  in  200  b.c,  and  seeks  for  its  origin  in  Egypt,  "  that  land  ol 
wonders,"  on  account  of  its  fabulous  character,  and  because  of  the 
description  of  the  east  wind  as  n^K'^lfl  (iv.  8),  and  the  name  of  the 
gourd,  jVp^p,  Egyptian  kiki.  But  such  a  wind  and  such  a  plant  were 
found  outside  Egypt  as  well.     Now.^ick  dates  the  book  after  Joel. 

'  See  above,  Vol.  I.,  p.  5 


THE  BOOK  OF  JONAH  499 


Jonah  for  the  conventional  period  of  three  days  and 
three  nights  in  the  belly  of  the  great  fish,  a  story  not 
only  very  extraordinary  in  itself  and  sufficient  to  pro- 
voke the  suspicion  of  allegory  (we  need  not  stop  to 
argue  this),  but  apparently  woven,  as  we  shall  see/ 
from  the  materials  of  a  myth  well  known  to  the  Hebrews. 
We  have  also  the  very  general  account  of  Niniveh's 
conversion,  in  which  there  is  not  even  the  attempt  to 
describe  any  precise  event.  The  absence  of  precise 
data  is  indeed  conspicuous  throughout  the  book.  "  The 
author  neglects  a  multitude  of  things,  which  he  would 
have  been  obliged  to  mention  had  history  been  his 
principal  aim.  He  says  nothing  of  the  sins  of  which 
Niniveh  was  guilty,^  nor  of  the  journey  of  the  prophet 
to  Niniveh,  nor  does  he  mention  the  place  where  he 
was  cast  out  upon  the  land,  nor  the  name  of  the 
Assyrian  king.  In  any  case,  if  the  narrative  were 
intended  to  be  historical,  it  would  be  incomplete  by 
the  frequent  fact,  that  circumstances  which  are  neces- 
sary for  the  connection  of  events  are  mentioned  later 
than  they  happened,  and  only  where  attention  has  to 
be  directed  to  them  as  having  already  happened."  ^ 
We  find,  too,  a  number  of  trifling  discrepancies,  from 
which  some  critics  *  have  attempted  to  prove  the  pre- 
sence of  more  than  one  story  in  the  composition  of  the 
book,  but  which  are  simply  due  to  the  license  a  writer 
allows  himself  when  he  is  telling  a  tale  and  not  writing 
a  history.     Above  all,  there  is  the  abrupt  close  to  the 


'  Below,  pp.  523  flf. 

*  Contrast  the  treatment  of  foreign  states  by  Elisha,  Amos  arnJ 
Isaiah,  etc. 

'  Abridged  from  pp.  3  and  4  of  Kleinert's  Introduction  to  the  Book 
of  Jonah  in  Lange's  Series  of  Commentaries.     Eng.  ed.,  Vol.  XVI. 

'  KOhler,  Theol.  Rev.,  Vol.  XVI. ;  Bohme,  Z.A.T.VV.,  1887,  pp.  224  ff. 


500  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Story  at  the  very  moment  at  which  its  moral  is  obvious.' 
All  these  things  are  symptoms  of  the  parable — so 
obvious  and  so  natural,  that  we  really  sin  against  the 
intention  of  the  author,  and  the  purpose  of  the  Spirit 
which  inspired  him,  when  we  wilfully  interpret  the 
book  as  real  history.' 

3.  The  Purpose  of  the  Book. 

The  general  purpose  of  this  parable  is  very  clear. 
It  is  not,  as  some  have  maintained,'  to  explain  why 

'  Indeed  throughout  the  book  the  truths  it  enforces  are  always 
more  pushed  to  the  front  than  the  facts. 

'  Nearly  all  the  critics  who  accept  the  late  date  of  the  book 
interpret  it  as  parabolic.  See  also  a  powerful  article  by  the  late 
Dr.  Dale  in  the  Expositor,  Fourth  Series,  Vol.  VI.,  July  1892,  pp.  i  ff. 
Cf.,  too,  C.  H.  H.  Wright,  Biblical  Essays  (1886),  pp.  34-98. 

*  Marck  (quoted  by  Kleinert)  said  :  "  Scriptum  est  magna  parte 
historicum  sed  ita  ut  in  historia  ipsa  lateat  maximi  vaticinii  mysterium, 
atque  ipse  fatis  suis,  non  minus  quam  effatis  vatem  se  verum  demon- 
stret."  Hitzig  curiously  thinks  that  this  is  the  reason  why  it  has 
been  placed  in  the  Canon  of  the  Prophets  next  to  the  unfulfilled 
prophecy  of  God  against  Edom.  But  by  the  date  which  Hitzig  assigns 
to  the  book  the  prophecy  against  Edom  was  at  least  in  a  fair  way 
to  fulfilment.  Riehm  {Theol.  Stud.  u.  Krit.,  1862,  pp.  413  f.) :  "The 
practical  intention  of  the  book  is  to  afford  instruction  concerning  the 
proper  attitude  to  prophetic  warnings  ";  these,  though  genuine  words 
of  God,  may  be  averted  by  repentance.  Volck  (art.  "Jona"  in 
Herzog's  Real.  Encycl.^)  gives  the  following.  Jonah's  experience  is 
characteristic  of  the  whole  prophetic  profession.  "We  learn  from  it 
(l)  that  the  prophet  must  perform  what  God  commands  him,  however 
unusual  it  appears;  (2)  that  even  death  cannot  nullify  his  calling; 
(3)  that  the  prophet  has  no  right  to  the  fulfilment  of  his  prediction, 
but  must  place  it  in  God's  hand."  Vatke  {Einl.,  688)  maintains  that 
the  book  was  written  in  an  apologetic  interest,  when  Jews  ex- 
pounded the  prophets  and  found  this  difficulty,  that  all  their  predic- 
tions had  not  been  fulfilled.  "The  author  obviously  teaches:  (i) 
since  the  prophet  cannot  withdraw  from  the  Divine  commission,  he 
is  also  not  responsible  for  the  contents  of  his  predictions ;  (a)  the 
prophet  often  announces  Divine  purposes,   which    are  not    fulfilled, 


THE  BOOK   OF  JONAH  501 


the  judgments  of  God  and  the  predictions  of  His 
prophets  were  not  always  fulfilled — though  this  also 
becomes  clear  by  the  way.  The  purpose  of  the  parable, 
and  it  is  patent  from  first  to  last,  is  to  illustrate  the 
mission  of  prophecy  to  the  Gentiles,  God's  care  for  them, 
and  their  susceptibility  to  His  word.  More  correctly, 
it  is  to  enforce  all  this  truth  upon  a  prejudiced  and 
thrice-reluctant  mind.^ 

Whose  was  this  reluctant  mind  ?  In  Israel  after  the 
Exile  there  were  many  different  feelings  with  regard 
to  the  future  and  the  great  obstacle  which  heathendom 
interposed  between  Israel  and  the  future.  There  was 
the  feeling  of  outraged  justice,  with  the  intense  con- 
viction that  Jehovah's  kingdom  could  not  be  established 
save  by  the  overthrow  of  the  cruel  kingdoms  of  this 
world.  We  have  seen  that  conviction  expressed  in 
the  Book  of  Obadiah.  But  the  nation,  which  read  and 
cherished  the  visions  of  the  Great  Seer  of  the  Exile,^ 
could  not  help  producing  among  her  sons  men  with 
hopes  about  the  heathen  of  a  very  different  kind — men 
who  felt  that  Israel's  mission  to  the  world  was  not  one 


because  God  in  His  mercy  takes  back  the  threat,  when  repentance 
follows ;  (3)  the  honour  of  a  prophet  is  not  hurt  when  a  threat  is 
not  fulfilled,  and  the  inspiration  remains  unquestioned,  although  many 
predictions  are  not  carried  out." 

To  all  of  which  there  is  a  conclusive  answer,  in  the  fact  that,  had 
the  book  been  meant  to  explain  or  justify  unfulfilled  prophecy,  the 
author  would  certainly  not  have  chosen  as  an  instance  a  judgment 
against  Niniveh,  because,  by  the  time  he  wrote,  all  the  early  pre- 
dictions of  Niniveh's  fall  had  been  fulfilled,  we  might  say,  to  the 
very  letter. 

'  So  even  Kimchi ;  and  in  modern  times  De  Wette,  Delitzsch, 
Bleek,  Reuss,  Cheyne,  Wright,  KQiiig,  Farrar,  Orelli,  etc.  So  virtually 
also  Nowack.  Ewald's  view  is  a  littie  difl'erent.  He  thinks  that  the 
fundamental  truth  of  the  book  is  that  "  true  fear  and  repentance 
bring  salvation  from  Jehovah."  *  Isa.  xl.  ff. 


502  THE    TWELVE  PROPHETS 

of  war,  but  of  service  in  those  high  truths  of  God  and 
of  His  Grace  which  had  been  committed  to  herself 
Between  the  two  parties  it  is  certain  there  was  much 
polemic,  and  we  find  this  still  bitter  in  the  time  of  our 
Lord.  And  some  critics  think  that  while  Esther, 
Obadiah  and  other  writings  of  the  centuries  after  the 
Return  represent  the  one  side  of  this  polemic,  which 
demanded  the  overthrow  of  the  heathen,  the  Book  of 
Jonah  represents  the  other  side,  and  in  the  vexed  and 
reluctant  prophet  pictures  such  Jews  as  were  willing 
to  proclaim  the  destruction  of  the  enemies  of  Israel, 
and  yet  like  Jonah  were  not  without  the  lurking  fear 
that  God  would  disappoint  their  predictions  and  in  His 
patience  leave  the  heathen  room  for  repentance.^  Their 
dogmatism  could  not  resist  the  impression  of  how  long 
God  had  actually  spared  the  oppressors  of  His  people, 
and  the  author  of  the  Book  of  Jonah  cunningly  sought 
these  joints  in  their  armour  to  insinuate  the  points  oi 
his  doctrine  of  God's  real  will  for  nations  beyond  the 
covenant.  This  is  ingenious  and  plausible.  But  in 
spite  of  the  cleverness  with  which  it  has  been  argued 
that  the  details  of  the  story  of  Jonah  are  adapted  to 
the  temper  of  the  Jewish  party  who  desired  only 
vengeance  on  the  heathen,  it  is  not  at  all  necessary 
to  suppose  that  the  book  was  the  produce  of  mere 
polemic.  The  book  is  too  simple  and  too  grand  for 
that.  And  therefore  those  appear  more  right  who  con- 
ceive that  the  writer  had  in  view,  not  a  Jewish  part}', 
but  Israel  as  a  whole  in  their  national  reluctance  to 
fulfil  their  Divine  mission  to  the  world .^     Of  them  God 

'  So  virtually  Kiienen,  EiiiL,  II.,  p.  423;  Sraend,  Lehrbuch  de> 
A.  T.  Religionsgeschichle,  pp.  408  f.,  and  Nowack. 

■  That  the  book  is  a  historical  allegorj'  is  a  very  old  theory, 
Hermann   v.  d.  Hardt  {^»ig*nata  Prisci  Orbis,   1723  :    cf.  Jonas  in 


THE  BOOK  OF  JONAH  503 

had  already  said  :  Who  is  blind  but  My  set'vant,  or  deaj 
as  My  messenger  whom  I  have  sent  ?  .  .  .  Who  gave 
Jacob  for  a  spoil  and  Israel  to  the  robbers  ?  Did  not 
Jehovah,  He  against  whom  we  have  sinned? — for  they 
zvould  not  walk  in  His  ways,  neither  were  they  obedient  to 
His  law}  Of  such  a  people  Jonah  is  the  type.  Like 
them  he  flees  from  the  duty  God  has  laid  upon  him. 
Like  them  he  is,  beyond  his  own  land,  cast  for  a  set 
period  into  a  living  death,  and  like  them  rescued  again 
only  to  exhibit  once  more  upon  his  return  an  ill- 
will  to  believe  that  God  had  any  fate  for  the  heathen 
except  destruction.  According  to  this  theory,  then, 
Jonah^s  disappearance  in  the  sea  and  the  great  fish, 
and  his  subsequent  ejection  upon  dry  land,  symbolise 
the  Exile  of  Israel  and  their  restoration  to  Palestine. 

In  proof  of  this  view  it  has  been  pointed  out  that,  while 
the  prophets  frequently  represent  the  heathen  tyrants 
of  Israel  as  the  sea  or  the  sea-monster,  one  of  them  has 
actually  described  the  nation's  exile  as  its  swallowing 
by  a  monster,  whom  God  forces  at  last  to  disgorge  his 
living  prey.^     The  full  illustration  of  this  will  be  given 


Carchana,  Israel  in  Carcathio,  1718)  quoted  by  Vatke,  Einl.,  p.  686) 
found  in  the  book  a  political  allegory  of  the  history  of  Manasseh  le  J 
into  exile,  and  converted,  while  the  last  two  chapters  represent  the 
history  of  Josiah.  That  the  book  was  symbolic  in  some  way  of 
the  conduct  and  fortunes  of  Israel  was  a  view  familiar  in  Great 
Britain  during  the  first  half  of  this  century  :  see  the  Preface  to  the 
English  translation  of  Calvin  on  Jonah  (1847).  Kleinert  (in  his 
commentary  on  Jonah  in  Lange's  Series,  Vol.  XVI.  English  translation, 
1874)  was  one  of  the  first  to  expound  with  details  the  symbolising 
of  Israel  in  the  prophet  Jonah.  Then  came  the  article  in  the  Theol. 
Review  (XIV.  1877,  pp.  214  ff.)  by  Cheyne,  following  Bloch's  Studien 
s.  Gesch.  der  SaM'.mlutig  'ier  althebrdischen  Litteratur  (Breslau,  1876); 
but  adding  the  explanation  of  the  great  fish  from  Hebrew  mythologj- 
(see  below).  Von  Orelli  quotes  Kleinert  with  approval  in  the  main. 
'  Isa.  xlii.   19-24.  ^  Jer.  li.  34,  44  f. 


504  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

in  Chapter  XXXVI.  on  "  The  Great  Fish  and  What  it 
Means."  Here  it  is  only  necessary  to  mention  that  the 
metaphor  was  borrowed,  not,  as  has  been  alleged  by 
many,  from  some  Greek,  or  other  foreign,  myth,  which, 
like  that  of  Perseus  and  Andromeda,  had  its  scene 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Joppa,  but  from  a  Semitic 
mythology  which  was  well  known  to  the  Hebrews,  and 
the  materials  of  which  were  employed  very  frequently 
by  other  prophets  and  poets  of  the  Old  Testament.^ 
Why,  of  all  prophets,  Jonah  should  have  been  selected 
as  the  type  of  Israel,  is  a  question  hard  but  perhaps 
not  impossible  to  answer.  In  history  Jonah  appears 
only  as  concerned  with  Israel's  reconquest  of  her  lands 
from  the  heathen.  Did  the  author  of  the  book  say  : 
I  will  take  such  a  man,  one  to  whom  tradition  attri- 
butes no  outlook  beyond  Israel's  own  territories,  for 
none  could  be  so  typical  of  Israel,  narrow,  selfish  and 
with  no  love  for  the  world  beyond  herself?  Or  did 
the  author  know  some  story  about  a  journey  of  Jonah 
to  Niniveh,  or  at  least  some  discourse  by  Jonah  against 
the  great  city  ?     Elijah  went  to  Sarepta,  Elisha  took 

'  That  the  Book  of  Jonah  employs  mythical  elements  is  an  opinion 
that  has  prevailed  since  the  beginning  of  this  century.  But  before 
Semitic  mythology  was  so  well  known  as  it  is  now,  these  mythical 
elements  were  thought  to  have  been  derived  from  the  Greek  myth- 
ology. So  Gesenius,  De  Wette,  and  even  Knobel,  but  see  especially 
F.  C.  Baur  in  Ilgen's  Zeitschri/t  for  1837,  p.  201.  Kuenen  (Eml.,  424) 
and  Cheyne  {Theol.  Rev.,  XIV.)  rightly  deny  traces  of  any  Greek 
influence  on  Jonah,  and  their  denial  is  generally  agreed  in. 

Kleinert  {op.  cit.,  p.  10)  points  to  the  proper  source  in  the  native 
mythology  of  the  Hebrews :  "  The  sea-monster  is  by  no  means 
an  unusual  phenomenon  in  prophetic  typology.  It  is  the  secular 
power  appointed  by  God  for  the  scourge  of  Israel  and  of  the  earth 
(Isa.  xxvii.  i)";  and  Cheyne  (JTheol.  Rev.,  XIV.,  "Jonah  :  a  Study  in 
Jewish  Folk-lore  and  Religion  ")  points  out  how  Jer.  li.  34,  44  f.,  forms 
the  connecting  link  between  the  story  of  Jonah  and  the  popular 
mythology. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JONAH  505 

God's  word  to  Damascus :  may  there  not  have  been, 
though  we  are  ignorant  of  it,  some  connection  between 
Niniveh  and  the  labours  of  Elisha's  successor  ?  Thirty 
years  after  Jonah  appeared,  Amos  proclaimed  the 
judgment  of  Jehovah  upon  foreign  nations,  with  the 
destruction  of  their  capitals;  about  the  year  755  he 
clearly  enforced,  as  equal  with  Israel's  own,  the  moral 
responsibility  of  the  heathen  to  the  God  of  righteous- 
ness. May  not  Jonah,  almost  the  contemporary  of 
Amos,  have  denounced  Niniveh  in  the  same  way  ? 
Would  not  some  tradition  of  this  serve  as  the  nucleus 
of  history,  round  which  our  author  built  his  allegory  ? 
It  is  possible  that  Jonah  proclaimed  doom  upon 
Niniveh ;  yet  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  prophesy- 
ing of  Amos,  Hosea,  and,  in  his  younger  days,  Isaiah, 
will  deem  it  hardly  probable.  For  why  do  all  these 
prophets  exhibit  such  reserve  in  even  naming  Assyria, 
if  Israel  had  already  through  Jonah  entered  into  such 
articulate  relations  with  Niniveh  ?  We  must,  therefore, 
admit  our  ignorance  of  the  reasons  which  led  our  author 
to  choose  Jonah  as  a  type  of  Israel.  We  can  only 
conjecture  that  it  may  have  been  because  Jonah  was 
a  prophet,  whom  history  identified  only  with  Israel's 
narrower  interests.  If,  during  subsequent  centuries, 
a  tradition  had  risen  of  Jonah's  journey  to  Niniveh  or 
of  his  discourse  against  her,  such  a  tradition  has 
probability  against  it. 

A  more  definite  origin  for  the  book  than  any  yet 
given  has  been  suggested  by  Professor  Budde.^  The 
Second  Book  of  Chronicles  refers  to  a  Midrash  of  the 
Book  of  the.  Kings  "^  for  further  particulars  concerning 

'  Z.A.T.W.,  1892,  pp.  4oflf. 
*  2  Chron.  xxiv.  27. 


5o6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


King  Joash.  A  Midrash^  was  the  expansion,  for 
doctrinal  or  homiletic  purposes,  of  a  passage  of 
Scripture,  and  very  frequently  took  the  form,  so  dear 
to  Orientals,  of  parable  or  invented  story  about  the 
subject  of  the  text.  We  have  examples  of  Midrashim 
among  the  Apocrypha,  in  the  Books  of  Tobit  and 
Susannah  and  in  the  Prayer  of  Manasseh,  the  same  as 
is  probably  referred  to  by  the  Chronicler.^  That  the 
Chronicler  himself  used  the  Midrash  of  the  Book  of  the 
Kings  as  material  for  his  own  book  is  obvious  from  the 
form  of  the  latter  and  its  adaptation  of  the  historical 
narratives  of  the  Book  of  Kings.'  The  Book  of  Daniel 
may  also  be  reckoned  among  the  Midrashim,  and 
Budde  now  proposes  to  add  to  their  number  the  Book 
of  Jonah.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  this  distinguished 
critic  is  right  in  supposing  that  the  book  formed  the 
Midrash  to  2  Kings  xiv.  25  ff.  (the  author  being 
desirous  to  add  to  the  expression  there  of  Jehovah's 
pity  upon  Israel  some  expression  of  His  pity  upon  the 
heathen),  or  that  it  was  extracted  just  as  it  stands,  in 
proof  of  which  Budde  points  to  its  abrupt  beginning 
and  end.  We  have  seen  another  reason  for  the 
latter;*  and  it  is  very  improbable  that  the  Midrashim, 
so  largely  the  basis  of  the  Books  of  Chronicles,  shared 
that  spirit  of  universalism  which  inspires  the  Book  of 
Jonah.*  But  we  may  well  believe  that  it  was  in  some 
Midrash  of  the  Book  of  Kings  that  the  author  of  the 
Book  of  Jonah  found  the  basis  of  the  latter  part  of 
his    immortal    work,    which    too    clearly    refl:cts    the 

•  Cf.  Driver,  Introduction,  I.,  p.  497. 
'  2  Chron.  xxxiii.  18. 

'  See  Robertson  Smith,  Old  Test,  in  the  Jewish  Church,  pp.  140, 154, 

•  See  above,  pp.  499  f. 

•  Cf.  Smend,  A.  T,  Religion'^geschichte,  p.  409,  n.  i. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JONAH  507 

fortunes  and  conduct  of  all  Israel  to  have  been  wholly 
drawn  from  a  Midrash  upon  the  story  of  the  individual 
prophet  Jonah. 

4.  Our  Lord's  Use  of  the  Book. 

We  have  seen,  then,  that  the  Book  of  Jonah  is  not 
actual  history,  but  the  enforcement  of  a  profound 
religious  truth  nearer  to  the  level  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment than  anything  else  in  the  Old,  and  cast  in  the 
form  of  Christ's  own  parables.  The  full  proof  of  this 
can  be  made  clear  only  by  the  detailed  exposition  of 
the  book.  There  is,  however,  one  other  question, 
which  is  relevant  to  the  argument.  Christ  Himself 
has  employed  the  story  of  Jonah.  Does  His  use  of  it 
involve  His  authority  for  the  opinion  that  it  is  a  story 
of  real  facts  ? 

Two  passages  of  the  Gospels  contain  the  words  of 
our  Lord  upon  Jonah  :  Matt.  xii.  39,  41,  and  Luke  xi. 
29»  30.^  A  generation,  wicked  and  adulterous,  seeketh  a 
sign,  and  sign  shall  not  be  given  it,  save  the  sign  of  the 

'  Matt.  xii.  40 — For  as  Jonah  was  in  the  belly  of  the  whale  three 
days  and  three  titghts,  so  shall  the  Son  of  Man  be  in  the  heart  of  the 
earth  three  days  and  three  nights — is  not  repeated  in  Luke  xi.  29,  30, 
which  confines  the  sign  to  the  preaching  of  repentance,  and  is 
suspected  as  an  intrusion  both  for  this  and  other  reasons,  e.g.  that 
ver.  40  is  superfluous  and  does  not  fit  in  with  ver.  41,  which  gives  the 
proper  explanation  of  the  sign ;  that  Jonah,  who  came  by  his  burial 
in  the  fish  through  neglect  of  his  duty  and  not  by  martyrdom,  could 
not  therefore  in  this  respect  be  a  type  of  our  Lord.  On  the  other 
hand,  ver,  40  is  not  unlike  another  reference  of  our  Lord  to  His 
resurrection,  John  ii.  19  ff.  Yet,  even  if  ver.  40  be  genuine,  the  vague- 
ness of  the  parallel  drawn  in  it  between  Jonah  and  our  Lord  surely 
makes  for  the  opinion  that  in  quoting  Jonah  our  Lord  was  not 
concerned  about  quoting  facts,  but  simply  gave  an  illustration  from 
a  well-known  tale.  Matt.  xvi.  4,  where  the  sign  of  Jonah  is  acain 
mentioned,  does  not  explain  the  sign. 


So8  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

prophet  Jonah.  .  .  .  The  men  of  Niniveh  shall  stand  up 
in  the  Judgment  with  this  generation,  and  condemn  it,  for 
they  repented  at  the  preaching  of  Jonah,  and  behold,  a 
greater  than  Jonah  is  here.  This  generation  is  an  evil 
generation  :  it  seeketh  a  sign;  and  sign  shall  not  be  given 
it,  except  the  sign  of  Jonah.  For  as  Jonah  was  a  sign 
to  the  Ninivites,  so  also  shall  the  Son  of  Man  be  to  this 
generation. 

These  words,  of  course,  are  compatible  with  the 
opinion  that  the  Book  of  Jonah  is  a  record  of  real  fact. 
The  only  question  is,  are  they  also  compatible  with  the 
opinion  that  the  Book  of  Jonah  is  a  parable  ?  Many 
say  No ;  and  they  allege  that  those  of  us  who  hold 
this  opinion  are  denying,  or  at  least  ignoring,  the 
testimony  of  our  Lord  ;  or  that  we  are  taking  away 
the  whole  force  of  the  parallel  which  He  drew.  This 
is  a  question  of  interpretation,  not  of  faith.  We  do 
not  believe  that  our  Lord  had  any  thought  of  con- 
firming or  not  confirming  the  historic  character  of  the 
story.  His  purpose  was  purely  one  of  exhortation, 
and  we  feel  the  grounds  of  that  exhortation  to  be  just 
as  strong,  when  we  have  proven  the  Book  of  Jonah 
to  be  a  parable.  Christ  is  using  an  illustration  :  it 
surely  matters  not  whether  that  illustration  be  drawn 
from  the  realms  of  fact  or  of  poetry.  Again  and  again 
in  their  discourses  to  the  people  do  men  use  illustra- 
tions and  enforcements  drawn  from  traditions  of  the 
past.  Do  we,  even  when  the  historical  value  of  these 
traditions  is  very  ambiguous,  give  a  single  thought  to 
the  question  of  their  historical  character?  We  never 
think  of  it.  It  is  enough  for  us  that  the  tradition  is 
popularly  accepted  and  familiar.  And  we  cannot  deny 
to  our  Lord  that  which  we  claim  for  ourselves.^     Even 

*  Take  a  case.     Suppose  we  tell  slothful  people  that  theirs  will  be 


THE  BOOK   OF  JONAH  509 

conservative  vvrriters  admit  this.  In  his  recent  Intro- 
duction to  Jonah  Orelli  says  expressly  :  "  It  is  not, 
indeed,  proved  with  conclusive  necessity  that,  if  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  was  a  physical  fact,  Jonah's  abode 
in  the  fish's  belly  must  also  be  just  as  historical."^ 

Upon  the  general  question  of  our  Lord's  authority 
in  matters  of  criticism.  His  own  words  with  regard  to 
personal  questions  may  be  appositely  quoted :  Man, 
who  made  Me  a  judge  or  divider  over  you  ?  I  am  come 
not  to  judge  .  .  .  but  to  save.  Such  matters  our  Lord 
surely  leaves  to  ourselves,  and  we  have  to  decide  them 
by  our  reason,  our  common-sense  and  our  loyalty  to 
truth — of  all  of  which  He  Himself  is  the  creator,  and 
of  which  we  shall  have  to  render  to  Him  an  account 
at  the  last.  Let  us  remember  this,  and  we  shall  use 
them  with  equal  liberty  and  reverence.  Bringing  every 
thought  into  subjection  to  Christ  is  surely  just  using  our 
knowledge,  our  reason,  and  every  other  intellectual 
gift  which  He  has  given  us,  with  the  accuracy  and 
the  courage  of  His  own  Spirit. 

5.  The  Unity  of  the  Book. 

The  next  question  is  that  of  the  Unity  of  the  Book. 
Several  attempts  have  been  made  to  prove  from  dis- 
crepancies, some  real  and  some  alleged,  that  tJ=»e  book 
is  a  compilation  of  stories  from  several  different  hands. 

the  fate  of  the  man  who  buried  his  talent,  is  this  to  commit  u*  to  the 
belief  that  the  personages  of  Christ's  parables  actually  existed  ?  Or 
take  the  homiletic  use  of  Shakespeare's  dramas — "  as  Macbett>  did," 
or  "as  Hamlet  said."  Does  it  commit  us  to  the  historical  real;ty  of 
Macbeth  or  Hamlet  ?  Any  preacher  among  us  would  resent  b<jing 
bound  by  such  an  inference.  And  if  we  resent  this  for  ourselves,  h«w 
chary  we  should  be  about  seeking  to  bind  our  Lord  by  it. 

'  Eng.  trans,  of  The  Twelve  Minor  Prophets,  p.  172.     Consult  al» 
Farrar's  judicious  paragraphs  on  the  subject  :  Minor  Prophets,  234  f. 


THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 


But  these  essays  are  too  artificial  to  have  obtained  any 
adherence  from  critics ;  and  the  few  real  discrepancies 
of  narrative  from  which  they  start  are  due,  as  we  have 
seen,  rather  to  the  license  of  a  writer  of  parable  than 
to  any  difference  of  authorship.* 

In  the  question  of  the  Unity  of  the  Book,  the  Prayer 
or  Psalm  in  chap,  ii,  offers  a  problem  of  its  own,  con- 
sisting as  it  does  almost  entirely  of  passages  parallel 
to  others  in  the  Psalter.     Besides  a  number  of  religious 


'  The  two  attempts  which  have  been  made  to  divide  the  Book  of 
Jonah  are  those  by  Kohler  in  the  Theol.  Rev.,  XVI.  139  ff.,  and  by 
Bcihme  in  the  Z.A.T.IV.,  VII.  224  ff.  Kohler  first  insists  on  traits  of 
an  earlier  age  (rude  conception  of  God,  no  sharp  boundary  drawn 
between  heathens  and  the  Hebrews,  etc.),  and  then  finds  traces  of  a 
late  revision  :  lacuna  in  i.  2;  hesitation  in  iii.  I,  in  the  giving  of  the 
prophet's  commission,  v\-hich  is  not  pure  Hebrew ;  change  of  three 
daj's  to  forty  (cf.  LXX.);  mention  of  unnamed  king  and  his  edict, 
which  is  superfluous  after  the  popular  movement ;  beasts  sharing 
in  mourning;  also  in  i.  5,  8,  9,  14,  ii.  2,  T\y\  iii.  9,  iv.  I-4,  as  dis- 
turbing context ;  also  the  building  of  a  booth  is  superfluous,  and  only 
invented  to  account  for  Jonah  remaining  forty  days  instead  of  the 
original  three  ;  iv.  6,  Ik^'NI  7)i  7^*  nVH?  for  an  original  'I?  b^\b  =» 
to  offer  him  shade ;  7,  the  worm,  JiyT'in,  due  to  a  copyist's  change  of 
the  following  rivV^.  Withdrawing  these,  Kohler  gets  an  account 
of  the  sparing  of  Niniveh  on  repentance  following  a  sentence  of 
doom,  which,  he  says,  reflects  the  position  of  the  city  of  God  in 
Jeremiah's  time,  and  was  due  to  Jeremiah's  opponents,  who  said  in 
answer  to  his  sentence  of  doom  :  If  Niniveh  could  avert  her  fate, 
why  not  Jerusalem  ?  Bohme's  conclusion,  starting  from  the  alleged 
contradictions  in  the  story,  is  that  no  fewer  than  four  hands  have 
had  to  deal  with  it.  A  sufficient  answer  is  given  by  Kuenen  (Einl., 
426  ff.),  who,  after  analysing  the  dissection,  says  that  its  "  improba- 
bility is  immediately  evident."  With  regard  to  the  inconsistencies 
which  BOhme  alleges  to  exist  in  chap.  iii.  between  ver.  5  and  vv.  6-9, 
Kuenen  remarks  that  "  all  that  is  needed  for  their  explanation  is 
a  little  good-will  " — a  phrase  applicable  to  many  other  difficulties 
raised  with  regard  to  other  Old  Testament  books  by  critical  attempts 
even  more  rational  than  those  of  BOhme.  Cornill  characterises 
Bohme's  hypothesis  as  absurd. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JONAH  ^U 


phrases,  which  are  too  general  for  us  to  say  that  one 
prayer  has  borrowed  them  from  another,^  there  are 
several  unmistakeable  repetitions  of  the  Psalms.* 

And  yet  the  Psalm  of  Jonah  lias  strong  features, 
which,  so  far  as  we  know,  are  original  to  it.  The  horror 
of  the  great  deep  has  nowhere  in  the  Old  Testament 
been  described  with  such  power  or  with  such  con- 
ciseness. So  far,  then,  the  Psalm  is  not  a  mere  string 
of  quotations,  but  a  living  unity.  Did  the  author  of 
the  book  himself  insert  it  where  it  stands?  Against 
this  it  has  been  urged  that  the  Psalm  is  not  the  prayer 
of  a  man  inside  a  fish,  but  of  one  who  on  dry  land 
celebrates  a  deliverance  from  drowning,  and  that  if  the 
author  of  the  narrative  himself  had  inserted  it,  he 
would  rather  have  done  so  after  ver.  ii,  which  records 
the  prophet's  escape  from  the  fish.^  And  a  usual  theory 
of  the  origin  of  the  Psalm  is  that  a  later  editor,  having 
found  the  Psalm  ready-made  and  in  a  collection  where 
it  was  perhaps  attributed  to  Jonah,*  inserted  it  after 
ver.  2,  which  records  that  Jonah  did  pray  from  the 
belly  of  the  fish,  and  inserted  it  there  the  more  readily, 
because  it  seemed  right  for  a  book  which  had  found 
its  place  among  the  Twelve  Prophets  to  contribute, 
as  all  the  others  did,  some  actual  discourse  of  the 
prophet  whose  name  it  bore.^  This,  however,  is  not 
probable.       Whether    the    original    author    found    the 

'  To  Thy  holy  temple,  vv.  5  and  8 :  cf.  Psalm  v.  8,  etc.  The  waters 
have  come  round  me  to  my  very  soul,  ver.  6  ;  cf.  Psalm  Ixix.  2.  And 
Thou  bronghtest  up  my  life,  ver.  7  :  cf.  Psalm  xxx.  4.  When  my  soul 
fainted  upon  me,  ver.  8 :  cf.  Psalm  cxlii.  4,  etc.  With  the  voice  oj 
thanksgiving,  ver.  10:  cf.  Psalm  xlii.  5.     The  reff.  are  to  the  Heb.  text. 

''  Cf.  ver.  3  with  Psalm  xviii.  7  ;  ver.  4  with  Psalm  xlii.  8;  ver,  5 
with  Psalm  xxxi.  23  ;  ver.  9  with  Psalm  xxxi.  7,  and  ver.  10  with 
Psalm  1.  14.  *  De  Wette,  Knobel,  Kuenen. 

*  Budde,  as  .ibove,  p.  42.  *  Budde. 


512  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

Psalm  ready  to  his  hand  or  made  it,  there  is  a  great 
deal  to  be  said  for  the  opinion  of  the  earlier  critics/  that 
he  himself  inserted  it,  and  just  where  it  now  stands. 
For,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  writer,  Jonah  was 
already  saved,  when  he  was  taken  up  by  the  fish — 
saved  from  the  deep  into  which  he  had  been  cast  by 
the  sailors,  and  the  dangers  of  which  the  Psalm  so 
vividly  describes.  However  impossible  it  be  for  us  to 
conceive  of  the  compilation  of  a  Psalm  (even  though 
full  of  quotations)  by  a  man  in  Jonah's  position,"  it 
was  consistent  with  the  standpoint  of  a  writer  who  had 
just  affirmed  that  the  fish  was  expressly  appointed  by 
Jehovah,  in  order  to  save  his  penitent  servant  from  the 
sea.  To  argue  that  the  Psalm  is  an  intrusion  is  there- 
fore not  only  unnecessary,  but  it  betrays  failure  to 
appreciate  the  standpoint  of  the  writer.  Given  the  fish 
and  the  Divine  purpose  of  the  fish,  the  Psalm  is 
intelligible  and  appears  at  its  proper  place.  It  were 
more  reasonable  indeed  to  argue  that  the  fish  itself  is 
an  insertion.  Besides,  as  we  shall  see,  the  spirit  of 
the  Psalm  is  national ;  in  conformity  with  the  truth 
underlying  the  book,  it  is  a  Psalm  of  Israel  as  a  whole. 
If  this  be  correct,  we  have  the  Book  of  Jonah  as  it 
came  from  the  hands  of  its  author.  The  text  is  in 
wonderfully  good  condition,  due  to  the  ease  of  the 
narrative    and    its    late    date.       The    Greek    version 

'  E.g.  Hitzig. 

•  Luther  says  of  Jonah's  prayer,  that  "he  did  not  speak  with  these 
exact  words  in  the  belly  of  the  fish,  nor  placed  them  so  orderl}',  but 
he  shows  how  he  took  courage,  and  what  sort  of  thoughts  his  heart 
had,  when  he  stood  in  such  a  battle  with  death."  We  recognise  in 
this  Psalm  "  the  recollection  of  the  confidence  with  which  Jonah 
hoped  towards  God,  that  since  he  had  been  rescued  in  so  wonderful 
a  way  from  death  in  the  waves,  He  would  also  bring  him  out  of  the 
night  of  his  grave  into  the  light  of  day." 


THE  BOOK  OF  JONAH  513 

exhibits  the  usual  proportion  of  clerical  errors  and  mis- 
translations/ omissions  ^  and  amplifications/  with  some 
variant  readings*  and  other  changes  that  will  be  noted 
in  the  verses  themselves. 


'  ii.  5,  B  has  \a6v  for  vabv  ;  i.  9,  for  *"l3y  it  reads  HSy,  and  takes  the 
'  to  be  abbreviation  for  TW'iV  •  ii.  7,  for  ny^  it  reads  vy3,  and  trans- 
lates /cctroxot;  iv.  II,  for  nil'J^'  it  reads  13i^",  and  translates  KCiToiKodai, 

*  i.  4,  ri?nJ,  perhaps  rightly  omitted  before  following  ^JHi;  i.  8, 
B  omits  the  clause  ^kJ'N2  to  137,  probably  rightly,  for  it  is  needless, 
though  supplied  by  Codd.  A,  Q ;  iii.  9,  one  verb,  ixeravo^aeu,  for 
DnOI  ^W^,  probably  correctly,  see  below. 

'  i.  2,  ri  Kpavyr}  t^s  kukIus  for  DOy"!;  ii.  3,  rdv  6e6v  fxov  after  niiT; 
ii.  10,  in  obedience  to  another  reading ;  iii.  2,  rbtfj-irpocyOen  after  iTNTp; 

ui  8,  -yovh. 

*  iii.  4.  8. 


VOL  n.  33 


CHAPTER    XXXV 

THE    GREAT   REFUSAL 
Jonah  i 

WE  have  now  laid  clear  the  lines  upon  which  the 
Book  of  Jonah  was  composed.  Its  purpose  is 
to  illustrate  God's  grace  to  the  heathen  in  face  of  His 
people's  refusal  to  fulfil  their  mission  to  them.  The 
author  was  led  to  achieve  this  purpose  by  a  parable, 
through  which  the  prophet  Jonah  moves  as  the  symbol 
of  his  recusant,  exiled,  redeemed  and  still  hardened 
people.  It  is  the  Drama  of  Israel's  career,  as  the 
Servant  of  God,  in  the  most  pathetic  moments  of  that 
career.  A  nation  is  stumbling  on  the  highest  road 
nation  was  ever  called  to  tread. 

Who  is  blind  but  My  servant^ 

Or  deaf  as  My  messenger  whom  I  have  sent? 

He  that  would  read  this  Drama  aright  must  remember 
what  lies  behind  the  Great  Refusal  which  forms  its 
tragedy.  The  cause  of  Israel's  recusancy  was  not  onh- 
wilfulness  or  cowardly  sloth,  but  the  horror  of  a  whole 
world  given  over  to  idolatry,  the  paralysing  sense  of 
its  irresistible  force,  of  its  cruel  persecutions  endured 
for  centuries,  and  of  the  long  famine  of  Heaven's 
justice.  These  it  was  which  had  filled  Israel's  eyes 
too  full  of  fever   to   see   her  duty.      Only  when  we 

5*4 


Jonah i.]  THE  GREAT  REFUSAL  515 

feel,  as  the  writer  himself  felt,  all  this  tragic  back- 
ground to  his  story  are  we  able  to  appreciate  the  ex- 
quisite gleams  which  he  flashes  across  it :  the  generous 
vnagnanimity  of  the  heathen  sailors,  the  repentance  of 
the  heathen  city,  and,  lighting  from  above,  God's  pity 
upon  the  dumb  heathen  multitudes. 

The  parable  or  drama  divides  itself  into  three  parts  : 
The  Prophet's  Flight  and  Turning  (chap,  i.) ;  The  Great 
Fish  and  What  it  Means  (chap,  ii.) ;  and  The  Repent- 
ance of  the  City  (chaps,  iii.  and  iv.). 

The  chief  figure  of  the  story  is  Jonah,  son  of 
Amittai,  from  Gath-hepher  in  Galilee,  a  prophet  identi- 
fied with  that  turn  in  Israel's  fortunes,  by  which  she 
began  to  defeat  her  Syrian  oppressors,  and  win  back 
from  them  her  own  territories — a  prophet,  therefore, 
of  revenge,  and  from  the  most  bitter  of  the  heathen 
wars.  And  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  to  Jonah y  the  son 
of  Amittai,  saying,  Up,  go  to  Niniveh,  the  Great  City, 
and  cry  out  against  her,  for  her  evil  is  come  up  before 
Me.  But  he  arose  to  flee.  It  was  not  the  length  of  the 
road,  nor  the  danger  of  declaring  Niniveh's  sin  to 
her  face,  which  turned  him,  but  the  instinct  that  God 
intended  by  him  something  else  than  Niniveh's  de- 
struction ;  and  this  instinct  sprang  from  his  knowledge 
of  God  Himself  Ah  now,  Jehovah,  was  not  my  word, 
while  I  was  yet  upon  mine  own  soil,  at  the  time  I  made 
ready  to  flee  to  Tarshish,  this — that  I  knew  that  Thou 
art  a  God  gracious  and  tender  and  long-suffering 
plenteous  in  love  and  relenting  of  evil?^  Jonah  in- 
terpreted the  Word  which  came  to  him  by  the  Character 
which  he  knew  to  be  behind  the  Word.  This  is  a 
significant  hint  upon  the  method  of  revelation. 


Sl6  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

It  would  be  rash  to  say  that,  in  imputing  even  to 
the  historical  Jonah  the  fear  of  God's  grace  upon  the 
heathen,  our  author  were  guilty  of  an  anachronism.* 
We  have  to  do,  however,  with  a  greater  than  Jonah 
— the  nation  herself.  Though  perhaps  Israel  little 
reflected  upon  it,  the  instinct  can  never  have  been  far 
away  that  some  day  the  grace  of  Jehovah  might  reach 
the  heathen  too.  Such  an  instinct,  of  course,  must 
have  been  almost  stifled  by  hatred  born  of  heathen 
oppression,  as  well  as  by  the  intellectual  scorn  which 
Israel  came  to  feel  for  heathen  idolatries.  But  we 
may  believe  that  it  haunted  even  those  dark  periods 
in  which  revenge  upon  the  Gentiles  seemed  most  just, 
and  their  destruction  the  only  means  ot  establishing 
God's  kingdom  in  the  world.  We  know  that  it  moved 
uneasily  even  beneath  the  rigour  of  Jewish  legalism. 
For  its  secret  was  that  faith  in  the  essential  grace  of 
God,  which  Israel  gained  very  early  and  never  lost, 
and  which  was  the  spring  of  every  new  conviction  and 
every  reform  in  her  wonderful  development.  With  a 
subtle  appreciation  of  all  this,  our  author  imputes  the 
instinct  to  Jonah  from  the  outset.  Jonah's  fear,  that 
after  all  the  heathen  may  be  spared,  reflects  the  rest- 
less apprehension  even  of  the  most  exclusive  of  his 
people — an  apprehension  which  by  the  time  our  book 

•  For  the  grace  of  God  had  been  the  most  formative  influence  in 
the  early  religion  of  Israel  (see  Vol.  I.,  p.  19),  and  Amos,  only 
thirty  years  after  Jonah,  emphasised  the  moral  equality  of  Israel 
and  the  Gentiles  before  the  one  God  of  righteousness.  Given  these 
two  premisses  of  God's  essential  grace  and  the  moral  responsibility 
of  the  heathen  to  Him,  and  the  conclusion  could  never  have  been 
far  away  that  in  the  end  His  essential  grace  must  reach  the  heathen 
too.  Indeed  in  sayings  not  later  than  the  eighth  century  it  is 
foretold  that  Israel  shall  become  a  blessing  to  the  whole  world. 
Our  author,  then,  may  have  been  guiltj^  of  no  anachronism  in 
imputing  such  a  foreboding  to  Jonah. 


Jonah i.]  THE   GREAT  REFUSAL  517 

was  written  seemed  to  be  still  more  justified  by  God's 
long  delay  of  doom  upon  the  tyrants  whom  He  had 
promised  to  overthrow. 

But  to  the  natural  man  in  Israel  the  possibility  of 
the  heathen's  repentance  was  still  so  abhorrent,  that 
he  turned  his  back  upon  it.  Jonah  rose  io  flee  to 
Tarshish  from  the  face  of  Jehovah.  In  spite  of  recent 
arguments  to  the  contrary,  the  most  probable  location 
of  Tarshish  is  the  generally  accepted  one,  that  it  was 
a  Phoenician  colony  at  the  other  end  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. In  any  case  it  was  far  from  the  Holy  Land  ; 
and  by  going  there  the  prophet  would  put  the  sea 
between  himself  and  his  God.  To  the  Hebrew 
imagination  there  could  not  be  a  flight  more  remote. 
Israel  was  essentially  an  inland  people.  They  had 
come  up  out  of  the  desert,  and  they  had  practically 
never  yet  touched  the  Mediterranean.  They  lived  within 
sight  of  it,  but  from  ten  to  twenty  miles  of  foreign 
soil  intervened  between  their  mountains  and  its  stormy 
coast.  The  Jews  had  no  traffic  upon  the  sea,  nor  (but 
for  one  sublime  instance^  to  the  contrary)  had  their 
poets  ever  employed  it  except  as  a  symbol  of  arrogance 
and  restless  rebellion  against  the  will  of  God.*  It  was 
all  this  popular  feeling  of  the  distance  and  strangeness 
of  the  sea  which  made  our  author  choose  it  as  the 
scene  of  the  prophet's  flight  from  the  face  of  Israel's 
God.  Jonah  had  to  pass,  too,  through  a  foreign  land 
to  get  to  the  coast  :  upon  the  sea  he  would  only  be 
among  heathen.  This  was  to  be  part  of  his  conversion. 
He  went  down  to  Yapho,  and  found  a  ship  going  to 
Tarshish,  and  paid  the  fare  thereof  and  embarked  on  her 

'  Second  Isaiah.     See  chap.  Ix. 

*  See  the  author's  Hist.  Geog.  of  the  Holy  Land.  pp.  131-1^4 


5i8  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

to  get  away  with  her  crew  ^  to  Tarshish — away  from  the 
face  of  Jehovah. 

The  scenes  which  follow  are  very  vivid  :  the  sudden 
wind  sweeping  down  from  the  very  hills  on  which 
Jonah  believed  he  had  left  his  God ;  the  tempest ;  the 
behaviour  of  the  ship,  so  alive  with  effort  that  the 
story  attributes  to  her  the  feelings  of  a  living  thing 
— she  thought  she  must  be  broken;  the  despair  of  the 
mariners,  driven  from  the  unity  of  their  common  task 
to  the  hopeless  diversity  of  their  idolatry — they  cried 
every  man  unto  his  own  god;  the  jettisoning  of  the 
tackle  of  the  ship  to  lighten  her  (as  we  should  say, 
they  let  the  masts  go  by  the  board) ;  the  worn-out 
prophet  in  the  hull  of  the  ship,  sleeping  like  a  stow- 
away ;  the  group  gathered  on  the  heaving  deck  to  cast 
the  lot ;  the  passenger's  confession,  and  the  new  fear 
which  fell  upon  the  sailors  from  it ;  the  reverence  with 
which  these  rude  men  ask  the  advice  of  him,  in  whose 
guilt  they  feel  not  the  offence  to  themselves,  but  the 
sacredness  to  God ;  the  awakening  of  the  prophet's 
better  self  by  their  generous  deference  to  him ;  how 
he  counsels  to  them  his  own  sacrifice ;  their  reluctance  to 
yield  to  this,  and  their  return  to  the  oars  with  increased 
perseverance  for  his  sake.  But  neither  their  generosity 
nor  their  efforts  avail.  The  prophet  again  offers  him- 
self, and  as  their  sacrifice  he  is  thrown  into  the  sea. 

And  Jehovah  cast  a  wind^  on  the  sea,  and  there  was 
a  great  tempest,^  and  the  ship  threatened'^  to  break  up. 
And  the  sailors  were  afraid,  and  cried  every  man  unto 
his  own  god;  afid  they  cast  the  tackle  of  the  ship  into  the 
sea,  to  lighten  it  from  upon  them.     But  Jonah  had  gone 


•  Heb.  thent.  •  Heb.  on  the  sea. 

•  So  LXX. :  Heb.  a    real  wind,        *  Lit.  reckoned  or  thought. 


Jonah L]  THE  GREAT  REFUSAL  S»9 

down  to  the  bottom  of  the  ship  and  lay  fast  asleep. 
And  the  captain  of  the  ship  ^  came  to  him,  and  said 
to  him.  What  art  thou  doing  asleep  ?  Up,  call  on  thy 
God;  peradventiire  the  God  will  he  gracious  to  us,  that  we 
perish  not.  And  they  said  every  man  to  his  neighbour, 
Come,  and  let  us  cast  lots,  that  we  may  know  for  whose 
sake  is  this  evil  come  upon  us.  So  they  cast  lots,  and  the 
lot  fell  on  fonah.  And  they  said  to  him.  Tell  us  now^ 
what  is  thy  business,  and  tvhence  contest  thou  ?  what 
is  thy  land,  and  from  what  people  art  thou?  And  he 
said  to  them,  A  Hehreiv  am  I,  and  a  worshipper  of 
the  God  of  Heaven^  who  made  the  sea  and  the  dry 
land.  And  the  men  feared  greatly,  and  said  to  him, 
What  is  this  thou  hast  done?  (for  they  knew  he  was 
fleeing  from  the  face  of  Jehovah,  because  he  had  told 
them).  And  they  said  to  him,  What  are  we  to  do  to 
thee  that  the  sea  cease  raging  against  us  ?  For  the  sea 
was  surging  higher  and  higher.  And  he  said.  Take 
me  and  throw  me  into  the  sea;  so  shall  the  sea  cease 
raging  against  you :  for  I  am  sure  that  it  is  on  my 
account  that  this  great  tempest  is  risen  upon  you.  And 
the  men  laboured^  with  the  oars  to  bring  the  ship  to 
land,  and  they  could  not,  for  the  sea  grew  more  and 
more  stormy  against  them.  So  they  called  on  Jehovah 
and  said,  Jehovah,  let  us  not  perish,  we  pray  Thee,  for 
the  life  of  this  man,  neither  bring  innocent  blood  upon 
us :  for  Thou  art  Jehovah,  Thou  doest  as  Thou  pleasest. 
Then  they  took  up  Jonah  and  cast  him  into  the  sea, 
and  the  sea  stilled  from  its  raging.     But  the  men  were 

'  Heb.  ropes. 
The  words yb^-  whose  sake  ts  this  evil  come  upon  us  do  not  occur 
in  LXX.   and  are  unnecessary. 

■  Wellhausen  suspects  this  form  of  the  Divine  title, 
*  Heb.  aug. 


520  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

in  great   awe  of  Jehovah,   and  sacrificed  to  Him    and 
vowed  vows. 

How  very  real  it  is  and  how  very  noble  1  We  see 
the  storm,  and  then  we  forget  the  storm  in  the  joy  of 
that  generous  contest  between  heathen  and  Hebrew. 
But  the  glory  of  the  passage  is  the  change  in  Jonah 
himself.  It  has  been  called  his  punishment  and  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen.  Rather  it  is  his  own 
conversion.  He  meets  again  not  only  God,  but  the 
truth  from  which  he  fled.  He  not  only  meets  that 
truth,  but  he  offers  his  life  for  it. 

The  art  is  consummate.  The  writer  will  first  reduce 
the  prophet  and  the  heathen  whom  he  abhors  to  the 
elements  of  their  common  humanity.  As  men  have 
sometimes  seen  upon  a  mass  of  wreckage  or  on  an  ice- 
floe a  number  of  wild  animals,  by  nature  foes  to  each 
other,  reduced  to  peace  through  their  common  danger, 
so  we  descry  the  prophet  and  his  natural  enemies 
upon  the  strained  and  breaking  ship.  In  the  midst  of 
the  storm  they  are  equally  helpless,  and  they  cast  for  all 
the  lot  which  has  no  respect  of  persons.  But  from 
this  the  story  passes  quickly,  to  show  how  Jonah  feels 
not  only  the  human  kinship  of  these  heathen  with 
himself,  but  their  susceptibility  to  the  knowledge  of 
his  God.  They  pray  to  Jehovah  as  the  God  of  the 
sea  and  the  dry  land ;  while  we  may  be  sure  that 
the  prophet's  confession,  and  the  story  of  his  own 
relation  to  that  God,  forms  as  powerful  an  exhorta- 
tion to  repentance  as  any  he  could  have  preached 
in  Niniveh.  At  least  it  produces  the  effects  which 
he  has  dreaded.  In  these  sailors  he  sees  heathen 
turned  to  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  All  that  he  has  fled 
to  avoid  happens  there  before  his  eyes  and  through 
his  own  mediation. 


Jonah  i.]  THE   GREAT  REFUSAL  521 

The  climax  is  reached,  however,  neither  when  Jonah 
feels  his  common  humanity  with  the  heathen  nor 
when  he  discovers  their  awe  of  his  God,  but  when 
in  order  to  secure  for  them  God's  sparing  mercies 
he  offers  his  own  life  instead.  Take  me  tip  and  cast 
me  into  the  sea;  so  shall  the  sea  cease  froyn  raging 
against  you.  After  their  pit}^  for  him  has  wrestled 
for  a  time  with  his  honest  entreaties,  he  becomes  their 
sacrifice. 


In  all  this  story  perhaps  the  most  instructive  pass- 
ages are  those  which  lay  bare  to  us  the  method  of  God's 
revelation.  When  we  were  children  this  was  shown 
to  us  in  pictures  of  angels  bending  from  heaven  to 
guide  Isaiah's  pen,  or  to  cry  Jonah's  commission  to 
him  through  a  trumpet.  And  when  we  grew  older, 
although  we  learned  to  dispense  with  that  machinery, 
yet  its  infection  remained,  and  our  conception  of  the 
whole  process  was  mechanical  still.  We  thought  of 
the  prophets  as  of  another  order  of  things ;  we 
released  them  from  our  own  laws  of  life  and  thought, 
and  we  paid  the  penalty  by  losing  all  interest  in  them. 
But  the  prophets  were  human,  and  their  inspiration 
came  through  experience.  The  source  of  it,  as  this 
story  shows,  was  God.  Partly  from  His  guidance 
of  their  nation,  partly  through  close  communion  with 
Himself,  they  received  new  convictions  of  His  character. 
Yet  they  did  not  receive  these  mechanically.  They 
spake  neither  at  the  bidding  of  angels,  nor  like  heathen 
prophets  in  trance  or  ecstasy,  but  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  the  Spirit  worked  upon  them 
first  as  the  influence  of  God's  character,^  and  second 

'  /  knew  how  Thou  art  a  God  gracious. 


522  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

through    the  experience  of  life.     God    and  life — these 
are  all  the  postulates  for  revelation. 

At  first  Jonah  fled  from  the  truth,  at  last  he  laid 
down  his  life  for  it.  So  God  still  forces  us  to  the 
acceptance  of  new  light  and  the  performance  of  strange 
duties.  Men  turn  from  these,  because  of  sloth  or 
prejudice,  but  in  the  end  they  have  to  face  them,  and 
then  at  what  a  cost  1  In  youth  they  shirk  a  self-denial 
to  which  in  some  storm  of  later  life  they  have  to  bend 
with  heavier,  and  often  hopeless,  hearts.  For  their 
narrow  prejudices  and  refusals,  God  punishes  them  by 
bringing  them  into  pain  that  stings,  or  into  responsi- 
bility for  others  that  shames,  these  out  of  them.  The 
drama  of  life  is  thus  intensified  in  interest  and  beauty ; 
characters  emerge  heroic  and  sublime. 

"But,  oh  the  labour, 
O  prince,  the  pain  I  * 

Sometimes  the  neglected  duty  is  at  last  achieved 
only  at  the  cost  of  a  man's  breath;  and  the  truth, 
which  might  have  been  the  bride  of  his  youth  and  his 
comrade  through  a  long  life,  is  recognised  by  him  only 
in  the  features  of  Death. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI 

THE  GREAT  FISH  AND   WHAT  IT  MEANS^ 
THE  PSALM 

Jonah  ii 

AT  this  point  in  the  tale  appears  the  Great  Fish. 
And  Jehovah  prepared  a  great  fish  to  swallow  Jonah, 
and  Jonah  was  in  the  belly  of  the  fish  three  days  and  three 
ntghts. 

After  the  very  natural  story  which  we  have  followed, 
this  verse  obtrudes  itself  with  a  shock  of  unreality  and 
grotesqueness.  What  an  anticlimax !  say  some  ;  what 
a  clumsy  intrusion  1  So  it  is  if  Jonah  be  taken  as  an 
individual.  But  if  we  keep  in  mind  that  he  stands  here, 
not  for  himself,  but  for  his  nation,  the  difficulty  and  the 
grotesqueness  disappear.  It  is  Israel's  ill-will  to  the 
heathen,  Israel's  refusal  of  her  mission,  Israel's  em- 
barkation on  the  stormy  sea  of  the  world's  politics, 
which  we  have  had  described  as  Jonah's.  Upon  her 
flight  from  God's  will  there  followed  her  Exile,  and  from 
her  Exile,  which  was  for  a  set  period,  she  came  back 
to  her  own  land,  a  people  still,  and  still  God's  servant 
to  the  heathen.  How  was  the  author  to  express  this 
national  death  and  resurrection  ?  In  conformity  with 
the  popular  language  of  his  time,  he  had  described 
Israel's  turning  from  God's  will  by  her  embarkation  on 
a  stormy  sea,  always  the  symbol  of  the  prophets  for 

S23 


S24  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

the  tossing  heathen  world  that  was  ready  to  engulf 
her ;  and  now  to  express  her  exile  and  return  he  sought 
metaphors  in  the  same  rich  poetry  of  the  popular 
imagination. 

To  the  Israelite  who  watched  from  his  hills  that 
stormy  coast  on  which  the  waves  hardly  ever  cease 
to  break  in  their  impotent  restlessness,  the  sea  was  a 
symbol  of  arrogance  and  futile  defiance  to  the  will  of 
God,  The  popular  mythology  of  the  Semites  had 
filled  it  with  turbulent  monsters,  snakes  and  dragons 
who  wallowed  like  its  own  waves,  helpless  against  the 
bounds  set  to  them,  or  rose  to  wage  war  against  the 
gods  in  heaven  and  the  great  lights  which  they  had 
created  ;  but  a  god  slays  them  and  casts  their  carcases 
for  meat  and  drink  to  the  thirsty  people  of  the  desert.^ 
It  is  a  symbol  of  the  perpetual  war  between  light  and 
darkness ;  the  dragons  are  the  clouds,  the  slayer  the 
sun.  A  variant  form,  which  approaches  closely  to  that 
of  Jonah's  great  fish,  is  still  found  in  Palestine.  In 
May  1 891  I  witnessed  at  Hasbeya,  on  the  western 
skirts  of  Hermon,  an  eclipse  of  the  moon.  When  the 
shadow  began  to  creep  across  her  disc,  there  rose 
from  the  village  a  hideous  din  of  drums,  metal  pots 
and  planks  of  wood  beaten  together ;  guns  were  fired, 
and  there  was  much  shouting.  I  was  told  that  this 
was  done  to  terrify  the  great  fish  which  was  swallowing 
the  moon,  and  to  make  him  disgorge  her. 

Now  these  purely  natural  myths  were  applied  by 
the  prophets  and  poets  of  the  Old  Testament  to  the 
illustration,  not  only  of  Jehovah's  sovereignty  over  the 
storm  and  the  night,  but  of  His  conquest  of  the  heathen 


*  For  the  Babylonian  myths  see  Sayce's  Hibbert  Lectures ;  George 
Smith's  Assyrian  Discoveries ;  and  Gunkel,  Schopfung  tt.  Chaos. 


Jonah  ii.]     THE  GREAT  FISH  AND  WHAT  IT  MEANS     525 

powers  who  had  enslaved  His  people.^  Isaiah  had 
heard  in  the  sea  the  confusion  and  rage  of  the  peoples 
against  the  bulwark  which  Jehovah  set  around  Israel  ;^ 
but  it  is  chiefly  from  the  time  of  the  Exile  onward  that 
the  myths  themselves,  with  their  cruel  monsters  and 
the  prey  of  these,  are  applied  to  the  great  heathen 
powers  and  their  captive,  Israel.  One  prophet  ex- 
plicitly describes  the  Exile  of  Israel  as  the  swallowing 
of  the  nation  by  the  monster,  the  Babylonian  tyrant, 
whom  God  forces  at  last  to  disgorge  its  prey.  Israel 
says : '  Nebuchadrezzar  the  king  of  Babylon  hath  de- 
voured me  *  and  crushed  me,*^  .  .  .  he  hath  swallowed  me 
up  like  the  Dragon,  filling  his  belly,  from  my  delights  he 
hath  cast  me  out.  But  Jehovah  replies  :  *  /  will  punish 
Bel  in  Babylon,  and  I  will  bring  out  of  his  mouth  thai 
which  he  hath  swallowed.  .  .  .  My  people,  go  ye  out  of  the 
midst  of  her. 

It  has  been  justly  remarked  by  Canon  Cheyne  that 
this  passage  may  be  considered  as  the  intervening  link 
between  the  original  form  of  tiie  myth  and  the  applica- 
tion of  it  made  in  the  story  of  Jonah.^  To  this  tliu 
objection  might  be  offered  that  in  the  story  of  Jonah 
the  great  fish  is  not  actually  represented  as  the  means 
of  the  prophet's  temporary  destruction,  like  the  monster 
in  Jeremiah  li.,  but  rather  as  the  vessel  of  his  deliver- 


'  Passages  in  which  this  class  of  myths  are  taken  in  a  physical 
sense  are  Job  iii.  8,  vii.  12,  xxvi.  12,  13,  etc.,  etc. ;  and  passages  in 
which  it  is  applied  politically  are  Isa.  xxvii.  I,  li.  9;  Jer.  li.  34,  44  ; 
Psalm  Ixxiv.,  etc.     See  Gunkel,  Schopfiing  u.  Chaos. 

*  Chap.  xvii.  12-14, 
'  Jer.  li.  34. 

*  Heb.  margin,  LXX.  and  Syr.  ;  Heb.  text  us. 
'  Jer.  li.  44,  45. 

"  Cheyne,  Theol.  Rev.,  XIV,     Sef^  above,  p.  503. 


526  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

ance.-^  This  is  true,  yet  it  only  means  that  our  author 
has  still  further  adapted  the  very  plastic  material 
offered  him  by  this  much  transformed  myth.  But  we 
do  not  depend  for  our  proof  upon  the  comparison  of  a 
single  passage.  Let  the  student  of  the  Book  of  Jonah 
read  carefully  the  many  passages  of  the  Old  Testament, 
in  which  the  sea  or  its  monsters  rage  in  vain  against 
Jehovah,  or  are  harnessed  and  led  about  by  Him  ;  or 
still  more  those  passages  in  which  His  conquest  of 
these  monsters  is  made  to  figure  His  conquest  of  the 
heathen  powers,^ — and  the  conclusion  will  appear  irre- 
sistible that  the  story  of  the  great  fish  and  of  Jonah  the 
type  of  Israel  is  drawn  from  the  same  source.  Such  a 
solution  of  the  problem  has  one  great  advantage.  It 
relieves  us  of  the  grotesqueness  which  attaches  to  the 
literal  conception  of  the  story,  and  of  the  necessity  of 
those  painful  efforts  for  accounting  for  a  miracle  which 
have  distorted  the  common-sense  and  even  the  ortho- 
doxy of  so  many  commentators  of  the  book.'  We  are 
dealing,  let  us  remember,  with  poetry — a  poetry  inspired 
by  one  of  the  most  sublime  truths  of  the  Old  Testament, 
but  whose  figures  are  drawn  from  the  legends  and  myths 
of  the  people  to  whom  it  is  addressed.  To  treat  this 
as  prose  is  not  only  to  sin  against  the  common-sense 
which  God  has  given  us,  but  against  the  simple  and 
obvious  intention  of  the  author.  It  is  blindness  both 
to  reason  and  to  Scripture. 

•  See  above,  p.  511,  on  the  Psalm  of  Jonah. 

•  Above,  p.  525,  n.  I. 

•  It  is  very  interesting  to  notice  how  many  commentators  (e.g. 
Pusey,  and  the  English  edition  of  Lange)  who  take  the  story  in  its 
individual  meaning,  and  therefore  as  miraculou?,  immediately  try  to 
minimise  the  miracle  by  quoting  stories  of  great  fishes  who  have 
swallowed  men,  and  even  men  in  armour,  whole,  and  in  one  case  at 
least  have  vomited  them  up  alive  ! 


joiiah  ii.]  THE  PSALM  527 

These  views  are  confirmed  by  an  examination  of  the 
Psalm  or  Prayer  which  is  put  into  Jonah's  mouth  while 
he  is  yet  in  the  fish.  We  have  already  seen  what 
grounds  there  are  for  believing  that  the  Psalm  belongs 
to  the  author's  own  plan,  and  from  the  beginning 
appeared  just  where  it  does  now.^  But  we  may  also 
point  out  how,  in  consistence  with  its  context,  this 
is  a  Psalm,  not  of  an  individual  Israelite,  but  of  the 
nation  as  a  whole.  It  is  largely  drawn  from  the 
national  Hturgy.^  It  is  full  of  cries  which  we  know, 
though  they  are  expressed  in  the  singular  number,  to 
have  been  used  of  the  whole  people,  or  at  least  of  that 
pious  portion  of  them,  who  were  Israel  indeed.  True 
that  in  the  original  portion  of  the  Psalm,  and  by  far  its 
most  beautiful  verses,  we  seem  to  have  the  description 
of  a  drowning  man  swept  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 
But  even  here,  the  colossal  scenery  and  the  magnificent 
hyperbole  of  the  language  suit  not  the  experience  of 
an  individual,  but  the  extremities  of  that  vast  gulf  of 
exile  into  which  a  whole  nation  was  plunged.  It  is  a 
nation's  carcase  which  rolls  upon  those  infernal  tides 
that  swirl  among  the  roots  of  mountains  and  behind 
the  barred  gates  of  earth.  Finally,  vv.  9  and  10  are 
obviously  a  contrast,  not  between  the  individual  prophet 
and  the  heathen,  but  between  the  true  Israel,  who  in 
exile  preserve  their  loyalty  to  Jehovah,  and  those 
Jews  who,  forsaking  their  covejiaiit-love,  lapse  to 
idolatry.  We  find  many  parallels  to  this  in  exilic 
and  post-exilic  literature. 

And  Jonah  prayed  to  Jehovah  his  God  from  the  belly 
of  the  fish,  and  said : — 

/  cried  out  of  my  anguish   to  Jehovah,  and  He 
answered  me  ; 

'  See  above,  pp.  511  f.        *  See  above,  p.  5 1 1,  nn.  I,  2. 


528  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

From  the   belly  of  Inferno   I  sought  help — Thou 

heardest  my  voice. 
For  Thou  hadst^  cast  me  into  the  depth,  to  the  heart 

of  the  seas,  and  the  /load  rolled  around  me  ; 
All  Thy  breakers  and  billows  went  over  me. 
Then  I  said,  I  am  hurled  from  Thy  sight : 
How^  shall  I  ever  again   look  towards    Thy  holy 

temple  ? 
Waters  enwrapped  me  to  the  soul;  the  Deep  rolkd 

around  me; 
The  tangle  was  bound  about  my  head. 
I  tvas  gone  down  to  the  roots  of  the  hills  ; 
Earth  and  her  bars  ivere  behind  me  for  ever. 
But  Thou  broughtest  my  life  up  from   destruction, 

Jehovah  my  God! 
When   my  soul  fainted  upon    me,    I  remembered 

Jehovah, 
And  my  prayer  came  in  unto   Thee,  to   Thy  holy 

temple. 
They  that  observe  the  idols  of  vanity, 
They  forsake  their  covenant-love. 
But  to  the  sound  of  praise  I  will  sacrifice  to  Thee; 
What  I  have  vowed  I  will  perform. 
Salvation  is  Jehovah^ s. 

And  Jehovah   spake   to   the   fish,    and  it  threw    up 
Jonah  on  the  dry  land. 


'  The  grammar,  which  usually  expresses  result,  more  literally  runs, 
Attd  Thou  didst  cast  me;  but  after  the  preceding  verse  it  must  be 
taken  not  as  expressing  consequence  but  cause. 

*  Read  1]'^  for  TJX  and  with  the  LXX.  take  the  sentence  in- 
terrogatively. 


CHAPTER    XXXVII 

THE  REPtNTANCE  OF   THE  CITY 
Jonah  iii 

HAVING  learned,  through  suffering,  his  moral 
kinship  with  the  heathen,  and  having  olTered  his 
life  for  some  of  them,  Jonah  receives  a  second  com- 
mand to  go  to  Niniveh.  He  obeys,  but  with  his  pre- 
judice as  strong  as  though  it  had  never  been  humbled, 
nor  met  by  Gentile  nobleness.  The  first  part  of  his 
story  appears  to  have  no  consequences  in  the  second.^ 
But  this  is  consistent  with  the  writer's  purpose  to  treat 
Jonah  as  if  he  were  Israel.  For,  upon  their  return 
from  Exile,  and  in  spite  of  all  their  new  knowledge 
of  themselves  and  the  world,  Israel  continued  to 
cherish  their  old  grudge  against  the  Gentiles. 

And  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  to  Jonah  the  second 
time,  saying,  Up,  go  to  Niniveh,  the  great  city,  and  call 
unto  her  with  the  call  which  I  shall  tell  thee.  And 
Jonah  arose  and  went  to  Niniveh,  as  Jehovah  said. 
Now  Niniveh  was  a  city  great  before  God,  three  days' 
journey   through  and   through.^     And  Jonah  began    by 

'  Only  in  iii.  I,  second  time,  and  in  iv.  2  are  there  any  references 
from  the  second  to  the  first  part  of  the  book. 

*  The  diameter  rather  than  the  circumference  seems  intended 
by  the  writer,  if  we  can  judge  by  his  sending  the  prophet  one  day's 
journey  through  the  city.  Some,  however,  take  the  circumference  as 
meant,  and  this  agrees  with  the  computation  of  sixty  English  miles 
as  the  girth  of  the  greater  Niniveh  described  below. 

VOL.   II.  529  34 


S30  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

going  through  the  city  one  day^s  journey,  and  he  cried  and 
said,  Forty  ^  days  more  and  Niniveh  shall  be  overturned. 
Opposite  to  Mosul,  the  well-known  emporium  of  trade 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Upper  Tigris,  two  high 
artificial  mounds  now  lift  themselves  from  the  other- 
wise level  plain.  The  more  northerly  takes  the  name 
of  Kujundschik,  or  "  little  lamb,"  after  the  Turkish 
village  which  couches  pleasantly  upon  its  north- 
eastern slope.  The  other  is  called  in  the  popular 
dialect  Nebi  Yunus,  "  Prophet  Jonah,"  after  a  mosque 
dedicated  to  him,  which  used  to  be  a  Christian 
church ;  but  the  official  name  is  Niniveh.  These  two 
mounds  are  bound  to  each  other  on  the  west  by  a 
broad  brick  wall,  which  extends  beyond  them  both, 
and  is  connected  north  and  south  by  other  walls, 
with  a  circumference  in  all  of  about  nine  English  miles. 
The  interval,  including  the  mounds,  was  covered  with 
buildings,  whose  ruins  still  enable  us  to  form  some 
idea  of  what  was  for  centuries  the  wonder  of  the 
world.  Upon  terraces  and  substructions  of  enormous 
breadth  rose  storied  palaces,  arsenals,  barracks, 
libraries  and  temples.  A  lavish  water  system  spread 
in  all  directions  from  canals  with  massive  embankments 
and  sluices.  Gardens  were  lifted  into  mid-air,  filled 
with  rich  plants  and  rare  and  beautiful  animals. 
Alabaster,  silver,  gold  and  precious  stones  relieved  the 
dull  masses  of  brick  and  flashed  sunlight  from  every 
frieze  and  battlement.  The  surrounding  walls  were  so 
broad  that  chariots  could  roll  abreast  on  them.  The 
gates,  and  especially  the  river  gates,  were  very  massive.^ 

'  LXX.  Codd.  B,  etc.,  read  three  days;  other  Codd.  have  the  forty 
of  the  Heb.  text. 

*  For  a  more  detailed  description  of  Niniveh  see  above  on  the 
Book  ofNahum,  pp.  g8  flf. 


Jonah  iiL]       THE  REPENTANCE   OF  THE  CITY  531 

All  this  was  Niniveh  proper,  whose  glory  the 
Hebrews  envied  and  over  whose  fall  more  than  one 
of  their  prophets  exult.  But  this  was  not  the  Niniveh 
to  which  our  author  saw  Jonah  come.  Beyond  the 
walls  were  great  suburbs/  and  beyond  the  suburbs 
other  towns,  league  upon  league  of  dwellings,  so 
closely  set  upon  the  plain  as  to  form  one  vast  complex 
of  population,  which  is  known  to  Scripture  as  The 
Great  City}  To  judge  from  the  ruins  which  still  cover 
the  ground,'  the  circumference  must  have  been  about 
sixty  miles,  or  three  days' journey.  It  is  these  nameless 
leagues  of  common  dwellings  which  roll  before  us  in 
the  story.  None  of  those  glories  of  Niniveh  are 
mentioned,  of  which  other  prophets  speak,  but  the 
only  proofs  offered  to  us  of  the  city's  greatness  are  its 
extent  and  its  population.*  Jonah  is  sent  to  three 
days,  not  of  mighty  buildings,  but  of  homes  and 
families,  to  the  Niniveh,  not  of  kings  and  their  glories, 
but  of  men,  women  and  children,  besides  much  cattle. 
The  palaces  and  temples  he  may  pass  in  an  hour  or 
two,  but  from  sunrise  to  sunset  he  treads  the  dim 
drab  mazes  where  the  people  dwell. 

When  we  open  our  hearts  for  heroic  witness  to 
the  truth  there  rush  upon  them  glowing  memories 
of  Moses  before  Pharaoh,  of  Elijah  before  Ahab,  of 
Stephen  before  the  Sanhedrim,  of  Paul  upon  Areopagus, 
of  Galileo  before  the  Inquisition,  of  Luther  at  the 
Diet.      But  it   takes   a  greater   heroism    to    face   the 

>  Tj;  nnm,  Gen.  x.  n. 

*  Gen.  X.  12,  according  to  v/hich  the  Great  City  included,  besides 
Niniveh,  at  least  Resen  and  Kelach. 

'  And  taking  the  present  Kujundschik,  Nimrud,  Khorsabad  and 
Balawat  as  the  four  comers  of  the  district. 

*  iii.  2,  iv.  II. 


532  THE   rWELl^E  PROPHETS 

people  than  a  king,  to  convert  a  nation  than  to 
persuade  a  senate.  Princes  and  assemblies  of  the 
wise  stimulate  the  imagination  ;  they  drive  to  bay  all 
the  nobler  passions  of  a  solitary  man.  But  there  is 
nothing  to  help  the  heart,  and  therefore  its  courage 
is  all  the  greater,  which  bears  witness  before  those 
endless  masses,  in  monotone  of  life  and  colour,  that 
now  paralyse  the  imagination  like  long  stretches  of 
sand  when  the  sea  is  out,  and  again  terrify  it  like 
the  resistless  rush  of  the  flood  beneath  a  hopeless 
evening  sky. 

It  is,  then,  with  an  art  most  fitted  to  his  high 
purpose  that  our  author — unlike  all  other  prophets, 
whose  aim  was  different — presents  to  us,  not  the 
description  of  a  great  military  power :  king,  nobles 
and  armed  battalions :  but  the  vision  of  those  mono- 
tonous millions.  He  strips  his  country's  foes  of 
everything  foreign,  everything  provocative  of  env}' 
and  hatred,  and  unfolds  them  to  Israel  only  in  their 
teeming  humanity.^ 

His  next  step  is  still  more  grand.  For  this  teeming 
humanity  he  claims  the  universal  human  possibility 
of  repentance — that  and  nothing  more. 

Under  every  form  and  character  of  human  life, 
beneath  all  needs  and  all  habits,  deeper  than  despair 
and  more  native  to  man  than  sin  itself,  lies  the  power 
of  the  heart  to  turn.  It  was  this  and  not  hope  that 
remained  at  the  bottom  of  Pandora's  Box  when  every 
other  gift  had  fled.  For  this  is  the  indispensable 
secret  of  hope.  It  lies  in  every  heart,  needing  indeed 
iiame  dream  of  Divine  mercy,  how^ever  far  and  vague, 


'  Compare  the   Book   of  Jonah,  for   instance,  with  the  Book  of 
Nahum. 


Jonah  iii.]       THE  REPENTANCE  OF  THE  CITY  533 

to  rouse  it;  but  when  roused,  neither  ignorance  of  God, 
nor  pride,  nor  long  obduracy  of  evil  may  withstand  it. 
It  takes  command  of  the  whole  nature  of  a  man,  and 
speeds  from  heart  to  heart  with  a  violence,  that  like 
pain  and  death  spares  neither  age  nor  rank  nor  degree 
of  culture.  This  primal  human  right  is  all  our  author 
claims  for  the  men  of  Niniveh.  He  has  been  blamed 
for  telling  us  an  impossible  thing,  that  a  whole  city 
should  be  converted  at  the  call  of  a  single  stranger ; 
and  others  have  started  up  in  his  defence  and  quoted 
cases  in  which  large  Oriental  populations  have  actually 
been  stirred  by  the  preaching  of  an  alien  in  race  and 
religion ;  and  then  it  has  been  replied,  "  Granted  the 
possibility,  granted  the  fact  in  other  cases,  yet  where 
in  history  have  we  any  trace  of  this  alleged  conversion 
of  all  Niniveh  ?  "  and  some  scoff,  "  How  could  a  Hebrew 
have  made  himself  articulate  in  one  day  to  those 
Assyrian  multitudes  ?  " 

How  long,  O  Lord,  must  Thy  poetry  suffer  from 
those  who  can  only  treat  it  as  prose  ?  On  whatever 
side  they  stand,  sceptical  or  orthodox,  they  are  equally 
pedants,  quenchers  of  the  spiritual,  creators  of  unbelief. 

Our  author,  let  us  once  for  all  understand,  makes  no 
attempt  to  record  an  historical  conversion  of  this  vast 
heathen  city.  For  its  men  he  claims  only  the  primary 
human  possibility  of  repentance ;  expressing  himself 
not  in  this  general  abstract  way,  but  as  Orientals,  to 
whom  an  illustration  is  ever  a  proof,  love  to  have  it 
done — by  story  or  parable.  With  magnificent  reserve 
he  has  not  gone  further;  but  only  told  into  the 
prejudiced  faces  of  his  people,  that  out  there,  beyond 
the  Covenant,  in  the  great  world  lying  in  darkness, 
there  live,  not  beings  created  for  ignorance  and  hostility 
to  God,  elect  for  destruction,  but  men  with  consciences 


534  T^H^   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

and  hearts,  able  to  turn  at  His  Word  and  to  hope  in 
His  Mercy —that  to  the  farthest  ends  of  the  world,  and 
even  on  the  high  places  of  unrighteousness.  Word  and 
Mercy  work  just  as  they  do  within  the  Covenant. 

The  fashion  in  which  the  repentance  of  Niniveh  is 
described  is  natural  to  the  time  of  the  writer.  It  is 
a  national  repentance,  of  course,  and  though  swelling 
upwards  from  the  people,  it  is  confirmed  and  organised 
by  the  authorities  :  for  we  are  still  in  the  Old  Dispensa- 
tion, when  the  picture  of  a  complete  and  thorough 
repentance  could  hardly  be  otherwise  conceived.  And 
the  beasts  are  made  to  share  its  observance,  as  in  the 
Orient  they  always  shared  and  still  share  in  funeral 
pomp  and  trappings.^  It  may  have  been,  in  addition, 
a  personal  pleasure  to  our  writer  to  record  the  part 
of  the  animals  in  the  movement.  See  how,  later  on, 
he  tells  us  that  for  their  sake  also  God  had  pity  upon 
Niniveh. 

And  the  men  of  Niniveh  believed  upon  God,  and  cried 
a  fast,  and  from  the  greatest  of  them  to  the  least  of  them 
they  put  on  sackcloth.  And  tvord  came  to  the  king  of 
Niniveh,  and  he  rose  off  his  throne,  and  cast  his  mantle 
from  upon  him,  and  dressed  in  sackcloth  and  sat  in  the 
dust.     And  he  sent  criers  to  say  in  Niniveh : — 

By  Order  of  the  King  and  his  Nobles,  thus : — Man 
and  Beast,  Oxen  and  Sheep,  shall  not  taste  anything, 
neither  eat  nor  drink  water.  But  let  them  clothe  them- 
selves ^  in  sackcloth,  both  man  and  beast,  and  call  upon 
God  with  power,  and  turn  every  man  from  his  evil  way 
and  from  every  wrong  which  they  have  in  hand.     Who 


'  Cf.  Herod.  IX.  24;  Joel  i.  18;  V'w^il,  Eclogue V.,  ^neidXl.  89  ff.  ; 
Plutarch,  Alex.  72. 
*  LXX. :  and  they  did  clothe  themselves  in  sackcloth,  and  so  on. 


Jonah  iii.]       THE  REPENTANCE  OF  THE  CITY  535 

knoweth  but  that  God  may  ^  relent  and  turn  from  the  fierce' 
ness  of  His  wrath,  that  ive  perish  not  ?  * 

And  God  saw  their  doings,  how  they  turned  from  their 
evil  way;  and  God  relented  of  the  evil  which  He  said  He 
would  do  to  them,  and  did  it  not. 

'  So  LXX.     Heb.  text :  may  turn  and  relent,  and  turn. 

•  The  alleged  discrepancies  in  this  account  have  been  already 
noticed.  As  the  text  stands  the  fast  and  mourning  are  proclaimed 
and  actually  begun  before  word  reaches  the  king  and  his  proclama- 
tion of  fast  and  mourning  goes  forth.  The  discrepancies  might  be 
removed  by  transferring  the  words  in  ver.  6,  and  they  cried  a  fast, 
and  from  the  greatest  of  them  to  the  least  they  clothed  themselves  in 
sackcloth,  to  the  end  of  ver.  8,  with  a  "1DN7  or  1"IDt^''1  to  introduce 
ver.  9.  But,  as  said  above  (pp.  499,  510,  n.  l),  it  is  more  probable 
that  the  text  as  it  stands  was  original,  and  that  the  inconsistencief 
in  the  order  of  the  narrative  are  due  to  its  being  a  tale  or  parable. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII 

ISRAEL'S,  JEALOUSY  OF  JEHOVAH 
Jonah  iv 

HAVING  illustrated  the  truth,  that  the  Gentiles 
are  capable  of  repentance  unto  life,  the  Book 
now  describes  the  effect  of  their  escape  upon  Jonah,  and 
closes  by  revealing  God's  full  heart  upon  the  matter. 

Jonah  is  very  angry  that  Niniveh  has  been  spared. 
Is  this  (as  some  say)  because  his  own  word  has  not 
been  fulfilled  ?  In  Israel  there  was  an  accepted  rule 
that  a  prophet  should  be  judged  by  the  issue  of  his 
predictions  :  If  thou  say  in  thine  heart,  How  shall  we 
know  the  word  which  Jehovah  hath  not  spoken  ? — when  a 
prophet  speaketh  in  the  name  of  Jehovah,  if  the  thing 
follow  not  nor  come  to  pass,  that  is  the  thing  which 
Jehovah  hath  not  spoken,  but  the  prophet  hath  spoken 
presumptuously,  thou  shalt  have  no  reverence  for  him} 
Was  it  this  that  stung  Jonah  ?  Did  he  ask  for  death 
because  men  would  say  of  him  that  when  he  predicted 
Niniveh's  overthrow  he  was  false  and  had  not  God's 
word  ?  Of  such  fears  there  is  no  trace  in  the  story. 
Jonah  never  doubts  that  his  word  came  from  Jehovah, 
nor  dreads  that  other  men  will  doubt.  There  is 
absolutely  no  hint  of  anxiety  as  to  his  professional 
reputation.      But,    on    the    contrary,  Jonah    says   that 

'  Deut.  xviii.  2i,  22. 
536 


Jonah  iv.]      ISRAEL'S  JEALOUSY  OF  JEHOVAH  537 

from  the  first  he  had  the  foreboding,  grounded  upon 
his  knowledge  of  God's  character,  that  Niniveh  would 
be  spared,  and  that  it  was  from  this  issue  he  shrank 
and  fled  to  go  to  Tarshish,    In  short  he  could  not,  either 
then  or  now,   master  his  conviction  that   the  heathen 
should  be  destroyed.     His  grief,  though  foolish,  is  not 
selfish.     He  is  angry,  not  at  the  baffling  of  his  word,  but 
at  God's  forbearance  with  the  foes  and  tyrants  of  Israel. 
Now,  as  in  all  else,  so  in  this,  Jonah  is  the  type  of 
his   people.      If  we   can  judge   from   their   literature 
after  the   Exile,  they  were   not  troubled  by   the    non- 
fulfilment   of  prophecy,    except   as  one  item  of  what 
was  the  problem  of  their  faith — the  continued  prosperity 
of  the  Gentiles.     And   this  was  not,  what  it  appears 
to  be  in  some  Psalms,   only    an    intellectual   problem 
or  an  offence  to  their  sense  of  justice.     Nor  could  they 
meet  it  always,  as  some  of  their  prophets  did,  with  a 
supreme  intellectual  scorn  of  the  heathen,  and  in  the 
proud  confidence  that  they  themselves  were  the  favour- 
ites of  God.     For  the  knowledge  that  God  was  infinitely 
gracious  haunted  their  pride ;  and  from  the  very  heart 
of  their  faith  arose  a  jealous  fear  that  He  would  show 
His  grace  to  others  than  themselves.     To  us  it  may 
be  difficult  to  understand  this  temper.     We  have  not 
been    trained    to    believe    ourselves    an    elect    people ; 
nor  have   we  suffered   at   the  hands   of  the  heathen. 
Yet,    at    least,    we    have    contemporaries    and    fellow- 
Christians  among  whom  we  may  find  still  alive  many 
of  the  feelings  against  which  the  Book  of  Jonah  was 
written.       Take    the    Oriental    Churches    of    to-day. 
Centuries  of  oppression  have  created  in  them  an  avi^ul 
hatred  of  the  infidel,  beneath  whose  power  they  are 
hardly  suffered    to  live.     The   barest  justice  calls    for 
the  overthrow  of  their  oppressors.     That  these  share 


538  THE  TWELVE  PROPHETS 

a  common  humanity  with  themselves  is  a  sense  they 
have  nearly  lost.  For  centuries  they  have  had  no 
spiritual  intercourse  with  them ;  to  try  to  convert  a 
Mohammedan  has  been  for  twelve  hundred  years  a 
capital  crime.  It  is  not  wonderful  that  Eastern 
Christians  should  have  long  lost  power  to  believe  in 
the  conversion  of  infidels,  and  to  feel  that  anything 
is  due  but  their  destruction.  The  present  writer  once 
asked  a  cultured  and  devout  layman  of  the  Greek 
Church,  Why  then  did  God  create  so  many  Moham- 
medans ?  The  answer  came  hot  and  fast :  To  fill  up 
Hell  1  Analogous  to  this  were  the  feelings  of  the 
Jews  towards  the  peoples  who  had  conquered  and 
oppressed  them.  But  the  jealousy  already  alluded 
to  aggravated  these  feelings  to  a  rigour  no  Christian 
can  ever  share.  What  right  had  God  to  extend  to 
their  oppressors  His  love  for  a  people  who  alone  had 
witnessed  and  suffered  for  Him,  to  whom  He  had 
bound  Himself  by  so  many  exclusive  promises,  whom 
He  had  called  His  Bride,  His  Darling,  His  Only 
One  ?  And  yet  the  more  Israel  dwelt  upon  that  Love 
the  more  they  were  afraid  of  it.  God  had  been  so 
gracious  and  so  long-suffering  to  themselves  that  they 
could  not  trust  Him  not  to  show  these  mercies  to 
others.  In  which  case,  what  was  the  use  of  their 
uniqueness  and  privilege?  What  worth  was  their 
living  any  more  ?     Israel  might  as  v/ell  perish. 

It  is  this  subtle  story  of  Israel's  jealousy  of  Jehovah, 
and  Jehovah's  gentle  treatment  of  it,  which  we  follow 
in  the  last  chapter  of  the  book.  The  chapter  starts 
from  Jonah's  confession  of  a  fear  of  the  results  of  God's 
lovingkindness  and  from  his  persuasion  that,  as  this 
spread  to  the  heathen,  the  life  of  His  servant  spent 
in  opposition  to  the  heathen  was  a  worthless  life ;  and 


Jonah  iv.]      ISRAEL'S  JEALOUSY  OF  JEHOVAH  539 


the  chapter  closes  with  God's  own  vindication  of  His 
Love  to  His  jealous  prophet. 

//  was  a  great  grief  to  Jonah,  and  he  was  angered; 
and  he  prayed  to  Jehovah  and  said:  Ah  now,  Jehovah, 
ivhile  I  was  still  upon  mine  own  ground,  at  the  time 
that  I  prepared  to  flee  to  Tarshish,  was  not  this  my 
word,  that  I  knew  Thee  to  be  a  God  gracious  and  tender, 
long-suffering  and  plenteous  in  love,  relenting  of  evil  ? 
And  nosv,  Jehovah,  take,  I  pray  Thee,  my  life  from  mc, 
for  for  me  death  is  better  than  life. 

In  this  impatience  of  life  as  well  as  in  some  subse- 
quent traits,  the  story  of  Jonah  reflects  that  of  Elijah. 
But  the  difference  between  the  two  prophets  was  this, 
that  while  Elijah  was  very  jealous  for  Jehovah,  Jonah 
was  very  jealous  of  Him.  Jonah  could  not  bear  to  see 
the  love  promised  to  Israel  alone,  and  cherished  by  her, 
bestowed  equally  upon  her  heathen  oppressors.  And 
he  behaved  after  the  manner  of  jealousy  and  of  the 
heart  that  thinks  itself  insulted.  He  withdrew,  and 
sulked  in  solitude,  and  would  take  no  responsibility 
nor  further  interest  in  his  work.  Such  men  are  best 
treated  by  a  caustic  gentleness,  a  little  humour,  a  little 
rallying,  a  leaving  to  nature,  and  a  taking  unawares  in 
their  own  confessed  prejudices.  All  these — I  dare  to 
think  even  the  humour— are  present  in  God's  treatment 
of  Jonah,  This  is  very  natural  and  very  beautiful. 
Twice  the  Divine  Voice  speaks  with  a  soft  sarcasm  :  Art 
thou  very  angry ?^     Then   Jonah's   affections,  turned 

'  The  Hebrew  may  be  translated  either,  first,  Doest  thou  well  to  be 
angry?  or  sf^conA,  Art  thou  very  angry  ?  Our  versions  both  prefer 
ihe.  first,  though  tliey  put  the  second  in  the  margin.  The  LXX.  take 
the  second.  That  the  second  is  the  right  one  is  not  only  proved  by 
its  greater  suitableness,  but  by  Jonah's  answer  to  the  question, 
/  am  very  angry,  yea,  even  unto  death. 


540  THE   TWELVE  PROPHETS 

from  man  and  God,  are  allowed  their  course  with  a  bit  of 
nature,  the  fresh  and  green  companion  of  his  solitude; 
and  then  when  all  his  pity  for  this  has  been  roused  by 
its  destruction,  that  very  pity  is  employed  to  awaken 
his  sympathy  with  God's  compassion  for  the  great  city, 
and  he  is  shown  how  he  has  denied  to  God  the  same 
natural  affection  which  he  confesses  to  be  so  strong 
in  himself  But  why  try  further  to  expound  so  clear 
and  obvicus  an  argument  ? 

But  Jehovah  said.  Art  thou  so  very  angry  ?  Jonah 
would  not  answer — how  lifelike  is  his  silence  at  this 
point ! — but  went  out  from  the  city  and  sat  down  before 
it,^  and  made  him  there  a  booth  and  dwelt  beneath  it  in 
the  shade,  till  he  should  see  what  happened  in  the  city. 
And  Jehovah  God  prepared  a  gourd^  and  it  grew  up 
above  Jonah  to  be  a  shadow  over  his  head.  .  .  .'  And 
Jonah  rejoiced  in  the  gourd  with  a  great  joy.  But  as 
dawn  came  up  the  next  day  God  prepared  a  worm,  and 
this  *  wounded  the  gourd,  that  it  perished.  And  it 
came  to  pass,  when  the  sun  rose,  that  God  prepared  a 
dry  east-wind,^  and  the  sun  smote  on  JonalUs  head,  so 
that  he  was  faint,  and  begged  for  himself  that  he  might 
die*  saying,   Better  my  dying  than   my  living  I    And 

'  Heb.  the  city. 

*  |1''i^''iP,  the  Egyptian  kiki,  the  Ricinus  or  Palma  Christi.  See 
above,  p.  498,  n.  2. 

'  Heb.  adds  to  save  him    rom  his  evil,  perhaps  a  gloss. 

*  Heb.  it. 

*  n*K''''iri.  The  Targum  implies  a  quiet,  i.e.  stveltering,  east  wind. 
Hitzig  thinks  that  the  name  is  derived  from  the  season  of  ploughing 
and  some  modern  proverbs  appear  to  bear  this  out :  an  autumn  east 
li'ind,  LXX.  ffvyKalujv.  Siegfried-Stade :  a  cutting  east  wind,  as  if  from 
'^in.  Steiner  emends  to  H^D^in,  as  if  from  D^H  =  the  piercing,  a  poetic 
name  of  the  sun;  and  Bohme,  Z.A.T.W.,  VII.  256,  to  IT'T'in,  from  "nn, 
to  glow.     KChler  {Theol.  Rev.,  XVI.,  p.  143)  compares  ^"JH^  dried  clay. 

*  Keb.  :  begged  his  life,  that  he  might  die. 


Jonah  iv.]      ISRAEL'S  JEALOUSY  OF  JEHOVAH  541 

God  said  unto  Jonah,  Art  thou  so  very  angry  about  the 
gourd?  And  he  said,  I  am  very  angry — even  unto 
death  !  And  Jehovah  said :  Thou  carest  for  a  gourd 
for  which  thou  hast  not  travailed,  nor  hast  thou  brought 
,  //  up,  a  thing  that  came  in  a  night  and  in  a  night  has 
perished}  And  shall  I  not  care  for  Niniveh,  the  Great 
City^  in  which  there  are  more  than  twelve  times  ten 
thousand  human  beings  who  know  not  their  right  hand 
from  their  left,  besides  much  cattle  ? 

God  has  vindicated  His  love  to  the  jealousy  of  those 
who  thought  that  it  was  theirs  alone.  And  we  are  left 
with  this  grand  vague  vision  of  the  immeasurable  city, 
with  its  multitude  of  innocent  children  and  cattle,  and 
God's  compassion  brooding  over  all. 

'  Het  :  which  was  the  son  of  a  night,  and  son  of  m  night  has 
perished  '  Gen.  x.  12. 


INDEX    OF    PROPHETS 

Habakkuk,  Introduction,  115;  Chaps,  i. — ii.  4,  129;  ii.  5-20,  143;  iii., 
149. 

Haggai,  Introduction,  225;  Chap,  i.,  236;  ii.  I-9,  241 ;  ii.  10-19,  244; 
ii.  20-23,  250. 

JoEl,  Introduction,  375;  Chaps,  i.— ii.  17,  398;  ii.  18-32,  418;  iii.,431. 

Jonah,  Introduction,  493  ;  Chap,  i.,  514;  ii.,  523 ;  iii.,  529;  iv.,  536. 

"  Malachi,"  Introduction,  331  ;  Chap.  i.  2-5,  349  ;  i.  6-14,  352  ;  ii,  1-9, 
360;  ii.  10-16,  363 ;  ii.  17— iii.  5,  365  ;  iii.  6-12,  367  ;  iii.  13— iv.  2 
(Eng.;  iii.  13-21  Heb.),  369;  iv.  3-5  (Eng.;  iii.  22-24  Heb.), 
371- 

Nahum,  Introduction,  77  ;  Chap,  i.,  90;  ii.,  iii.,  96. 

Obadiah,  Introduction,  163;  vv.  1-21,  173,  177. 

Zechariah  (i. — viii.),  Introduction,  255  ;  Chap.  i.  1-6,  267 ;  i.  7-17, 
283;  i.  18.21  (Eng.;  ii.  1-4  Heb.),  286 ;  ii.  !-$  (Eng.;  ii.  5-9 
Heb.),  287;  iii.,  292;  iv.,  297 ;  v.  1-4,  301  ;  v.  5-11,  303;  vi.  1-8, 
305  ;  vi.  9-15,  307  ;  vii.,  320;  viii.,  323. 

"Zechariah"  (ix. — xiv.).  Introduction,  449;  Chap.  ix.  1-8.  463;  ix. 
9-12,  466;  ix.  13-17,  467;  X.  I,  2,  469;  X.  3-12,  470;  xi.  1-3, 
473  ;  xi.  4-17,  473  ;  xii.  1-7,  478  ;  xii.  8— xiii.  6,  481 ;  xiii.  7-9, 
473.  477 ;  xiv.,  485. 

Zephaniah,  Introduction,  35;  Chaps.  L — ii.  3,  46;  ii.  4-15,  61 ;  iii. 
»-l3.  67;  iii.  14-20,67,73. 


543 


Date  Due 


